Mausoleum of Maussollos
2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Ancient History, Classical History and Mythology
The Mausoleum of Maussollos, or Mausoleum of Halicarnassus was a tomb built between 353– 350 BC at Halicarnassus (present Bodrum, Turkey), for Mausolus (in Greek, Μαύσωλος), a provincial king in the Persian Empire, and Artemisia II of Caria, his wife and sister. The structure was designed by the Greek architects Satyrus and Pythius. It stood approximately 45 meters (135 feet) in height, and each of the four sides was adorned with sculptural reliefs created by one of four Greek sculptors — Bryaxis, Leochares, Scopas and Timotheus. The finished structure was considered to be such an aesthetic triumph that Antipater of Sidon identified it as one of his seven wonders of the ancient world. The word mausoleum has since come to be used generically for any grand tomb, though "Mausol – eion", originally meant "associated with Mausol".
Life of Maussollos and Artemisia
In 377 BC, Halicarnassus was the capital of a small region and kingdom in the coast of Anatolia. In that year the ruler of the region, Hecatomnus of Milas, died and left the control of the kingdom to his son, Mausolus. Hecatomnus, a local satrap from the Persians, took control of several of the neighboring cities and districts. After Mausolus and Artemisia, he had several other sons and daughters: Ada (adopted mother of Alexander), Idrieus and Pixodarus. Mausolus extended its territory as far as the southwest of Anatolia. Mausolus and Artemisia ruled from Halicarnassus over the surrounding territory for 24 years. Mausolus, although descended from 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. Mausolus decided to build a new capital, a city as hard to be captured as magnificent as to be seen. He chose the town of Halicarnassus. If Mausolus' ships blocked a small channel, they could keep all enemy warships out. He started for to make of Halicarnassus a fit capital for a warrior prince. His workmen deepened the city's harbour and used the dragged sand for to make protecting arms in front of the channel. On land, they paved squares, streets and houses for ordinary citizens, and on one side of the harbour they built a massive fortress– palace for Mausolus, positioned for to have clear views out to sea and inland to the hills - places from where enemies could attack. On land, the workmen built also walls and watchtowers, a Greek– style theatre and a temple to Ares, the Greek god of war.
Mausolus and Artemisia spent huge amounts of tax money to embellish the city. They bought statues, temples and buildings of gleaming marble. In the centre of the city Mausolus planned to place a resting place for his body after he was dead. It would be a tomb that would forever show how rich he and his queen were. And in 353 BC Mausolus died, leaving Artemisia broken-hearted. (It was the custom in Caria for rulers to marry their own sisters. One reason for this type of marriage was that it kept the power and the wealth in the family.) As a tribute to him, she decided to build him the most splendid tomb in the then 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 construction was also so beautiful and unique it became one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Soon after construction of the tomb started Artemisia found herself in a crisis. Rhodes, an island in the Aegean sea between Greece and Anatolia, had been conquered by Mausolus. When the Rhodians heard about 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, Artemisia hid her own ships at a secret location at the east end of the city's harbour. 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. Artemisia 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. Artemisia lived for only two years after the death of her husband. The urns with their ashes were placed in the yet unfinished tomb. As a form of sacrifice ritual the bodies of a large number of dead animals were placed on the stairs leading to the tomb, then the stairs were filled with stones and rubble, sealing its access. According to the historian Pliny, the craftsmen decided to stay and finish the work after the death of their patron "considering that it was at once a memorial of his own fame and of the sculptor's art."
The construction of the Mausoleum
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. These included Scopas, the man who had supervised the rebuilding of the temple of Artemis at Ephesus. Other famous sculptors such as Bryaxis, Leochares and Timotheus joined him 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 centre of the courtyard was a stone platform on which the tomb sat itself. A stairway, flanked by stone lions statues, led to the top of the 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 centre of the platform was the tomb itself. Made mostly of marble, the structure rose as a square, tapering block to one-third of the Mausoleum's 45-meter (135-foot) height. This section was covered with relief sculpture showing action scenes from Greek mythology/history. 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 the 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 object 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 pyramid. Perched on the top was a quadriga: four massive horses pulling a chariot in which images of Mausolus and Artemisia rode.
