whom shee had set a-worke,*-would not give over when shee was dead and gone, but followed on still and brought it to a finall end; as making this account:-that it would be a glorious monument to all posteritie, both of themselves and also of their cunning: and in truth at this day it is hard to judge by their handy-worke who did best. There was a fifth workeman also came in unto them; for, above the side wall or wing of the tombe, there was a pyramis founded, which, from the verie battlements of the said wall was carried to the heighth of the building underneath it. The same grew smaller still as the worke arose higher; and from that heighth, at everie degree (step), which, in the whole were foure-and-twentie, was narrowed and taken in; until at last it ended in a pointed broche: in the top whereof there is pitched a coach with foure horses, wrought curiously in marble; and this was the worke of Pythis for his part. So that reckoning the chariot with the sharpe spire; the pyramis under it unto the battlements; and the bodie of the sepulchre founded upon the firme ground; -the whole worke arose to an hundred and fortie foot in heighth.† Notwithstanding all the difficulties and discrepancies which both Architects and Commentators have found in the preceding passage, it still continues to be the most explicit and copious description extant of the Tomb of Mausolus. There remain besides only some short and scattered, though interesting notices of it, in the later ages previous to its destruction; and one of these has been happily produced by Mr. Falkener as appearing to remove a great difficulty in the description of Pliny. "Some time," says he, "after having completed this plan I discovered the following passage in Hyginus, which had hitherto escaped the attention of commentators :---' Monimentum regis Mausoli, lapidibus lychnicis altum pedes LXXX. Circuitus pedes MCCCXL.'-Fabulæ, cexxiii. This dimension of 1340 feet will be found to coincide very precisely with what I had conceived to be the best proportion for a peribolus to enclose the tomb itself and the funeral pile, the longest side of which was 411 feet. I therefore regard it as determined that the tomb itself was furnished with a peribolus, and that it measured 411 feet by 259 feet." Mr. Falkener proceeds to suppose it possible, that the words of Vitruvius respecting the site of the monument, "platea ampla latitudine facta," might really refer to the peribolus or enclosure.‡ The notice of this monument given by Pausanias consists only of a general praise of its very stately appearance. After having mentioned the Mound of Æpytus, celebrated by Homer, he says, "I know of many admirable tombs, but I will content myself with noticing two; one at Halicarnassus, and the other in the country of the Hebrews. That which is to be seen at Halicarnassus was erected for Mausolus, King of the Halicarnassians; and is so wonderful both for its grandeur and its magnificence, that the Romans, filled with admiration for the monument, have given the name of Mausoleum to all remarkable tombs." || * "And he"-Solomon--" set three thousand and six hundred overseers, to set the people a-work."-II. Chron. ii. 18. † "Scopas habuit æmulos eadem ætate, Bryarin, et Timotheum, et Leocharem; de quibus simul dicendum est, quoniam pariter cælavere, MAUSOLO Cariæ regulo, qui obiit Olympiadis CVI. anno secundo. Opus id ut esset inter Septem Miracula ii maxime artifices fecere. Patet ab Austro et Septentrione, sexagenos-ternos pedes; brevius a frontibus: toto circuitu pedes quadringentos undecim: attollitur in altitudinem viginti-quinque cubitis: cingitur columnis triginta-sex. Pteron vocavere. Ab Oriente cælavit Scopas, a Septentrione Bryaxis, a Meridie Timotheus, ab Occasu Leochares. Priusque quam peragerent, Regina Artemisia, quæ mariti memoriæ id opus exstrui jusserat, obiit. Non tamen recesserunt, nisi absoluto jam, id gloriæ ipsorum artisque Monumentum judicantes: hodieque certant manus. Accessit et quintus artifex. Namque supra Pteron pyramis altitudine inferiorem æquavit, viginti-quatuor gradibus in metæ cacumen se contrahens. In summo est quadriga marmorea, quam fecit Pythis. Hæc adjecta centum quadraginta pedum altitudine totum opus includit."--Hist. Nat. lib. xxxvi. cap. v. sect. 9. † "On the Mausoleum, or Sepulchre of Mausolus at Halicarnassus." By Edward Falkener, Esq., Museum of Classical Antiquities, vol. I. 1851, art. xv. pages 157-189. || Ελλαδος Περιήγησις. ̓Αρκαδικα (VIII.) xvi. In the Epigram De Spectaculis, which is attributed to Martial, written to commemorate the Inauguration of the Amphitheatre of Titus, when the poet is referring to the past glories of the Pyramids and the Temple of Diana, he notices the lofty lightness of these sepulchres; and predicts that even the Mausolea, which seem to be suspended in the empty air, and had been lauded to the very stars by the boasting Carians, should lose their renown in the fame of the edifice of Cæsar.