THE MAUSOLEUM
Today, unfortunately all that remain from the Mausoleum are the hollow where it once stood and reliefs and designs depicting it. The place where the Mausoleum once stood, seems like a pit and in order to understand what it actually was, one has to visit the adjacent exhibition hall. 
Mausoleum, which was one of the Seven Wonders of the World, had dimensions of 32 meters by 38 meters and it rose from an area whose dimensions were 105 meters by 242,5 meters. According to the historians of ancient days, Mausoleum was made up of four parts. There was a large platform from which 36 ionic columns rose to form a temple. The roof was shaped like a pyramid with 24 steps and over the roof there was a carriage drawn by four horses. In the carriage were statues of Maussollos and Artemisia. The Roman writer Pliny who lived in the first century AD, has mentioned the exact height of the monument in his work "NaturaliseHistoria", but this could not be deciphered as that specific part of the book is faded. However, on the list of Seven Wonders of the World, the height of the Mausoleum is given as 80 ionic ft which is equivalent to 55 meters, or a building with 20 floors. These dimensions are taken as a basis for the model in the exhibition hall. The writers of ancient times state that the architect who built the Mausoleum was Pytheos, however the name of Satyros was also mentiûned. Vitrivius, the author of "De Arkitektura" stated that the most famous sculptors of the 4th century BC made sculptures for this monument. The monument stood intact for one thousand and five hundred years, until being destroyed by an earthquake on August 8, 1304. 
Unfortunately, the hollow where the Mausoleum once stood cannot reflect the Mausoleum's magnificence. When you corae to Bodrum, you will have to summon up your full imaginative powers, in order to visualize the grandeur of the Mausoleum while looking at its hollow. Model ofthe Mausoleum.
Amazonamati-Relief of the Mausoleum 4th Century BC
The Mausoleum 4th Century BC |
