Meh... A Mausoleum...

Hee hee!  I can see his butt!

What's left of the Mausoleum of Mausolaus

Rock walls from 353 B.C. 

It is hard to believe that this was once a wonder of the ancient world!  

One column... there used to be 36 of them.  And the tomb was 140 feet tall!!

We even got to explore underground!

Danni was skeptical about passing through the tomb's cave!

More marble columns....

We couldn't believe that these ancient artifacts weren't roped off!

While we were in Bodrum, we visited on of the wonders of the ancient world, the Mausoleom of Masolus.  Masolus once was the king and when he died his wife (who was also his sister) built him an incredible tomb.  It stood 140 feet tall, contained marble lions and statues, and was the most impressive structure in the land.  (In fact, this is where the word 'mausoleum' comes from -- the king's name: Masolus... as it was a tomb to which all others were compared.)  How did it get so broken down?  The tomb stood for 17 centuries... but was knocked down by strong earthquakes in  the 13th century.  MAny years later, in the 1500's, the Crusaders would eventually plunder the graves, removing the treasures... and they stole bits of marble which they used to build Bodrum castle.  Some of the works of art and statues from the tomb were placed on display at the castle as well!  While the history of this place was somewhat interesting, Danni and I were not impressed by the piles of rocks and pieces of statues.  (We did love petting the kitties that have inhabited the place, though!)