When was mausoleum built

Rest of the quadriga adorning the top of the mausoleum, currently at the British Museum. The quadriga which adorned the top of the mausoleum of Halicarnassus was a monumental statue. Recall that a quadriga is a two-wheeled tank drawn by 4 horses. It was about 6. The two fragments shown here are the largest that survived.

They form the head and front of a horse with its original bronze bridle, and a set that is probably a piece of another horse. The statue depicts a horse standing with its head held up and turned to its left. It transmits a feeling of great energy and vitality demonstrated by prominent muscles, open mouth, prominent veins and bulbous eye.

The teeth are perfectly carved in an open mouth whose tongue is underlined. The horse's mane runs along the neck on both sides and a lock of horsehair floats around the right eye.

Around the body are two strips which form part of the harness which are joined to the crest by a collar.

This is a normal harness for a four-horse chariot. The original bronze flange and wick are still fixed by studs. The curved cheeks are of the Corinthian type. The statue is reconstructed from several fragments. Traces of paint still exist. Charles Newton, the discoverer of the Mausoleum, describes the sensation caused by the inhabitants of Bodrum by the discovery of the pieces of one of the horses:. After being duly taken out, he was placed on a sledge and dragged towards the sea by 80 Turkish workers.

On the walls and roofs of the houses we were sitting were the veiled ladies of Bodrum. They had never seen anything so great before and the beauty of the statue surpassed the reserve imposed by Turkish etiquette.

The ladies of Troy, watching the wooden horse enter the breach, would not have been more astonished. Newton, voyages and discoveries in the Levant London, , volume II. The exact meaning of this group of tanks is uncertain. The calm and dignified composition may reflect a funeral function. If the chariot had been empty, it might have been an offering to the dead king. Although not common in ancient Greece, the practice of offering an empty tank and horses was more common in the dynasties that ruled the outer limits of the ancient Greek world.

It is more likely that the tank was busy, certainly by a car driver and perhaps even by Mausole himself. If this were the case, the whole group would have represented the apotheosis becoming a god of Mausole. The king is shown accompanied by Nike, the goddess of victory, rising to heaven. Alternatively, the tank may have been driven by Apollo, or Helios, the god that some scholars associate with Mausoleum.

The whole of the mausoleum was surrounded by a protective enclosure open to the east by a room serving as a vestibule from a practical point of view and purgatory from a religious point of view. Indeed, it was often that the city of the living were separated from the places of burial by a room, a garden or any other symbolic place that served as a transition between temporal and spiritual places. A good example is the Taj Mahal , with a site surrounded by a wall and divided into three parts: the terrestrial part, the purgatory and the celestial part the mausoleum proper.

The mausoleum of Halicarnassus is in the city of Bodrum, a town on the west coast of Turkey. The ruins are still visible today, they are exactly in the city center, just north of the port, along the artery which cuts the city in two lengthways. A bird's eye view is not even a kilometer from Bodrum beach.

The site is protected of course. Learn more about the location of the mausoleum. The mausoleum of Halicarnassus appears in the 4th century BC, in the town of Halicarnassus, a town in the kingdom of Caria.

This kingdom was in fact a province of the Persian Empire, but it was so far from the capital that it was governed almost autonomously. Created very long before, from the fifteenth century BC, it is found in under the governorate of Hecatomnos, who received it from the Persian Emperor Artaxerxes II. The authority was transferred to his son Mausole in who took the destiny of this province in hand before joining, towards , the other provinces that had revolted against the Persian Emperor.

In Caria had returned to Persia, but Mausole had sufficiently played an intermediary role that not only was he not threatened but was even rewarded by the expansion of his territory. He moved his capital from Mylasa to Halicarnassus between and BC, where he built ramparts and monuments, including a major theater. Married to his sister Artemis II as the authorized tradition, Mausole left no trace of his way of governing, although we have proofs of his official acts.

Mausole died in BC, it is on this date that the mausoleum enters history. Learn more about the historical context of the mausoleum. The date of the end of the construction is well known, it is BC. History tells us that it was begun at the death of Mausole by his widow, which indicates that it was begun in BC. However, it is unlikely that the start date of the construction is accurate because of the monument, one can not believe that 3 years was enough to build it, especially that Artemis II died in , a year before his and that it was therefore necessary at one time to pass the relay to another client Probably the brother of Artemise II, but it is not sure.

