FIG. 79. MAUSOLEUM: MR. OLDFIELD.

which exists for the reconstruction, after engraving side by side the plans set forth by Mr. Pullan ([Fig. 78]) and Mr. Oldfield ([Fig. 79])[301] on the basis of that evidence. Readers to whom such inquiries have no interest would do well to omit the rest of this chapter.

Our materials are of four kinds. First we have the statements of certain ancient writers. Second, we have the curious account by Guichard of the state of the building when it was partially destroyed by the Knights of St. John in 1522. Third, we may cite the analogy of other ancient buildings of the same kind, so far as they are preserved. And of course all these sources of information must be used in strict subordination to the evidence of excavation and of the remains actually existing.

1. Ancient Writers.

Hyginus[302] mentions three facts in regard to the Mausoleum; he says that it was of Parian marble, 80 feet in height, 1,350 feet in circumference. In two of these statements he is certainly right. The marble of the Mausoleum is Parian, and the circuit of the sacred enclosure or peribolus is given by Newton as 1,348 English feet. But as to the height of the building Hyginus contradicts Pliny, and must probably be corrected by him.

Martial, in a curious line, speaks of the Mausoleum as suspended in the air[303]. This phrase certainly implies that it did not appear to spectators a solid and massive structure, but light and aspiring. Mr. Oldfield contends that the phrase would well describe a building whereof the upper part rested mainly on pillars[304], and would certainly not apply to a building of which solidity is the most striking feature, as it is of Mr. Pullan’s reconstruction.

The most important of ancient writers on the Mausoleum is Pliny[305], whose description we must transcribe at length, both in Latin and English.

Scopas habuit aemulos eadem aetate Bryaxim et Timotheum et Leocharen, de quibus simul dicendum est quoniam pariter caelauere Mausoleum. Sepulcrum hoc est ab uxore Artemisia factum Mausolo Cariae regulo, qui obiit Olympiadis cvii[306] anno secundo. Opus id ut esset inter septem miracula hi maxime fecere artifices. Patet ab austro et septentrione sexagenos[307] ternos pedes, breuius a frontibus, toto circumitu pedes ccccxi[308], attolitur in altitudinem xxv cubitis, cingitur columnis xxxvi. Πτε�όν uocauere[309]. Ab oriente caelauit Scopas, a septentrione Bryaxis, a meridie Timotheus, ab occasu Leochares, priusque quam peragerent regina obiit. Non tamen recesserunt nisi absoluto iam, id gloriae ipsorum artisque monumentum iudicantes, hodieque certant manus. Accessit et quintus artifex. Namque supra πτε�όν pyramis altitudine inferiorem aequauit[310], uiginti quatuor gradibus in metae cacumen se contrahens. In summo est quadriga marmorea quam fecit Pythis. Haec adiecta cxxxx pedum altitudine totum opus includit.Scopas had as rivals and contemporaries Bryaxis, Timotheus, and Leochares, whom we must treat of together since together they sculptured the Mausoleum. This is the tomb erected to Mausolus prince of Caria by his widow Artemisia. He died in the second year of the 107th Olympiad (B.C. 351). That this work is among the seven wonders of the world is mainly owing to these artists. Its length on the north and south sides is sixty-three feet; the façades are shorter; the whole circuit is 411 feet; it rises to a height of twenty-five cubits, and is surrounded by thirty-six columns. This they call the Pteron. The sculptures of the east side are by Scopas, those on the north by Bryaxis, those on the south by Timotheus, those on the west by Leochares. Before the task was finished the queen died; but the artists ceased not till the work was done, considering that it would redound to their glory and be a memorial of their art. To this day they vie in handiwork. There came in also a fifth artist. For over the pteron was a pyramid in height equal to that below, with a flight of twenty-four steps tapering to a point. On the top is a marble quadriga made by Pythis. The addition of this raises the height of the whole building to 140 feet.