The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus - The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World
By: CNN
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The Mausoleum at
Halicarnassus
Built: About 353 B.C.
Location: In what is now southwestern Turkey
History: This enormous white marble tomb was built to hold the
remains of Mausolus (Mausollos), a provincial king in the Persian
Empire, and his wife, Artemisia . Greek architects Satyrus and Pythius
designed the approximately 135-foot-high tomb, and four famous Grecian
sculptors added an ornamental frieze (decorated band) around its
exterior.
Word of the grandeur of the finished structure spread though the
ancient world, and the word "mausoleum" came to represent any large
tomb.
The monument was damaged by an earthquake in the early 15th century
and eventually disassembled. Only the foundation and some pieces remain.
The British Museum in London has several of the mausoleum's sculptures.
Source: http://www.cnn.com/TRAVEL/DESTINATIONS/9705/seven.wonders/mausoleum.html
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