It is much more probable that the construction of the mausoleum began well before , but we do not have the proof. It should be noted that throughout the period during which Artemis survived Mausole the ashes of the king lay in a temporary tomb. Then, when the funeral monument, which was not yet called a mausoleum, was finished, these ashes were placed with those of Artemisia who died in the meantime in the funerary chamber, the entrance of which was sealed by the removal of a large stones on the stairs leading to it.

Given the great age of the monument, there are few written traces of its construction. As for the materials used , they are blocks of marble from the island of MArmara, a small island between the Strait of Dardanelles and that of the Bosphorus.

The transport of the marble blocks had to be particularly complex as the techniques of transport of heavy masses were not yet known at that time. Note also the use of green andesite, a volcanic rock. Little is known about the history of the mausoleum.

Finished in , it was still intact a few years later, in BC, during the conquest by Alexander the Great. Each sculptor had a portion that they were responsible for -- Bryaxis north side , Scopas east side , Timotheus south side , and Leochares west side. The chariot on top was created by Pythias. The structure of the Mausoleum was made up of three parts: a square base on the bottom, 36 columns 9 on each side in the middle, and then topped by a stepped pyramid that had 24 steps.

All of this was covered in ornate carvings, with life-size and larger-than-life statues abounding. At the very top was the piece de resistance; the chariot.

This foot-high marble sculpture consisted of standing statues of both Mausolus and Artemisia riding in a chariot pulled by four horses. Much of the Mausoleum was made out of marble and the entire structure reached feet high. Although large, the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus was known more for its ornate sculptures and carvings. Most of these were painted in vibrant colors. There were also friezes that wrapped around the entire building.

These were extremely detailed and included scenes of battle and hunting, as well as scenes from Greek mythology that included such mythic animals as centaurs. After 1, years, the long-lasting Mausoleum was destroyed by earthquakes that occurred during the 15th century CE in the region.

During and after that time, much of the marble was carried away in order to build other buildings, most especially a Crusader fortress held by the Knights of St. Some of the elaborate sculptures were moved into the fortress as decoration.

In CE, the crypt that for so long had safely held the remains of Mausolus and Artemisia was raided. Over time, people forgot exactly where the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus had stood. Houses were built on top. In the s, British archaeologist Charles Newton recognized that some of the decorations at Bodrum Castle, as the Crusader fortress was now called, could have been from the famous Mausoleum.

After studying the area and excavating, Newton found the site of the Mausoleum. Today, the British Museum in London contains statues and relief slabs from the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus. Interestingly, the modern word "mausoleum," which means a building used as a tomb, comes from the name Mausolus, for whom this wonder of the world was named.

The tradition of creating mausoleums in cemeteries continues around the world today. Families and individuals build mausoleums, both large and small, in their own or others' honor following their deaths.

In addition to these more common mausoleums, there are other, larger mausoleums that are tourist attractions today. Since the nineteenth century, archeological excavations have been undertaken at the Mausoleum site.

These excavations together with detailed descriptions by ancient historians give us a fairly good idea about the shape and appearance of the Mausoleum.

A modern reconstruction of the shorter side of the Mausoleum illustrates the lavish nature of the art and architecture of the building Bishop Eustathius, observes in his commentary on Homer, in the twelfth century, that it is a marvel. But when the Knights arrived in they found it in ruins.

Looking for building-stone and material for burning lime. By , almost every block of the Mausoleum had been disassembled and used for construction One of the knights named La Touret describes the plundering of the tomb in his memoires, saying: "First we found the stairs leading down to the burial chamber below the ground and we were breathless at the spectacular sight in front of our eyes. Who was Mausolos In the fourth century great changes took place in Caria.

After it came again under Persian dominion, it was ruled by the satrap Hecatomnos of Mylasa, from his death on in by his son Mausolus. The kingdom of Caria in the western part of Asia Minor Turkey was so far from the Persian capital that it was practically autonomous.

Hecatomnus had been ambitious and had taken control of several of the neighboring cities and districts. Mausolus extended the territory even further so that it finally included most of southwestern Asia Minor. Halicarnassus lived its brightest years during the reign of Mausolus BC. During his reign Mausolus transferred his capital from Mylasa to Halicarnassus. Until then Halicarnassus was a comparatively small city, but Mausolus, observing her natural advantages for fortification and commerce from sea.

His ideas were never on a niggardly seale, and he set out to create a worthy capital city. He transplanted the inhabitants of six of the eight Lelegian cities in the neighbourhood. These were of varying size, but some at least, if we may judge by the tribute they paid to Athens in the fifth century, seem to have been comparable to Halicarnassus herself, and the population of the new city must have been four or five times that of the old.

