The Mausoleum of Halicarnassus was a beautiful 140 feet high tomb of King Maussollos, Persian satrap of Caria, in the city of Bodrum on the Aegean Sea in south-west Turkey. King Maussollos reigned the kingdom of Caria from 377 to 353 B.C. The construction of his tomb was conceived by his wife, Queen Artemisia, and it was completed around 350 B.C. He died three years prior to the completion and she died one year after it.

The Mausoleum was 120 feet by 100 feet. There was a podium that was decorated with statues. The burial chamber was decorated with gold and the podium was surrounded by Ionic columns. The roof was pyramid-shaped and was also decorated with statues. The statues were life-size statues of people, lions, horses, and other animals sculpted by the Greek sculptors Bryaxis, Leochares, Scopas, and Timotheus. On top of his tomb was a statue of a chariot pulled by four horses.

The Mausoleum remained in good condition for 16 centuries, and then an earthquake caused some damage to the roof and colonnade. In 1494, Knights of St. John of Malta invaded the region and used the stones of the Mausoleum to build a castle. By 1522, almost every block of the Mausoleum had been disassembled for use in the construction of their castle. The castle still stands today in Bodrum and pieces of the polished stone and marbled blocks from the Mausoleum can be spotted within the structure.

Only the foundation remains at the original site of the Mausoleum. Some of the sculptures survived and are on display today at the British Museum in London.