* The speakers in the Twenty-fourth of Lucian's Conferences of the Dead are Mausolns and Diogenes, whose Dialogue incidentally supplies some few curious particulars of this Tomb. When the Philosopher enquires why the Carian Prince assumes so much importance, he concludes his reply by saying "the principal reason is, that I have a prodigious monument raised over me at Halicarnassus, which for magnitude and beauty has not its equal in the whole world; and is decorated with the most exquisite figures of men and horses, all carved to such a degree of perfection, and in such exceeding fine marble, as you will not easily find even in a temple." Having given these Classical authorities, Mr. Newton proceeds in his paper to remark that there are other "ancient writers, from time to time alluding to the Mausoleum as one of the Seven Wonders of the World, and as still existing. It is thus noticed in the second century by Pausanias; in the latter end of the fourth by Gregory of Nazianzus; by Constantine Porphyrogenitus in the tenth; by Eudocia, in the eleventh, who must have been misinformed as to its site, for she describes it as built on a mound in a marshy lake; and again in the twelfth century by Eustathius, who speaks of it as still existing Θαυμα και ἣν και εστι--It was and is a Wonder." Mr. Newton adds also a very interesting narrative of the discovery and spoliation of the tomb in 1522, when the Turks attacked Rhodes under Solyman II. and the Grand Master of the Knights repaired the Castle of San Pietro with the stones of the edifice, which they found in searching for materials, on the site of the great square of Halicarnassus. In this narrative we are informed, that one day after dinner the soldiers came to an opening like the entrance to a cave; and that on going into it with a light, they found a large and handsome square chamber, decorated on all sides with marble columns enriched with bases, capitals and architraves, and having their friezes and cornices sculptured with histories in basso-relievo, with which also the walls were ornamented. After having admired the apartment, and exercised their conjectures concerning it, they began to demolish it, breaking it down to supply materials for that which they had to build. Beyond this chamber they came to a very low door leading into an anteroom, in which was a sepulchre, with a vase and a closed cover of white marble, very fine and wonderfully lustrous. The retreat being then sounded, the knights had not time to open them; and on their returning the next day they found that the tomb had been discovered and rifled by others; and the ground strewed with small fragments of cloth of gold and little studs of rich metal. They concluded thence that the Corsairs, who abound all along that coast, had likewise found out the building, and having entered it during the night, had broken open the sepulchre and carried away all the treasures contained in it. "Thus," says Claude Guichard, in closing his narrative, "was this superb tomb,accounted as one of the Seven Miracles and marvellous works of the world, after having escaped the fury of barbarians, and having existed entire for the space of 2,247 (1875?) years, though buried in the ruins of the city of Halicarnassus ;-thus was it discovered and destroyed by the cross-wearing Knights of Rhodes to re-edify the Castle of San Pietro.† Having now completed the attempt to illustrate the original erection and the destruction of the Tomb of Mausolus, I proceed to give some account of the late re-discovery of its ruins; by which another great testimony to the truth of Ancient History has been happily redeemed from the past. * "Aëre nec vacuo pendentia Mausolea Laudibus immodicis Cares in astra ferant: " † Funerailles et diverses Manières d'Ensévelir des Romains, Grecs, &c. Lyon, 1581, 4to. lib. iii. c. 5, p. 378-381. At the commencement of the present century, both the educated and the uneducated inhabitants of Western Europe had alike forgotten the memory of a highly developed state of civilisation in Asia Minor, antecedent to that of the brightest period of the Greek, or any portion of the Roman, history; and the existence of even the ruins of the great cities of that region was hardly suspected by the scholiasts or the commentators on the most ancient treatises on the History of Art. The well-known passages in Pliny and in Vitruvius had indeed given rise to much debate amongst the more learned Authors of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth centuries; but they contented themselves with abstract and theoretical disquisitions; nor perhaps, in the then disturbed state of the East, was it likely that a mere love of Antiquity would induce any one to encounter the dangers of a personal investigation of the scene which had witnessed such "strange eventful histories." In 1793 Sylvestre De Sacy published a work on the Medals of the Sassanaid Kings of Persia, including also the Ruined Cities of AsiaMinor; and Mr. Moritt visited the very Ruins of Budrum, and appears to have written of them in glowing terms in the Journal which he gave to Dr. Edward Daniel Clarke, by whom several extracts were given in the second volume of his Travels, published in 1812.* In 1811 Capt. Beaufort contributed some valuable information to The Dilettanti Society on the Antiquities of Asia-Minor; and from that period the number of labourers in the same field has rapidly increased. Messrs. Cockerell, Donaldson, Texier, Flandrin, Coste, and, finally, Sir Charles Fellows, have of late years successively brought to light the reliques of the Extinct Nations of this region, and revived the interest in their history. The very remarkable discoveries of the gentleman last named excited, indeed, so much attention at the time of their publication, that it was felt to be desirable immediately to continue the operations which had led to those discoveries being made. This Institute, and The Architectural Society, of which I had at that time the honour to be President, sent deputations to Lord Palmerston, then Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, for the purpose of impressing upon him the importance of obtaining