Mausolus was well established in his new capital by BC, and before the end of his reign he ruled from here over a kingdom that included all of Caria and considerable portions of Ionia and Lycia, as well as the islands of Rhodes, Cos, and Chios. Mausolos taxed these subjects heavily to pay for these and other grandscale projects, and it is said that he even imposed a levy on hair longer then shoulder length.

Mausolus, with his queen Artemisia, ruled over Halicarnassus and the surrounding territory for 24 years. For his own residence Mausolus built a palace with walls of dried brick, finished in all parts with marble from the Sea of Marmara. Nothing of this palace survives today, and its position has been the subject of much discussion.

Then in BC. Mausolus died, leaving his queen Artemisia, who was also his sister It was the custom in Caria for rulers to marry their own sisters , broken-hearted. It is not certain that Mausolos initiated the construction of the monument of moussoleion later, but as a tribute to him, Artemisis decided to build him the most splendid tomb in the known world.

It became a structure so famous that it was called one of the Seven Wonders of the world. Mausolus's name is now associated with all stately tombs through our modern word mausoleum. Who was Artemisia Mausolos died in BC.

She ruled for only three years, but in that time she made herself famous in two notable respects: The first was the superb tomb with which she has perpetuated her husband's memory, the Mausoleum.

For the form of this monument we have to rely on the description given by the elder Pliny, eked out by the rather scanty remains unearthed by Sir Charles Newton in and in more recent years by a Danish expedition. This is not the place to discuss details, but the general appearance is clear enough. The building was of rectangular shape and comprised four parts: first, a solid base or podium; above this a colonnade of thirty-six columns, disposed apparently with eleven on the flanks and nine on the short sides, surrounding a rectangular chamber; above again, a pyramid of twenty-four steps; and at the top a chariot-and-four bearing in all probability figures of Mausolus and Artemisia.

The total height, according to Pliny, was Ionic feet, about 41 metres by modern reckoning. All four sides were adorned with sculptured friezes by some of the first-rate sculptors of the day, Leochares, Bryaxis, Seopas, and Timotheus, who each took one side.

Three of them were apparently brought from Greece, but Bryaxis has a Carian name. Fragments of them are now in the British Museum, and a single slab is exhibited in the Castle of the Knights Artemisia's other claim to fame is of a totally different character. That a woman should rule over Caria seemed to the Rhodians an indignity, and also no doubt an opportunity; they therefore equipped a fleet and set out to take the kingdom from her.

Artemisia, learning of this, hid her own fleet in a secret harbour joined by a canal to the great harbour. This had been constructed by Mausolus close under his palace, so as to have his ships under his eye and to make his decisions without interference.

The Rhodians sailed in and put their men ashore to occupy the city. Whereupon the queen led her ships quickly out of the secret harbour, seized the unmanned Rhodian vesseis, and carried them out to sea. The Rhodian soldiers, deprived of their retreat, were surrounded and destroyed in the market-place. Artemisia then put her own men on the enemy ships and sailed to Rhodes.

There the Rhodians, supposing their own ships to be returning victorious, admitted the Halicarnassians, and the city was easily captured.

To celebrate this victory Artemisia had a trophy erected there in the form of a statue of herseif brand-ing the city of Rhodes. Humiliating though this was for the Rhodians, ancient custom forbade that a trophy once set up should be taken down; to hide their shame, therefore, they afterwards erected a building around it and declared it forbidden ground.

On Artemisia's death in B. Of the Macedonian siege of Halicarnassus we have detailed accounts by Diodorus and Arrian, from which the course of events is reasonably clear. Orontobates was assisted in the defence by the Rhodian Memnon fighting in the Persian cause, and the city was weil prepared, with command of the sea. Alexander fixed his headquarters on the north-east side, near the Mylasa gate, and after an unsuccessful attack on Myndus settled down to the siege of Halicarnassus.

Sending round a detachment to invest the city on the west side by the Myndus gate and to prevent reinforcement from that quarter, he took command in person on the north-east. Filling in the fosse, he brought up his siege-engines and succeeded in breaking through the wall. Ihe defenders, however, fought back vigorously and built an inner wall to dose the breach.

Ihe fighting continued with fre-quent sallies by the Persians to set fire to the engines, all of which were repulsed with much slaughter on either side; the historians emphasize the fierce and determined bravery of both parties.

One Fragments of the mausoleum's sculpture that are preserved in the British Museum include a frieze of battling Greeks and Amazons and a statue 10 feet 3 m long, probably of Mausolus. Sir Charles Newton Travellers to Bodrum had long reported that many fragments of the aneient Mausoleum were to be Seen built into the walls of the castle of St. British ambassador to the Sublime Porte, who instructed hirn to report on what sculptures of the Mausoleum were visible in the walls of the fortress.

