The Belevi Mausoleum, also known as the Mausoleum at Belevi''Forum Archaeologiae - Zeitschrift für klassische Archäologie 45/XII/2007: Chemical Analysis of Inclusion Fluids – A new method to pinpoint the origin of white marbles, illustrated at the mausoleum at Belevi'', p.2 is a Hellenistic monument tomb located in Turkey. The intended occupant of the tomb may have been

Antigonus Monophthalmus Antigonus I Monophthalmus ( grc-gre, Ἀντίγονος Μονόφθαλμος , 'the One-Eyed'; 382 – 301 BC), son of Philip from Elimeia, was a Macedonian Greek nobleman, general, satrap, and king. During the first half of his life he serv ...

(r. 323-301) or

Lysimachus Lysimachus (; Greek: Λυσίμαχος, ''Lysimachos''; c. 360 BC – 281 BC) was a Thessalian officer and successor of Alexander the Great, who in 306 BC, became King of Thrace, Asia Minor and Macedon. Early life and career Lysimachus was b ...

(r. 323-281), and it may subsequently have been the burial place of the Seleucid king Antiochus II Theos (r. 261–246 BC).Antiochus II Theos article at Livius.org
/ref>

Location of Mausoleum

The Belevi Mausoleum was a grandiose tomb. The name of the mausoleum derives from the modern village of

Belevi Belevi is a town in Selçuk district of İzmir Province, Turkey. It is situated between Turkish state highway D.550 and Turkish Motor way O.31. Lake Belevi is to the east. The distance to Selçuk is and to İzmir is . The population of Belevi ...

where the monument is locatedFacaros,''Turkey'', p.255 and sits on an isolated hillside.Webb, ''Hellenistic architectural sculpture: figural motifs in western Anatolia and the Aegean Islands'', p.76 The mausoleum is located 14 km northeast of

Ephesus Ephesus (; grc-gre, Ἔφεσος, Éphesos; tr, Efes; may ultimately derive from hit, 𒀀𒉺𒊭, Apaša) was a city in ancient Greece on the coast of Ionia, southwest of present-day Selçuk in İzmir Province, Turkey. It was built in t ...

next to the modern highway from İzmir to

Aydın Aydın ( ''EYE-din''; ; formerly named ''Güzelhisar'', Ancient and Modern Greek: Τράλλεις /''Tralleis''/) is a city in and the seat of Aydın Province in Turkey's Aegean Region. The city is located at the heart of the lower valley of B ...

in the eastern part of the Kaystros-valley close to the ancient estates of the Ephesian sanctuary of Artemisia; is 16 km or 10 miles northeast of

Selçuk Selçuk is a town in İzmir Province in the Aegean Region of Turkey. It is located northeast of the ancient city of Ephesus, that was once home to the Temple of Artemis, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Its previous Greek name, Ag ...

and is 29 km from Kuşadası.Kusadasi Guide – Historical Places Belevi Mausoleum
/ref>

Dating

The Belevi Mausoleum is the second largest mausoleum in Anatolia after the

Mausoleum of Halicarnassus The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus or Tomb of Mausolus ( grc, Μαυσωλεῖον τῆς Ἁλικαρνασσοῦ; tr, Halikarnas Mozolesi) was a tomb built between 353 and 350 BC in Halicarnassus (present Bodrum, Turkey) for Mausolus, an ...

which it resembles and it is also the second highest tomb house of ancient Anatolia. The influence of this tomb seems to have been widespread throughout the Hellenistic world directly or indirectly in the construction of other royal tombs.Winter, ''Studies in Hellenistic architecture'', p.83 According to archaeological dating in ornaments and ceramics from the monument, the mausoleum was first erected around 301 BC-281 BCRidgway, ''Hellenistic sculpture: The styles of ca. 331-200 BC.'', p.187 and has occasionally been dated earlier to 333 BC, based on the assumption that it was the tomb of the admiral Memnon of Rhodes, who in that year died in a naval encounter before Lesbos. Others who may have owned the tomb were the brothers of Memnon: Mentor of Rhodes (died 333 BC) or Menandros (died shortly after 318 BC). Based on archaeological evidence and dating, it was first erected as a royal tomb by Antigonos Monophthalmus or Lysimachus, two of the Diadochi or successors of Alexander the Great, who ruled western Asia Minor in the late fourth century BC. It was possibly inspired by the

