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Mausolus was a ruler of Caria (377–353), nominally a satrap of the
Achaemenid Empire. He enjoyed the status of king or dynast by virtue of the
powerful position created by his father Hecatomnus who had succeeded the
assassinated Persian Satrap Tissaphernes in the
Carian satrapy and founded the hereditary dynasty of the Hecatomnids.
He is best known for the monumental shrine, the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus,
erected and named for him by order of his widow (who was also his sister)
Artemisia.
Mausolo was the eldest son of Hecatomnus, a native Carian who became the satrap
of Caria when Tissaphernes died, around 395. Mausolus participated in the
Revolt of the Satraps, both on his nominal sovereign Artaxerxes Mnemon's side
and (briefly) against him. In 366, Mausolus together with Autophradates of
Lydia, at the request of Artaxerxes, led the siege of Adramyttium against
Ariobarzanes, one of the members of the Great Satraps' Revolt, until Agesilaus,
king of Sparta, negotiated the besiegers' retreat. Mausolus conquered a great
part of Lycia circa 360, putting an end to the line of dynasts that had ruled
there. He also invaded Ionia and several Greek islands; and he cooperated with
the Rhodians in the Social War against
Athens. He moved his capital from Mylasa, the ancient seat of the Carian kings,
to Halicarnassus. Mausolus embraced Hellenic culture.
Antipater of Sidon listed the Mausoleum as one of the Seven Wonders of the
Ancient World. The architects Satyrus and Pythis, and the sculptors Scopas of
Paros, Leochares, Bryaxis and Timotheus, finished the work after the death of
Artemisia, some of them working (it was said) purely for renown. The site and a
few remains can still be seen in the Turkish town of Bodrum. Derived from his
name, the term mausoleum has come to be used generically for any grand tomb. An
inscription discovered at Milas, the ancient Mylasa, details the punishment of
certain conspirators who had made an attempt upon his life at a festival in a
temple at Labraunda in 353.
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