The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus: statue
- Gallery: Room 21
- Culture: Classical Greek
- Date: 350BC (circa)
- Object type: statue
- Materials: marble
- Museum number: 1857,1220.233
- Museum: The British Museum
- Collection record: British Museum website
- Image © The Trustees of the British Museum, shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 licence.
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About this object
Before you is a classical Greek marble statue known as "The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus; Statue." It once stood in the famous Mausoleum, a grand tomb built around 350 BCE in what is now Turkey. The statue presents a large-scale figure of a standing female. Though much of her face and arms are missing, the structure and details remain striking.
Her head is crowned with a cap called a sakkos, and a himation, a draped garment, is pulled over it. Her pose is formal—square shoulders, upright head, and a forward gaze. Her clothing includes a chiton with sleeves and thick-soled sandals.
Carved from a single block of Pentelic marble, this statue was part of a reconstructed ensemble. Paint once outlined key details, a common practice in antiquity.
While she may represent a member of the Hekatomnid family, there is no firm identification with Artemisia, a historical figure connected to the site.
See it in person
The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus: statue is on display in Room 21 at the British Museum on Great Russell Street, Bloomsbury, London — free to enter. Choose British Museum on audioguide.london and take a photo of it to hear this free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
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