Mausoleum at Halicarnassus

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.