The Mausoleum of Maussollos, also known as the Tomb of Maussollos or the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, was a tomb built for the Persian satrap Maussollos of Caria. It was about 135 ft. (45 m.) high and each side was decorated with sculptures by Leochares, Bryaxis, Scopas of Paros, and Timotheus. It became so famous that the word mausoleum, originally meaning "tomb of Maussollos", became a word for an exquisite tomb.
In 377 B. C., the ruler of Caria, Hecatomnus of Milas, died and left the kingdom to Maussollos. Maussollos extended Caria's territory to the southwest coast of Anatolia. Maussollos and his sister, Artemisia II of Caria, ruled from Halicarnassus for 24 years. Maussollos, although he was a native, spoke Greek and adopted the Greek way of life and government. He founded many Grecian cities along the coast and encouraged democracy. He improved Halicarnassus, deepened and protected the harbor, and built a fortified palace. Walls, watchtowers, a theatre, and a temple to Ares (Mars) were built. In the center of the city space for a future tomb for Maussollos and Artemisia was set out. In 353 Maussollos died, and Artemisia hired Satyros and Pythis to build the Mausoleum. Two years later, Artemisia died, with the Mausoleum unfinished. The workers decided to stay and finish the tomb, placing an urn containing the ashes of Artemisia and Maussollos in the tomb and sealing it in as they built.
The tomb was built on a hill overlooking Halicarnassus. It sat in an enclosed courtyard, with a platform in the center, upon which the tomb was placed. A stairway flanked by stone lions led to the top of the platform, which had statues of gods and goddesses carved on it. At each corner, stone horsemen guarded the tomb. At the center, the tomb rose as a tapering square block to a third of its total height. It was covered with bas-reliefs showing battles from mythology. On top of this section, thirty-six columns rose another third of the height, with a statue between each column. Behind the columns was a solid block that held up the roof. The roof, which was most of the last third, was pyramidal. On the top was a statue of a quadriga containing Maussollos and Artemisia.
The Mausoleum was never damaged by invading armies during its sixteen centuries of existence. A series of earthquakes from the middle 1200s to the early 1400s damaged it so much that only the base was recognizable. In the early fifteenth century, the Knights Hospitallar invaded and built a castle known as Bodrum Castle. When they fortified it in 1494, they used stones from the Mausoleum. In 1522 reports of a Turkish invasion force prompted them to strengthen the castle with more stone. Around this time, a group of knights entered the tomb and reported finding a great coffin. According to them, they decided it was late and returned the next day, only to find the tomb looted and the bodies of Maussollos and Artemisia missing. Modern research has shown that the tomb was looted before the knights came and that the knights did not find the corpses because they were cremated and placed in an urn.
The knights took artwork from the tomb and displayed it in Bodrum Castle for three centuries. In the 19th century, several statues were sent to the British Museum, where they remain today. The Museum sent Charles Thomas Newton to search for more remains of the Mausoleum. As the remains were by then vanished, he had to study the ancient authors to figure out the approximate size and location of the Mausoleum, then bought the best land for it to have been at. He was able to locate walls, a staircase, and three of the corners of the foundation. He then purchased the rest of the land under which it lay and found sections of the reliefs and pieces of the roof. He even found a wheel from the quadriga. Finally, he found the statues of Maussollos and Artemisia that had been in the quadriga.
Today, although Bodrum Castle still stands with visible pieces of the Mausoleum, all that is left of the Mausoleum is the foundation and a museum.
