Artemisia II of Caria (in Greek, Ἀρτεμισία; d. 350 BC) was a sister, the wife and the successor of the king Mausolus. She was a daughter of Hecatomnus, and after the death of her husband she reigned for two years, from 352 to 350 BC. Her administration was conducted on the same principles as the one of her husband, whence she supported the oligarchical party on the island of Rhodes.1
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Life
She is renowned in history for her extraordinary grief at the death of her husband (and brother) Mausolus. She is said to have mixed his ashes in her daily drink, and to have gradually pined away during the two years that she survived him. She induced the most eminent Greek rhetoricians to proclaim his praise in their oratory; and to perpetuate his memory she built at Halicarnassus a celebrated majestic monument, listed by Antipater of Sidon as one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World and whose name subsequently became the generic term for any splendid sepulchral monument (mausoleum μαυσωλεῖον).2
Mausoleum of Mausolus
The Mausoleum of Mausolus was approximately 140 feet in height and surrounded on all four corners with 36 marble columns, nine on each of the four sides. These were adorned with sculptural reliefs created by each one of four Greek sculptors. The west side was done by Leochares, the north side done by Bryaxis, the east side by Scopas of Paros, and the remaining side facing south was done by Timotheus. A fifth artist was called in after the death of Artemisia named Pteron. He crowned the existing grand monumet with a pyramid that was just as tall which contained 24 steps. A sixth sculptor was added to the artist group called Pythius who built at the very top a marble chariot with four white horses. Artemisia never saw the completion of her marvellous sepulchre.
Other monuments
Another celebrated monument was erected by her in Rhodes to commemorate her conquest of the island. The Rhodians, after regaining their liberty, made it inaccessible, whence it was called in later times the Aβατoν (Abaton).3
Legacy in popular culture
Artemisia is referenced in the manga 12 Days by June Kim, about a woman who mourns her former girlfriend by drinking her ashes mixed with fruit smoothies.
Notes
References
- Smith, William (editor); Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, "Artemisia (2)", Boston, (1867)
- Virginia Brown's translation of Giovanni Boccaccio’s Famous Women, pp. 115–118; Harvard University Press 2001; ISBN 0-674-01130-9
- This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology by William Smith (1870).
External links
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