The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus: statue
- Gallery: Room 21
- Culture: Classical Greek
- Date: 350BC (circa)
- Object type: statue
- Materials: marble
- Museum number: 1857,1220.234
- 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.
Listen to the free audio guide
About this object
This is a powerful marble statue from the famed Mausoleum at Halicarnassus. It portrays a Persian rider in a dramatic, dynamic pose seated on a powerful, rearing horse. The rider grips the horse’s flanks with his knees and leans backward, as if moving swiftly forward. Wind has apparently lifted his flowing garment, suggesting motion.
The horse’s broad and muscular form is highly stylized—look closely and you can see raised veins on its flanks and a sense of motion in its powerful, stretched-out legs. Much of the statue is missing, including the rider’s upper body and legs, as well as parts of the horse’s head and neck.
Despite this, the statue remains impressively sculpted in white marble, with traces of original paint still visible. Fragments like this one were discovered at the site by Sir Charles Newton and suggest once-grand equestrian scenes.
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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