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Mausoleum of Gaius Cestius in Rome

Those who think that mausoleums and tombs built as pyramids are located only in ancient Egypt and Nubia would be pleasantly surprised when they visit Rome.  In 1660, quite by accident a mysterious pyramid was discovered there.  It turned out to be a private mausoleum constructed as a small pyramid in 12 BC for an influential Roman magistrate Gaius Cestius.  This mausoleum price was not cheap. Contemporaries witnessed an interior burial chamber decorated with frescoes. The tomb inside mausoleum was empty missing even human remains, which meant that it was robbed completely somewhere in the antiquity.

Naturally, as the years passed by, these frescoes were gone,  and the pyramid survived only because it was built into Rome’s fortifications.  This mausoleum is around 6 meters long and 5 meters high. It is one of the best preserved ancient building in Rome as of today.  This type of tomb is different from its Egyptian neighbor by having no underground tunnels. It does not have exterior entrance either, so the tourists can not visit the interior of the mausoleum.

At the times when it was built the pyramid of Cestius probably looked very prominent. It stood in the countryside at the fork between two important roads, one of which led to the sea port of Ostia and another to the river of Tiber.  The exterior of the tomb was made of bricks mixed with the slabs of white marble.

The city of imperial Rome was expanding so fast that in a couple of centuries the mausoleum was completely surrounded by buildings.  The city needed more space, all bronze statues standing next to  Cestius’s tomb vanished as well as other statues, monuments, memorials and old neighboring tombs.

We know now that pyramid of Cestius was not the only one in Rome. There was a bigger one close to Vatican which was destroyed in the 16the century.  Obviously at the time of its constructions the imitation of Egyptian art, architecture and even rituals were in fashion.

In the 3d century the tomb was built into the city walls in order to save the costs and was used as some sort of triangular bastion.  Most achievements of the antiquity and ancient world were forgotten during the Middle Ages. That is why medieval Romans did not know the origin of the mausoleum.  When they realized that the bastion was in fact the partially marble mausoleum, they thought that it was the tomb of one of the founders of Rome - Remus.

Mausoleum at Halicarnassus was a tomb that kept the remains of the ruler of small kingdom Caria in Asia Minor Mausolus and his wife and sister Artemisia.  The structure finished after the death of a couple in the 4th century B.C. was of such a beauty that in the antique world  it became known as one of the seven wonders of the world.  And as a confirmation of this all private tombs currently are called mausoleums deriving their name from this aesthetic triumph of the ancient world.

Young Mausolus had an ambition to build a new beautiful capital and for that purpose chose the city of Halicarnassus, which is presently city of Bodrum in Turkey.  He drained their treasury fulfilling ths dream of a young king.  But it was his wife Artemisia that came up with the idea to build the magnificent tomb in the center of Halicarnassus to show the world how prosperous they were.

Unfortunately, Mausolus died young and his widow decided to proceed with the creation of his tomb. She hired the best and talented artists  and hundreds of craftsmen of ancient Greece for the construction.  We know that two greatest Greek architects Satyrus and Pythius worked on the design of the Mausoleum.  And sculptural reliefs of the tomb were created by genius of Leochares, Bryaxis, Scopas and Timotheus - most famous Greek sculptors of those times.  One of the sculptors - Scopas supervised before the reconstruction of another of seven wonders of the world - Temple of Artemis at Ephesus.

Artemisia passed away only two years after the death of her beloved Mausolus. And then an amazing thing happened. The construction of the Mausoleum had not stopped.  Artists and craftsmen decided to work on the tomb and finish it for free because Mausoleum became more than a memorial to the rulers. They felt, that the tomb had to be completed as the memorial of  sculptors art for posterity and new generations.

Mausoleum at Halicarnassus