Raised to honour Maussolos, a Persian satrap of the 4th century BCE, the
Maussolleion in Halikarnassos was renowned throughout the ancient world
as one of its Seven Wonders. Pliny the Elder provided a useful
description of it several centuries later, but another fourteen passed
before the invention of moveable type made his observations available to
a wider public. By that time, the monument was probably ruined beyond
recognition, and by 1522 the remaining stones had been completely torn
down and reused to fortify a nearby castle. Little else was known of the
ancient monument until 1857, when C.T. Newton rediscovered the
Maussolleion site. He removed what he could find of its sculptures - the
source of the monument's original fame - to the British Museum, but
while he answered some basic questions of structure, many were left
unresolved, and his excavations jumbled much of the remaining materials.
The third major contribution to our understanding of the great mausoleum
comes from the Danish excavations led by Kristian Jeppesen from 1966 to
1977. The results of these digs are analysed in The Maussolleion at
Halikarnassos, of which three volumes form the long-awaited conclusion.
Volume 6 details Jan Zahle's investigations of subterranean structures
close to the Maussolleion. Successive spoliations - including Newton's -
have greatly muddled the archaeological record, and the Danish
excavations uncovered evidence of another complication: plans for the
site appear to have changed during construction, so that what was
originally intended as a modest extension of existing structures evolved
into a huge tomb on an immense terrace. His thorough sifting of evidence
resolves many contradictions, though uncertainties remain.
