The Mausoleum of Halirarnassus

When Persian expanded their kingdom and conquered countries surrounding its country included Asia Minor. King of Persian elected Satrap (Governor) to rule some provinces where far apart from the kingdom. One of Satrap whom rules the Caria province called king Maussollos. This Satrap might not have any great contribution that can be remembered however he became more famous than other Satraps or Persian King to the world later.

The story begins 377 years before Christ born. This king decided to build a very impressive tomb to himself. Maybe because of building the tomb, most of his time and money invested in his tomb construction and he didn’t have much contribution towards his kingdom. The poor king Maussollos didn’t manage to see the completion of his impressive tomb and the tomb only completed three years after the king death. This tomb is so impressive and known as one of the Seven Ancient Wonders of the wonder and the name of the king is used to designate the large tomb today as Mausoleum.

Why the Mausoleum has been renowned as one of the ancient wonder? The structure of Mausoleum was rectangular and comprises 4 different tiers. This is quite similar to the Buddhist Pagoda with different tiers in present.

The dimension of the base is around 40 m by 30 m with 4 tiers:

• The stepped podium (20 m)
• Colonnade (12 m)
• Pyramid Roof (7 m)
• A Statue of Chariot (6 m)

Total height of the tomb was 45 m. (Around 10 times the height of standard basketball post)
On the top of the tomb, there was a statue of Chariot pulled by 4 horses. The second tier was a pyramid as the roof of third tier - Colonnade. The Colonnade was surrounded by Ionic columns and sculptures. The lower tier of Mausoleum was formed by stepped podium. Each side of the stepped podium was decorated with statues. There were statues of people, warriors, lions, horses and other animals. Mausoleum was the special structure during that period of time as those statues was dedicated to a human but was not dedicated to the gods of Ancient Greece.

The Mausoleum was destroyed by an earthquake caused some damage to colonnade and the roof. In the early fifteenth century, the Knight of St. John from Malta invaded Halirarnassus and torn down remains of Mausoleum to built their castle.

Before Natasha and I visited the ruin of Mausoleum, we know that we cannot expect any spectacular sculpture remained. As we know most important sculptures and statues found during excavation have been sent to British Museum. The ruin of Mausoleum is located at Bodrum, Turkey. When we entered in to the ruin in August, 2004, we proved that our thoughts are right. Some fragment of columns, stones, debris are scattered around the ruin. This is not easy for us to image this place was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World in the past. We don’t have any clue on which part of the ruin was the colonnade, where was the stepped podium or any sight of the infamous chariot on the top of the tomb. The only sight that visible to us is the base of the Mausoleum.

The impressive of Mausoleum can be imagined with the miniature model in the exhibit room at the ruin of Mausoleum. With the visual aid of the Mausoleum model in the exhibit room and look at the size of the base, we try to imagine how each part of the Mausoleum model was built in the actual site of ruin.

Some debris remained showed some war scenes. This debris is believed at the lower tier or second tier. Archer fight with warrior on horse (Right) and 2 warriors on horse fighting (Left).



Besides Mausolean’s ruin, some pre Mausolean remains are impressive. There is a Pre Mausolean stairway lead to the tomb chamber. The stairway was constructed with pieces of stone and arranged in the orderly pattern. Don’t expect to see any sarcophagus of the King nor any treasure remains in the tomb chamber. There are only some wall with marble columns remained.



Today, the castle built by Knight of St. John from Malta still stands in Bodrum. The stone and marble blocks of the Mausoleum can be seen in the walls of the castle.