Mausoleum of Halicarnassus, reception of

The Mausoleum of Halicarnassus has been echoed in everything from funerary monuments, governmental buildings, and the terminations of skyscrapers to paintings, medals, and postage stamps. In antiquity, it became one of the wonders of the ancient world and inspired subsequent tombs, especially for rulers, for which the term mausoleum was coined by the late 1st century bce. Because the Mausoleum was destroyed by 1522, however, reception from then until the mid-19th century was based on hypothetical two-dimensional reconstructions, rooted to varying degrees in literary sources and artistic imagination and created as part of a series depicting the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. The Mausoleum inspired a host of early modern tombs, especially for nobles, royalty, and popes, some commissioned by female patrons for their deceased husbands in the model of Artemisia, the wife and sister of Mausolus, often credited with building or completing the Mausoleum. After the 1856 excavations of the site, focus turned to scientific reconstructions, although the Mausoleum’s influence on funerary architecture and memorials continued. In the 20th century, the Mausoleum was adapted to non-funerary functions, including governmental buildings and the terminations of skyscrapers dedicated to banking, oil, and insurance industries.