When Mausolus, king of Caria, died about B. C. 353, his wife Artemisia,
was so disconsolate, that she drank up his ashes, and resolved to erect
in the city of Halicarnassus, one of the grandest and noblest monuments
of antiquity, to celebrate the memory of a husband whom she tenderly
loved. She therefore employed Bryaxis, Scopas, Timotheus, and Leocarus,
four of the most renowned sculptors and architects of the golden age of
Grecian art, to erect that famous mausoleum which was accounted one of
the seven wonders of the world, and gave its name to all similar
structures in succeeding ages. Its dimensions on the north and south
sides were sixty-three feet, the east and west sides were a little
shorter, and its extreme height was one hundred and forty feet. It was
surrounded with thirty-six splendid marble columns. Byaxis executed the
north side, Scopas the east, Timotheus the south, and Leocarus the west.
Artemisia died before the work was completed; but the artists continued
their work with unabated zeal, and they endeavored to rival each other
in the beauty and magnificence with which they decorated this admirable
work. A fifth sculptor, named Pythis, was added to them, who executed a
noble four horse chariot of marble, which was placed on a pyramid
crowning the summit of the mausoleum.