The mausoleum of Belevi

 

The hellenistic mausoleum is situated some 12 km NE of the ancient metropolis of Ephesos. The monument dates from the late fourth and early third century BC. It is not known for whom the mausoleum was originally built, but its size and elaborate decoration suggest that it must have been erected for a prominent historical personality.
As the owner of the monumental tomb, the Seleucid king Antiochos II, Theos, as well as some potentates such as the Mentor of Rhodos or his brother Memnon or Menandros, have been discussed.

Surprisingly the marble for the rising achitecture (red symbols in the diagram) is not the marble of the Belevi quarry (archaic Artemision) but from the quarry Ketli Çiftlik.

The Krepis and the footwall plates (blue symbols in the diagram) are of minor quality from Gölluce some km from the mausoleum.

The mausoleum is a solid block of marble bedrock encased by white marble architectural decoration of different sources.
The mausoleum is a solid block of marble bedrock encased by white marble architectural decoration of different sources.

 

The sculptural decoration is partly made of the same marble as the rising architecture of the mausoleum, partly of marbles from the Heraclea quarries some 50 km in the S.

References:

Prochaska, W. and Grillo, S., 2009: A new Method for the Determination of the Provenance of White Marbles by Chemical Analysis of Inclusion Fluids: The Marbles of the Mausoleum of Belevi/Turkey. - Archaeometry 07/2009, 52(1), 59-82.

 

Prochaska, W., Grillo, S.M., and Ruggendorfer, P., 2007: Chemical Analysis of Inclusion Fluids - a New Method to Pinpoint the Origin of White Marbles, Illustrated at the Mausoleum at Belevi. - Forum Archaeologiae 45/XII/2007 (http://farch.net).