. There is no literary evidence for the location of Antigonus's tomb. Lysimachus is known to have been buried elsewhere - in a mausoleum at Lysimachia, a city that he had founded on the Thracian Chersonese. When Antiochus II died in July 246 his first wife and cousin Laodice I placed him in this mausoleum as his final resting place.

Architecture and decoration

The Belevi Mausoleum has only been known through published articles and discussions on individual features of the monument since the 1930s. Earlier studies on the monument’s archaeology and architecture has been premature, however recently more work has been done towards the research and conservation of the monument. The natural materials and other materials used for the construction of the mausoleum were probably sourced locally. The marbles used for the construction of the monument were probably were mined in the region of Ephesus. Two-thousand five-hundred cubic metres of marble has been estimated were extracted for the building of the mausoleum. Belevi_2

The foundation of the mausoleum was square; each side measuring some 29.65 m, suggesting a length of 100 feet of 0.2965 m.Winter, ''Studies in Hellenistic architecture'', p.82 The mausoleum was two stories. On the ground level there were three steps supporting the base mouldings. Each plain socle was surmounted by torus, cavetto and Lesbian cyma. Ten courses of large neatly cut

ashlar Ashlar () is finely dressed (cut, worked) stone, either an individual stone that has been worked until squared, or a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, generally rectangular cuboid, mentioned by Vitruv ...

s, 69–88 cm high, which constituted the facing of the podium, made for a total height of 11.37 m. A low architrave, 45 cm high, and a higher Doric frieze ran around the top of the podium. The south side had a deep recess that was cut into the rock core for the burial chamber, which was placed in the centre and sealed from outside. This was done in order to conceal what was in the monument and to protect the monument from tomb raiders. The chamber to which Antiochus II was buried in was a small vestibule with a rectangular back room for his body to be put in a barrel-vault. There was an unfinished false door on the north side of the structure. The top storey had 3 steps measuring 1.12 m high. The top slope served as a stylobate for a Corinthian Peristalsis, with eight columns on each side. The roof had flat marble tiles. Belevi_4

The excavators of the tomb restored on each side. Around the edge of the roof, were groups of Lion-Griffins figures facing large stone vases. Pairs of horses were placed at the corners. Little has survived from the mausoleum’s roof. Antiochus II’s mausoleum may have been a step pyramid with a crowning finial on top. The blocks of the outer architrave bore this Greek inscription: :ΗΛΙΑΔΕΣ ΖΕΥΣ ΦΑΕΔΩΝ ΑΦΡΟΔΙΤΗ :

Heliades In Greek mythology, the Heliades (Ancient Greek: Ἡλιάδες means 'daughters of the sun') also called Phaethontides (meaning "daughters of Phaethon") were the daughters of Helios and Clymene, an Oceanid nymph. Names According to one v ...

Zeus Phaedon Aphrodite There could have been fragments of small-scale palm leaf capital with fluted Doric drum fragments. These parts could have decorated the scheme of the interior. The ceiling was embellished with large coffers. The coffers were painted intensively and adorn with panels on the ceiling. The panels facing north represented funeral games with the reliefs of the other sides dealt with a

centauromachy The Lapiths (; grc, Λαπίθαι) are a group of legendary people in Greek mythology, whose home was in Thessaly, in the valley of the Peneus and on the mountain Pelion. Mythology Origin The Lapiths were an Aeolian tribe who, like the Myr ...

