MAUSOLEUM (Greek, nuntsoleion), a tomb or burial place, the name of which is de rived from Mausolus, a king of Caria, to whom a sumptuous sepulchre was raised by his wife, Artemisia, at Halicarnassus. King Mausolus died 353 ac.; and his wife was so disconsolate that she perpetuated his memory by the erection of this magnificent monument which became so famous as to be esteemed the seventh wonder of the world, and to give a generic name to all superb sepulchres. Its entire height was 140 feet, and the entire circuit 411 feet. It was overthrown, probably by an earthquake, be tween the 12th and 15th centuries; and when the Knights of Rhodes took possession of Halicarnassus in 1404 they availed themselves of the materials of the mausoleum to erect the fortress of San Pietro. Parts of the frieze were transported to the British Museum in 1846. Other famous mausoleums are that erected at Babylon by Alexander the Great in honor of Hephzstion, equally magnificent with that of Mausolus, though less refined; and the mauso leum of Augustus, built by him in the sixth con sulate on the Campus Martins, between the Via Flaminia and the Tiber, the ruins of which are still seen near the church of Saint Ronne. One
of the obelisks which stood before this superb building was found in the reign of Pope Sixtus V. This mausoleum contained the ashes of Augustus, Marcellus, Agrippa, Germanicus and of some later emperors. The mausoleum of Hadrian at Rome is now the Castle of San Angelo. Consult Adler, 'Das Mausoleum zu Halikarnas' (Berlin 1900) ; Newton, 'History of Discoveries at Halicarnassus, Cnidus and Branchidae) (London 1863) ; id., 'Travels and Discoveries in the Levant> (ib. 1865) ; Smith, A. H., 'Catalogue of Sculptures in the British Museum' (Vol. II, ib. 1900).