the existing Sculptures at Halicarnassus, and of bringing them to England. This took place in 1841; and subsequently the work of excavation was begun under the directions of Mr. Newton and Captain Spratt: until at length, in 1857, the Fragments of Sculpture now arranged in the British Museum as "THE BUDRUM MARBLES," were shipped for England. The operations, carried on under the personal superintendence of Mr. Newton, have produced some curious illustrations of the danger of following the interpretations of ancient texts made by closet-commentators. The actual site of the Mausoleum, which has been thus laid open, is not in accordance with any of the theories hitherto propounded in illustration of the passages of Strabo, Pliny, or Vitruvius; and the various ground-plots of the building, which have been suggested by the learned and ingenious travellers who preceded Mr. Newton, differ so remarkably from the real plan of the edifice, that I have had them drawn, for the express purpose of shewing how easy it is for the most able men to be mistaken in their interpretation of a mere verbal description. I am happy, however, to exempt from this remark the marvellous Restorations of my friend, Professor Cockerell. By his kindness I am able to introduce for inspection his very beautiful Drawing, exhibited during the last season at the Royal Academy; which is certainly a work of the highest Art and Intelligence. But, the result of Mr. Newton's excavations has been of far greater importance to the History of Art, than merely thus teaching to the learned a lesson of modesty; as he has discovered the area, or platform, on which the Mausoleum was built. He has found also a sufficient number of reliques to enable him to restore the whole building with tolerable certainty, and thus really to confirm the accuracy of the accounts handed down to us by the Ancients. Many of the most characteristic * Travels in various Countries of Europe, Asia and Africa, part II, Lond. 1812, 4to. p. 214, note 2. specimens of the Sculpture, and of the Architectural details of this Monument, have been sent to this country; together with some Fragments bearing Inscriptions, Terra-cotta Figures, Lamps, Tesselated Pavements, etc. of other periods in the history of Halicarnassus. Turning now to the consideration of the Mausoleum itself, as we are able to assert that it existed, our first observation is, that the very style of its Architecture bears witness to one of the great revolutions which had passed over the country where it was erected. The style, and even the order adopted, were Ionic, and no traces of the Dorian element of Caria are to be discovered in it; whilst the existence of a complicated series of galleries and subterranean chambers beyond the platform of the Monument itself, recalls the system of interment which seems to have prevailed amongst the Pelasgic predecessors of both Dorians and Ionians, if we may class the Nuraggis of the Island of Sardinia, and the Tombs of ancient Etruria, amongst the reliques of that remarkable race. There is not, however, the same amount of certainty with respect to the manner in which the pyramid was supported, which appears to exist with respect to the general character of the Mausoleum; but Messrs. Newton and Smith's excavations have so closely confirmed the most important parts of Vitruvius and Pliny's descriptions of this monument, as to justify them in the restoration of the parts still wanting from the remainder of those descriptions. The utter overthrow and the dispersion of the materials of the tomb have, indeed, rendered it impossible for us to discover, beyond dispute, what the design originally was. But the fragments are so numerous and characteristic, the accounts handed down to us from antiquity are so clear, and the analogy of other sepulchral monuments of the same date leaves so little room to doubt the correctness of Messrs. Newton and Smith's suppositions, that it may fairly be said that those gentlemen have satisfactorily set at rest the discussion as to the general outline of the building, as they unquestionably have done with respect to its position. The Mausoleum then may be described as having been erected upon a platform, partly excavated in the natural rock, and partly consisting of artificial construction, about 126 feet long by 107 feet broad. On this was raised, in the style of the monumental sepulchres of the antients, a lofty base, similar to those of the very remarkable Xanthian Tombs also in the British Museum, or to those of the celebrated Tombs of Constantina in Algeria, or of Ooran in Phrygia, given by Mr. Falkener in his learned paper. This base was in all probability ornamented with sculptured friezes, as in the case of the Xanthian Tombs: for a great number of slabs, sculptured in bas-relief, and occasionally bearing fragments of mouldings, have been discovered. A curious passage in Pliny may be mentioned referring to this use of marble slabs. He says, "I am not sure whether the art of cutting marble into slabs be not an invention for which we are indebted to the inhabitants of Caria. The most ancient instance of this practice, so far as I know, is to be found in the Palace of Mausolus at Halicarnassus; the walls of which are of brick covered with marble of Proconnesus." Thus there is nothing new under the sun, and the questionable sham of marble facings to brick buildings has not even the merit of novelty.