. The burial chamber was the central part of the mausoleum. In it was a large unfinished sarcophagus with a reclining beardless male figure on top. The male figure was formerly crowned with a wreath and held a bowl in its right hand which formed together with standing statue of an oriental servant. The oriental servant characterized by his posture and clothes may have been a royal Persian servant or a page representing a banquet scene.''Forum Archaeologiae - Zeitschrift für klassische Archäologie 45/XII/2007: Chemical Analysis of Inclusion Fluids – A new method to pinpoint the origin of white marbles, illustrated at the mausoleum at Belevi'', p.3 Sculptures and architectural pieces found at the monument still bear remains of their painted finish. The frequent painting replaced carving on the architectural mouldings was a practice reminiscent of Macedonian architecture. The work of the mausoleum was never finished. If the monument was completed, it could have reached a height of about 35 m. When Lysimachus first erected the monument, the construction of his mausoleum had been interrupted because he died in battle. When Antiochus II died, Laodice I added in addition architectural and sculptural elements for the monument. In 244 BC, Ephesus and the surrounding region came under the rule of the

Ptolemaic dynasty The Ptolemaic dynasty (; grc, Πτολεμαῖοι, ''Ptolemaioi''), sometimes referred to as the Lagid dynasty (Λαγίδαι, ''Lagidae;'' after Ptolemy I's father, Lagus), was a Macedonian Greek royal dynasty which ruled the Ptolemaic ...

. The period that Laodice I spent on further work on her husband’s mausoleum was brief. The architectural dimensions and designs of the elaborate decorations have Greek and Persian elements. The high square podium with the pyramid on top is non-Greek. Persian influences are strong with some of the sculptural decorations such as the statue of the servant, the roof long-winged Lion-

Griffin The griffin, griffon, or gryphon (Ancient Greek: , ''gryps''; Classical Latin: ''grȳps'' or ''grȳpus''; Late Latin, Late and Medieval Latin: ''gryphes'', ''grypho'' etc.; Old French: ''griffon'') is a legendary creature with the body, tail ...

figures (symbols of the

Persian Kings This is a list of monarchs of Persia (or monarchs of the Iranic peoples, in present-day Iran), which are known by the royal title Shah or Shahanshah. This list starts from the establishment of the Medes around 671 BCE until the deposition of th ...

) and the vases. The Griffins and a centauromachy mean the battle between

Centaur A centaur ( ; grc, κένταυρος, kéntauros; ), or occasionally hippocentaur, is a creature from Greek mythology with the upper body of a human and the lower body and legs of a horse. Centaurs are thought of in many Greek myths as being ...

and Humans. This was a very common theme, which represents the victory of civilization over barbarism. The way the tomb chamber has been erected was Macedonian. Antiochus II was of Greek Macedonian and Persian descent. The life sized statues of the Lion-Griffin figures are on display at the museums at Izmir and Ephesus. The sarcophagus of Antiochus II is on display at the museum at Selçuk together with two Lions. Fragments of the coffers depicting funeral games and the centauromachy are on display at the museums at Selçuk and Izmir. The human figures, horses and large urns are on display at the museums at Selçuk and Izmir.

References

Bibliography

Belevi Mausoleum at Turkish Archaeological News

Antiochus II Theos article at Livius.org

Belevi Mausoleum at Turkish Archaeological News
* E. Trinkl, "Chemical Analysis of Inclusion Fluids – A new method to pinpoint the origin of white marbles, illustrated at the mausoleum at Belevi" ''Zeitschrift für klassische Archäologie'' 12 (2007): 4

* P.A. Webb, ''Hellenistic architectural sculpture: figural motifs in western Anatolia and the Aegean Islands'', University of Wisconsin Press, 1996 * B.S. Ridway, ''Prayers in stone: Greek architectural sculpture ca. 600-100 B.C.E.'', University of California Press, 1999 * D. Facaros & M. Pauls, ''Turkey'', New Holland Publishers, 2000 * B.S. Ridway, ''Hellenistic sculpture: The styles of ca. 331-200 B.C'', University of Wisconsin Press, 2001 * F.E. Winter, ''Studies in Hellenistic architecture'', University of Toronto Press, 2006 * P. Ruggendorfer, ''Das Mausoleum von Belevi''. Vienna, 2016.

External links