Story
The story of Mausoleum at Halicarnassus
Every monumental tomb called a "mausoleum" takes its name from the one that stood here. Built for the Carian satrap Mausolos, probably begun in 355 BC and continued after his death by his wife and sister Artemisia, the Mausoleion was counted among the Seven Wonders of the World. On a base of 32 x 38 metres rose a podium, a temple-like storey with 36 Ionic columns, a pyramid roof of 24 steps and, at the top, statues of Mausolos and Artemisia in a four-horse chariot.
Pliny gave its height as 180 Ionic feet, about 55 metres. Today you look down into a pit. When the Knights of St John arrived in 1402 they found it in ruins and took its stones to build Bodrum Castle.
Visit the exhibition hall first: the model and reliefs help you picture what once rose here.
This story is compiled from Wikipedia and other open sources; dates and numbers are checked against the source. The text is shared under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence. Source ↗
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