* However, there seems little reason to doubt that the four celebrated sculptors already mentioned, Bryaxis, Timotheus, Leochares, and Scopas, were employed respectively to carve the friezes of this portion of the building; and it is to be observed that there is a sufficient difference in the scale of some of the figures, and in their mode of treatment, to warrant the supposition of their having been the productions of different artists. From the fragments now placed in the British Museum it would appear that these sculptures represented the favorite subject of an Amazonomachia; but it is hardly possible to conjecture the connection between the battles of the Amazons and the history of Mausolus. The square base of the monument was, no doubt, crowned by an ornamental cornice, according * See Vitruvius, lib. ii. cap. viii, 37. to the restoration of Messrs. Newton and Smith; and upon this was a stylobate or plinth on which the columns rested, measuring about 114 feet by 92 feet. There was then erected a single row of columns of the Ionic order, thirty-six in number, placed so as to present the somewhat singular arrangement of an uneven number of columns on two of the faces of the monument. The columns were of the Ionic Order, and, according to Pliny's account, the height of the whole Order was 37 feet; the diameter of the columns, as ascertained from the actual remains, was 3 feet 5 inches, and the space between them seems to have been about 7 feet 4 inches: proportions, which it may be as well to observe, by way of confirmation of the restoration, are the same as those followed in the Temple of Minerva at Priene, built by the architect who is supposed to have been engaged on the Mausoleum. Above the cornice of these columns was placed a pyramid of marble steps, put together with great skill, as we may perceive by the enlarged drawing on the wall. There were twentyfour of these steps, the lowest of which measured on the edges 108 feet by 86 feet; and as the rise of each step was 111⁄2 inches, and the width of the tread respectively 1 foot 9 inches and 1 foot 5 inches, a platform was left at the top of about 24 feet by 18 to receive the colossal group which crowned the whole monument. This group is said to have been the work of Pythis, and to have represented Mausolus, and perhaps Artemisia, in a quadriga, or four-horse car. In the excavations near this tomb there were discovered some reliques of other colossal statues, but I am not able to discover the precise positions which they occupied in the building. The details of the capitals, and of the other ornamental parts of the architecture of this Monument, do not certainly seem to bear the same stamp of elegance which may be observed in the buildings of Attica, or of Ionia, erected about the time of Pericles; though they were still superior to those of the buildings of Asia-Minor erected in subsequent ages. The same remark may be made with respect to the sculpture; the colossal figures, especially, seem to have been characterised by the pains lavished upon the execution of the drapery, and the bassi-rilievi by the violent movements, and by the mixture of different coloured materials, which prevailed when the Arts had lost the severe grandeur of the best epoch. There is, indeed nearly as much of barbaric pomp as there is of Grecian refinement in this Mausoleum.* One of the fragments of sculpture now in the British Museum merits, however, rather more than the casual notice which I have given of the rest. I allude to the colossal statue supposed to represent Mausolus himself, which has been reconstructed under the superintendence of Mr. Edward Hawkins, Keeper of the Antiquities, from more than fifty pieces. * It has been received almost as an indisputable fact, that even Phidias himself was addicted to the vicious practice of his age in painting his sculpture. Without attempting to enquire into the principles on which this was done by the Greeks who flourished between the fifth and the second centuries B.C., -it may very fairly be questioned whether that unrivalled sculptor did not rather restrain the use of colour, among those important revolutions which he effected for the purity and improvement of his art. For further satisfaction on this subject, and not less for gratification, I must refer to the very careful and excellent Paper "On Colouring Statues," written by Richard Westmacott, Jun., Esq., R.A., in 1854, and contained in The Archæological Journal. Mr. Westmacott therein considers, that Phidias "had the genius, and his favour with Pericles gave him the power, to break through much that was prescriptive and traditional in sculpture:"-but that those liberties and innovations which he "suggested and effected in the general treatment of historical and poetical subjects, would not be permitted in the same degree in the representation of sacred personages." In obedience, therefore, to the universal feeling, Phidias made the statues of Jupiter at Elis, and of Minerva at Athens, out of various materials; for those works were the offerings of a grateful people for the most important victories achieved over a powerful enemy; and were to be constructed out of the spoil taken from the vanquished foe: thus ivory and gold, painting and inlaying, and every conceivable enrichment were lavishly bestowed to make those votive statues the most costly of dedicated gifts. From these considerations, it appears to me, that Phidias stands rather in the situation of Domenico Ghirlandajo, and some other artists who flourished at the end of the fifteenth century; who endeavoured to abolish the use of gilding in pictures, and to establish genuine painting in the place of illuminating. |