Halicarnassus was a small kingdom capital in Asia Minor. Hacatomnus was the ruler of that land, who left the control in hands of his son Mausolus. His son extended the territory like a good ruler and ruled over Halicarnassus, along with queen Artemisia, for more than 24 years. Mausolus died in 353 BC leaving his wife to take care of everything behind him. She decided to build a brilliant tomb in memory of his husband, which is known as the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus and included in the Seven Ancient World Wonders.
Without thinking over the cost of the tomb, she decided to find the best sculptor for building the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus. Scopas, who was instrumental in the rebuilding of another World Wonder, the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, was one of them. Along with him, there were a number of other very famous sculptors and many craftsmen of that time as well.
A hill was the place selected for erecting the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus, to give a sense as if it was overlooking the city. There was a platform made of costly stone at the centre of the courtyard and the tomb was erected on that platform. Stone lions, flanked staircase, led to the top of the platform to reach the tomb. There were a number of statues on the outer walls of the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus which portrayed several gods and goddesses of that time. The whole structure made from marble was about 140 feet high. Till about a third of the tomb’s height, the structure was built in a square shape, narrowing block, which was full of relief sculptures comprising of some brilliant action scenes from the Greek history. Overall, the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus was the best to have ever carved out and truly deserved to be among the ancient World Wonders.