The Mausoleum in medieval and modern times
The Mausoleum overlooked the city of Halicarnassus for many centuries. It was untouched when the city fell to Alexander the Great in 334 BC and still undamaged after attacks by pirates in 62 and 58 BC. It stood above the city ruins for some 16 centuries. Then a series of earthquakes shattered the columns and sent the stone chariot crashing to the ground. By 1404 only the very base of the Mausoleum was still recognizable. In the early 15th century AD, the Knights of St John of Malta invaded the region and built a massive castle. When they decided to fortify it in 1494, they used the stones of the Mausoleum. In 1522 rumors of a Turkish invasion caused the Crusaders to strengthen the castle at Halicarnassus (which was by then known as Bodrum) and much of the remaining portions of the tomb were broken up and used within the castle walls. Sections of polished marble from the tomb can still be seen there today. At this time a party of knights entered the base of the monument and discovered the room containing a great coffin. In many histories of the Mausoleum one can find the following story on what happened: 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 just as likely that some of the Crusaders themselves plundered the graves. On the walls of the small museum building next to the site of the Mausoleum we find a different story. Research done by archeologists in the 1960s shows that long before the knights came grave robbers had dug a tunnel under the grave chamber, stealing its contents. Also the museum states that it is most likely that Mausolus and Artemisia were cremated, so only an urn with their ashes were placed in the grave chamber. This explains why no bodies were found.
Before grinding and burning 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 statues from the castle, which now reside in the British Museum. In 1852 the Museum sent the archaeologist Charles Thomas Newton to search for more remains of the Mausoleum. He had a difficult job. He didn't know the exact location of the tomb and the cost of buying up all the small parcels of land in the area to look for it would have been astronomical. Instead Newton studied the accounts of ancient writers like Pliny to obtain the approximate size and location of the memorial, then bought a plot of land in the most likely location. Digging down, Newton explored the surrounding area through tunnels he dug under the surrounding plots. He was able to locate some walls, a staircase, and finally three of the corners of the foundation. With this knowledge, Newton was able to figure out which plots of land he needed to buy. Newton then excavated the site and found sections of the reliefs that decorated the wall of the building and portions of the stepped roof. Also discovered was a broken stone chariot wheel some 2 metres (7 feet) in diameter, which came from the sculpture on the Mausoleum's roof. Finally, he found the statues of Mausolus and Artemisia that had stood at the pinnacle of the building. From 1966 to 1977, the Mausoleum was thoroughly researched by Prof. Kristian Jeppesen of Aarhus University, Denmark. He has produced a six-volume work on the Mausoleum called "The Maussolleion at Halikarnassos". The beauty of the Mausoleum is not only in the structure itself, but in the decorations and statues that adorned the outside at different levels on the podium and the roof. These were tens of life-size as well as under and over life-size free-standing statues of people, lions, horses, and other animals. The four Greek sculptors who carved the statues: Bryaxis, Leochares, Scopas and Timotheus were each responsible for one side. Because the statues were of people and animals, the Mausoleum holds a special place in history, as it was not dedicated to the gods of Ancient Greece. Nowadays, the massive castle of the Knights of Malta still stands in Bodrum, and the polished stone and marble blocks of the Mausoleum can be spotted within the walls of the structure. At the site of the Mausoleum itself, only the foundation remains of the once magnificent Wonder, together with a small museum. Some of the sculptures survived and are today on display at the British Museum in London. These include fragment of statues and many slabs of the frieze showing the battle between the Greeks and the Amazons. There the images of Mausolus and his queen forever watch over the few broken remains of the beautiful tomb she built for him and that is now lost to eternity. Modern buildings based upon the Mausoleum of Maussollos include: Grant's Tomb in New York City; Los Angeles City Hall; the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia; the spire of St. George's Church Bloomsbury in London; the Indiana War Memorial in Indianapolis; and the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite Southern Jurisdiction's headquarters, the House of the Temple in Washington D.C.