This mausoleum, built about 350 BC by noted Greek architects for an official of the Persian Empire and his womenfolk, survived for hundreds of years intact until the Knights Hospitiller raided its green marble stones to build their castle fort. It was so artfully executed with reliefs and pillars that it was considered one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World and its name is the forefather of the word mausoleum – originally it just meant building dedicated to Mausolus.

The tomb was originally 45 metres high and withstood sixteen hundred years, overlooking the long ruined city, but was shaken enough to crack the main pillars in an earthquake and began to crumble rapidly so that it was easy for the Knights to use the stone for their castle. They pulled of several of the nicest sections to add to their castle but ground much of the stone for lime. Some of the mausoleums stone work was taken to be displayed in the British Museum, but on the spot today you can still clearly make out the foundations and learn a bit more at an onsite museum. The nearest approximations to the mausoleum today are Grant’s Tomb, Melbourne’s Shrine of Remembrance and the Spire of St. George’s Church in Bloomsbury.

Written by  World Reviewer Staff.

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