The temple was built as a tomb for a Persian satrap named Mausolus.  It was located in what is today southwestern Turkey.  It was completed around 353 B.C. by his wife Artemisia.  It was made of white marble and was huge, possibly as tall as 45 stories.  The temple was 125 feet by 104 feet.  It had 36 columns and up to 100 statues of heroes and gods.  Some of them were almost 10 feet tall.  A frieze longer than that of the Parthenon was decorated with scenes from mythology like Greeks fighting Amazons.  The frieze was 39 inches tall.  On top of the building was a four-horse chariot driven by a statue of Mausolus.  The building was severely damaged by an earthquake in the 13th Century.  Then in 1494 the Knights of St. John took much of the remaining stone to build a castle.

                –  Amazing 207-8  /  The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus by Mark Cartwright (https://www.ancient.eu/Mausoleum_at_Halicarnassus/)


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