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This is such an elegant piece of architectural
wonder that, it found a place in the list
of ancient wonders among the great seven wonders
of the world, like pyramids.
Location:
This Wonder of the World, is located in the city of Bodrum, on the Aegan sea, in south-west Turkey. This is
actually closer to the ancient
Temple of
Artemis.
Description:
This Mausoleum was built in memory and as a burial tomb for the
King Mausolus. King Mausolus was married
to his sister Artemisia in his family. In those times,
Caria rulers had a custom to marry their
own sisters. When the king died,
Artemisia decided to build this monument
in his memory, which later found a place
among the seven wonders of the world.
Mausolus was the son of Hecatomnus. Hecatomnus ruled the
Mediterranean coast of Asia minor with a
small kingdom. He took control of
several of his neighboring regions,
during his reign.
After Hecatomnus' death, Mausolus also extended
the kingdom.
Mausolus ruled this kingdom with the capital as
Halicarnassus for 24 years. There was
nothing worth mentioning as his
achievement
during his tenure except for this
monument with its exceptional beauty
later to
be called as one of the seven wonders of the
world.
This Mausoleum was built around 353 BC.
This lasted strong for 16
centuries till an earthquake damaged the
roof and the colonnade of this
structure. In the early 15th century
AD Knights of John of Malta, used the stone
blocks in this structure to construct a
castle. That was the end to the story of
this Mausoleum, one among the seven
wonders of the world in ancient times.
This Mausoleum had a lot of beautiful statues sculpted by the best
sculptors like Bryaxis, Leochares,
Scopas, and Timotheus. Some of the
artifacts are still kept in London.
Soon after the construction of this
wonder of the world, Mausoleum Artemisia found herself in a
crisis. Before death, Mausolus used to control the
small neighboring regions like Rhodes island
and others.
When the Rhodes island king came to know
that Mausolus has died, he sent a number
of ships to capture the city of
Halicarnassus. But Artemisia beat them
cleverly by hiding her ships and then
attacking her enemies.
Then she
successfully sent her troops to the Rhodes
island on the enemy ships and captured
Rhodes Island. The Rhodes Island
soldiers thought that it is their people
who are coming back with victory. They
did not put up any defense. So they were
easily conquered.
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