HALICARNASSUS (mod. Budrum), an ancient Greek city on the south-west coast of Caria, Asia Minor, on the Ceramic Gulf or Gulf of Cos. It originally occupied only the small island of Zephyria close to the shore (which now has the great castle of St. Peter, built by the Knights of Rhodes in 1404), but in course of time this island was united to the mainland and the city extended so as to incorporate Salmacis, an older town of the Leleges and Carians.
About the foundation of Halicarnassus various traditions were current ; but they agree as to its being a Dorian colony, and the figures on its coins, such as the head of Medusa, Athena and Posei don, or the trident, support the statement that the mother cities were Troezen and Argos. The inhabitants appear to have accepted Anthes as their legendary founder, and were proud of the title of Antheadae. At an early period Halicarnassus was a member of the Doric Hexapolis, which included Cos, Cnidus, Lindus, Camirus and Ialysus; but owing to the lapses of Agasicles, one of its citizens, the city was cut off from the league. In the early 5th century Halicarnassus was under the sway of Artemisia, who made herself famous at the battle of Salamis. Halicarnassus and other Dorian cities of Asia were afterwards to some extent absorbed by the Delian League, but the peace of Antalcidas in 387 made them subservient to Persia; and it was under Mausolus, a Persian satrap who assumed independent authority, that Hali carnassus attained its highest prosperity. Mausolus increased the population of Halicarnassus by the inhabitants of six towns of the Leleges. He was succeeded by Artemisia, whose magnificence has been perpetuated by the "Mausoleum," the monument she erected to her husband's memory. (See MAUSOLUS.) One of her successors, Pixodarus, tried to ally himself with the rising power of Macedon.
Alexander, as soon as he had reduced Ionia, summoned Hali carnassus, where Memnon, the paramount satrap of Asia Minor, had taken refuge with the Persian fleet, to surrender; and on its refusal took the city and devastated it, but not being able to reduce the citadel, was forced to leave it blockaded. He handed the government back to the family of Mausolus. Later the citi zens received the present of a gymnasium from Ptolemy, and built in his honour a stoa or portico ; but the city never recovered entirely from the siege, and Cicero describes it as almost deserted. The site is now occupied in part by the town of Budrum; but the ancient walls can still be traced round nearly all their circuit, and the position of several of the temples, the theatre, and other public buildings can be fixed with certainty.
Excavations of the Mausoleum show that the building con sisted of five parts—a basement or podium, a pteron or enclosure of columns, a pyramid, a pedestal and a chariot group. The bas°_ ment was built of greenstone and cased with marble. The pteron consisted (according to Pliny) of thirty-six columns of the Ionic order, enclosing a square cella. Between the columns probably stood single statues. From the portions that have been recovered, it appears that the principal frieze of the pteron represented com bats of Greeks and Amazons. Above the pteron rose the pyramid, mounting by 24 steps to an apex or pedestal. On this apex stood the chariot with the figure of Mausolus himself and an attendant. The height of the statue of Mausolus in the British Museum is 9 ft. 92 in. without the plinth. All sorts of restorations of this famous monument have been proposed.
See C. T. Newton and R. P. Pullan, History of Discoveries at Halicarnassus (1862-63) ; J. Fergusson, The Mausoleum at Halicar nassus restored (1862) ; E. Oldfield "The Mausoleum," in Archaeologia (1895) ; F. Adler, Mausoleum zu Halikarnass (i9oo) ; J. P. Six in Journ. Hell. Studies (19o5) ; W. B. Dinsmoor, in Amer. Journ. of Arch. (1908) ; J. J. Stevenson, A Restoration of the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus (19o9) ; J. B. K. Preedy, "The Chariot Group of the Mausoleum," in Journ. Hell. Stud., 1910.