Canning sent an expedition to Bodrum to remove the sculptures, which were carried off to England in a British warship. The marbles, which included thirteen of the original seventeen slabs of an Amazonomachy, a battle hetween Greeks and Amazons, were exhibitcd in the Mausoleum Room of the British Museum along with more sculptures obtained by Sir Charles Newton in his excavations at Bodrum in , another expedition sponsored by Canning.

During his exeavations Newton succeeded in finding the site of the Mausoleum itseif, a diseovery he described in his Traveis and Discoveries in the Levant.

In B. It was in that year the ruler of this land, Hecatomnus of Mylasa, died and left control of the kingdom to his son, Mausolus. Hecatomnus, a local satrap to the Persians, had been ambitious and had taken control of several of the neighboring cities and districts. Mausolus in his time, extended the territory even further so that it finally included most of southwestern Asia Minor.

Mausolus, though he was descended from the local people, spoke Greek and admired the Greek way of life and government. He founded many cities of Greek design along the coast and encouraged Greek democratic traditions. Then in B. As a tribute to him, she decided to build him the most splendid tomb in the known world. It became a structure so famous that Mausolus's name is now associated with all stately tombs through our modern word mausoleum.

The building was also so beautiful and unique it became one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Artemisia decided that no expense was to be spared in the building of the tomb. She sent messengers to Greece to find the most talented artists of the time.

This included Scopas, the man who had supervised the rebuilding of the Temple to Artemis at Ephesus. Other famous sculptors such as Bryaxis, Leochares and Timotheus joined him as well as hundreds of other craftsmen. The tomb was erected on a hill overlooking the city. The whole structure sat in an enclosed courtyard. At the center of the courtyard was a stone platform on which the tomb itself sat.

A staircase, flanked by stone lions, led to the top of this platform. Along the outer wall of this were many statues depicting gods and goddess. At each corner stone warriors, mounted on horseback, guarded the tomb. At the center of the platform was the tomb itself. Made mostly of marble, the structure rose as a square, tapering block to about one-third of the Mausoleum's foot height. One part showed the battle of the Centaurs with the Lapiths. Another depicted Greeks in combat with the Amazons, a race of warrior women.

On top of this section of the tomb thirty-six slim columns, nine per side, rose for another third of the height. Standing in between each column was another statue. Behind the columns was a solid block that carried the weight of the tomb's massive roof.

The roof, which comprised most of the final third of the height, was in the form of a stepped pyramid. Perched on top was the tomb's penultimate work of sculpture: Four massive horses pulling a chariot in which images of Mausolus and Artemisia rode.

Soon after construction of the tomb started Artemisia found herself in a crisis. When the Rhodians heard of his death they rebelled and sent a fleet of ships to capture the city of Halicarnassus. Knowing that the Rhodian fleet was on the way, Artemisa hid her own ships at a secret location at the east end of the city's harbor. After troops from the Rhodian fleet disembarked to attack, Artemisia's fleet made a surprise raid, captured the Rhodian fleet, and towed it out to sea.

Artemisa put her own soldiers on the invading ships and sailed them back to Rhodes. Fooled into thinking that the returning ships were their own victorious navy, the Rhodians failed to put up a defense and the city was easily captured quelling the rebellion. Artemisa lived for only two years after the death of her husband. Both would be buried in the yet unfinished tomb. According to the historian Pliny, the craftsmen decided to stay and finish the work after their patron died "considering that it was at once a memorial of their own fame and of the sculptor's art.

In rumors of a Turkish invasion caused Crusaders to strengthen the castle at Halicarnassus which was by then known as Bodrum and much of the remaining portions of the tomb was broken up and used within the castle walls. At this time a party of knights entered the base of the monument and discovered the room containing a great coffin. The party, deciding it was too late to open it that day, returned the next morning to find the tomb, and any treasure it may have contained, plundered.

The bodies of Mausolus and Artemisia were missing too. The Knights claimed that Moslem villagers were responsible for the theft, but it is more likely that some of the Crusaders themselves plundered the graves.

Before grounding much of the remaining sculpture of the Mausoleum into lime for plaster the Knights removed several of the best works and mounted them in the Bodrum castle. There they stayed for three centuries. At that time the British ambassador obtained several of the statutes from the castle, which now reside in the British Museum.

The monument was according to some sources still standing in the 12th century AD. Between and Sir Charles Newton and in G.