Mausoleum

MAUSOLEUM. This Word is used for those magnificent Tombs that are erected for Kings, and other great Men. See 2 Chron. xxxv. 24. Vulgat. where it is said that Josiah was buried in the Mausoleum [or Sepulchre] of his Fathers. Mausolus King of Caria, who died in the second Year of the hundredth Olympiad, for whom his Wife erected a most magnificent Tomb, gave Occasion for all such Monuments to be called Mausolea.

His Queen Artemisia was so much concerned at his Death, that having gathered up his Ashes, and beating his Bones to Powder, she put some of it every Day into a Mess of Broth, till she had eat it all up; making, as it were, her own Body the Sepulchre of her Husband. Her Affliction did not allow her to live above two Years after him. But before she died she took Care to eternize the Memory of her Husband by that famous Monument she made for him at Halicarnassus, the Beauty of which caused it to be reckoned as one of the seven Wonders of the World, and has given the Name of Mausoleum to all Structures of this Kind, that are very grand and magnificent.

Scopas, Bryaxis, Timotheus, and Leochares, were the Architects that built it¹. Towards the South and the North its Extent was sixty three Feet, but the other two Sides were narrower. The whole Circumference of the Edifice was four Hundred and eleven Feet. Its Height was t wenty five Cubits, and it was surrounded by thirty six Columns. Scopas made the Eastern Side, Bryaxis that to the North, Timotheus that towards the South, and Leochares the Western End. Artemisia died before the Work was compleated, but the Artists made it a Point of Honour not to quit the Work; they went on with it, and brought it to Perfection. ‘Tis still disputed to this Day, says Pliny, which of the four succeeded best. A fifth Artist put his helping Hand to it, and made upon the Pinacle a Pyramid of the same Height as the Building below. It had four and twenty Steps, and diminished gradually to a Point. At the Top of the Pyramid was a Quadriga, or a Chariot drawn by four Horses, made by Sythis. All together made a Pile, the Height of which was an Hundred and forty Foot. This is what Pliny tells us of the famous Mausoleum, of which there remains now no Footsteps, either at Halycarnassus, or upon Medals, or any other antient Monuments.

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