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Mausolus

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Mausolus (Greek: Μαύσωλος; also Maussollus) was a satrap of the Persian empire and virtual ruler of Caria (377-353/352 BC).

Tetradrachm of Mausolus. The obverse depicts a lion, the reverse a star with eight rays.

He took part in the revolt against Artaxerxes Mnemon (362), conquered a great part of Lycia, Ionia and several of the Greek islands and cooperated with the Rhodians and their ally in the Social War against Athens. He moved his capital from Mylasa, the ancient seat of the Carian kings, to Halicarnassus.

Mausolus was the eldest son of Hecatomnus of Mylasa, a native Carian who became Satrap of Caria when Tissaphernes died, around 395 BC. These Carian rulers embraced Hellenic culture.

Artemisia Prepares to Drink the Ashes of her Husband, Mausolus (ca. 1630), attributed to Francesco Furini

He is best known from the tomb erected for him by his sister and widow Artemisia, the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus, one of the Seven Wonders of the World in ancient times. The architects Satyrus and Pythis, and the sculptors Scopas, Leochares, Bryaxis and Timotheus, finished the work after the death of Artemisia, some of them working, it was said, purely for renown. The term Mausoleum has come to be used generically for any grand tomb. Its site and a few remains can still be seen in the Turkish town of Bodrum.

An inscription discovered at Mylasa (Philipp August Böckh, Inscr. gr. ii. 2691 c.) details the punishment of certain conspirators who had made an attempt upon his life at a festival in a temple at Labranda in 353.

References

  • Public Domain This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domainChisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)