Mausoleum at Halicarnassus (c. 353 BC): Tomb of King Mausolus

The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus was the monumental tomb of Mausolus, ruler of Caria in south-western Asia Minor, begun around the time of his death in 353 BC at his capital, Halicarnassus, now Bodrum in Turkey. Designed by Greek architects and decorated by some of the most famous sculptors of the age, it was so admired that it became one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. It also gave its name to every grand tomb since: the mausoleum.

Mausolus and Caria

Caria was a region of mixed Carian and Greek population within the Persian Empire. From 377 BC it was governed by Mausolus, a member of the local Hecatomnid dynasty who held the title of satrap, or Persian governor, but ruled much like an independent king.

Mausolus moved his capital from inland Mylasa to the coastal city of Halicarnassus, which he enlarged and fortified, with new walls, a palace and harbours. He took part in the Satraps’ Revolt against the Persian king in the 360s BC and extended his influence over nearby Greek islands such as Rhodes, Cos and Chios. Like other Hecatomnids, he married his sister, Artemisia, following a custom of the dynasty.

Building the tomb

The tomb was probably planned during Mausolus’ lifetime as part of his rebuilding of Halicarnassus. When he died in 353 BC, Artemisia II succeeded him and pushed the work forward. Ancient writers tell how she grieved deeply for her husband, and later stories said she mixed his ashes into her drink. She died around 351 BC, before the monument was complete.

According to Pliny the Elder, the sculptors carried on without pay after her death, for the sake of their own glory and the fame of the work. Each was given one side: Scopas the east, Bryaxis the north, Timotheus the south and Leochares the west. The architects were Pytheos and Satyros, who, according to Vitruvius, wrote a book about the building. Pytheos is also said to have made the marble four-horse chariot group (quadriga) that crowned it.

What it looked like

No ancient picture of the Mausoleum survives, and every reconstruction is partly guesswork, based on Pliny’s description and the fragments recovered. The main elements are agreed:

• A tall rectangular podium of stone, probably decorated with tiers of free-standing statues.
• A colonnade of 36 Ionic columns above, enclosing the burial chamber area.
• A stepped pyramid roof of 24 steps, according to Pliny.
• A colossal marble chariot group drawn by four horses on the very top.

Pliny gives the total height as 140 Roman feet, about 41 metres, and modern estimates generally fall between 40 and 45 metres. Sculpted friezes around the building showed battles of Greeks against Amazons, of Lapiths against centaurs, and chariot races. Traces of paint show that the sculpture and architecture were originally brightly coloured.

A wonder of the world

The Mausoleum combined Greek architecture and sculpture with older Anatolian and Egyptian ideas of a monumental royal tomb. Its scale, its richness of sculpture and its unusual shape made it famous across the Greek world. Hellenistic writers placed it in their lists of the Seven Wonders, alongside the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, the Colossus of Rhodes and the pyramids of Giza.

When Alexander the Great besieged Halicarnassus in 334 BC, the city suffered heavy damage, but the Mausoleum was spared. It remained standing through the Roman and Byzantine periods and was described by travellers as late as the 12th century AD.

Destruction

Earthquakes between the 12th and 15th centuries probably toppled the upper parts of the building. In 1404 the Knights of St John (the Knights Hospitaller), based on Rhodes, began building the Castle of St Peter at Bodrum. They took stone from the ruins, and in 1494 and again around 1522, when they strengthened the castle against the Ottoman Turks, they quarried the Mausoleum extensively, burning much of its marble for lime and setting relief slabs into the castle walls.

A 16th-century account, published by the Frenchman Claude Guichard in 1581, describes the discovery of a rich chamber in the foundations, which was looted overnight. Whatever the details of that story, very little of the tomb remained above ground after the 16th century.

Rediscovery and the British Museum

In 1846 the British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, Stratford Canning, obtained permission to remove frieze slabs from the walls of Bodrum castle and send them to London. In 1856–1857 the archaeologist Charles Newton excavated the site itself, located its foundations and recovered many sculptures, including the colossal male and female statues traditionally identified as Mausolus and Artemisia, though the identification is uncertain, and parts of the horses from the crowning chariot.

These finds formed the basis of the Mausoleum room at the British Museum, where they remain. Danish archaeologists led by Kristian Jeppesen re-examined the site from 1966 onwards, refining the reconstructions. In Bodrum, the site is now an open-air museum.

The sculptures

The Mausoleum was as much a showcase of sculpture as of architecture. Hundreds of figures may have stood on and around it: lions guarding the edges, life-size and larger statues of members of the dynasty and their ancestors, and scenes of hunting and sacrifice. Only a fraction survives, much of it broken.

The best-known pieces are slabs of the Amazon frieze, in which Greek warriors and mounted Amazons clash in dramatic, twisting poses. Scholars have tried for generations to assign individual slabs to Scopas, Bryaxis, Timotheus or Leochares on grounds of style, without reaching agreement. The surviving horse from the crowning chariot group, far larger than life even in its broken state, gives a sense of the colossal scale at the top of the building.

The two great standing statues known as “Mausolus” and “Artemisia” are among the most famous portrait-like figures of the period. The male figure, with long hair and a heavy, non-Greek face, is often used as an image of Mausolus himself, but it may represent another member of the family or an ancestor.

Key people

• Mausolus (ruled 377–353 BC), the Hecatomnid satrap of Caria, who rebuilt Halicarnassus and probably planned his own tomb.
• Artemisia II (ruled 353–c. 351 BC), his sister and widow, who continued the work and became a byword for devoted mourning.
• Pytheos, architect of the Mausoleum and of the temple of Athena at Priene.
• Scopas, Bryaxis, Timotheus and Leochares, the four leading sculptors named by Pliny.
• Charles Newton (1816–1894), the British archaeologist who excavated the site in 1856–1857.

Timeline

• 377 BC: Mausolus becomes ruler of Caria.
• c. 370s–360s BC: Mausolus moves his capital to Halicarnassus.
• 353 BC: Mausolus dies; Artemisia II continues the tomb.
• c. 351 BC: Artemisia II dies; the sculptors continue the work.
• 334 BC: Alexander the Great besieges Halicarnassus.
• 1404: The Knights of St John begin the Castle of St Peter at Bodrum.
• 1494–1522: The knights quarry the ruins to strengthen the castle.
• 1856–1857: Charles Newton excavates the site and ships sculptures to London.

Why it matters

The Mausoleum showed how Greek artists could serve a non-Greek ruler and blend traditions from across the Persian world. Its surviving sculptures are key works of 4th-century BC Greek art, and its name lives on in every great tomb, from Rome’s Mausoleum of Hadrian to modern memorials.