Illustrated Companion to the Latin Dictionary/Mausoleum

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Rich, Anthony (1849). The illustrated companion to the Latin dictionary, and Greek lexicon. p. vi. OCLC 894670115. https://archive.org/details/illustratedcompa00rich. 

MAUSOLE'UM. The sepulchre of Mausolus, king of Caria, which from the beauty and magnificence of its structure passed for one of the wonders of the world (Plin. H. N. xxxvi. 4. § 9.); hence the word was adopted by the Romans as a name for any sepulchre of extraordinary magnificence, especially of kings and emperors, like that of Augustus in the Campus Martius; and of Hadrian on the opposite bank of the Tiber. (Florus, iv. 11. 10. Suet. Aug. 100. Vesp. 23. Mart. v. 64.) Considerable remains of both these edifices are still in existence; the first being now used as a ring for bull baits; the latter as a fortress, which goes by the name of the Castle St. Angelo. Both, however, are entirely deprived of their external ornaments: but the annexed woodcut (Mausoleum/1.1) represents the mausoleum of Hadrian, as it appeared in its original state, before the statues and columns which decorated it were destroyed during the siege of Rome by the Goths under Vitiges. The restoration is by the Venetian architect Labacco (Libro dell' Architettura, Roma, 1558), from remaining vestiges, representations on medals, and the description of Procopius. It will convey a just idea of the former magnificence of the sepulchre, and may be regarded as an accurate design, with the exception that there should be a statue of Hadrian on the top, instead of the fir cone, which is erroneously placed there.

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