April 22, 2025 • 38 mins
Like most rulers of old, Mausolus wasn't exactly known for his modesty. In today's episode, Ben, Noel and Max continue their exploration of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World with the story of a tomb so opulent that humans ended up making a brand-new word to describe it: the Mausolem (at Halicarnassus).
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Ridiculous History is a production of iHeartRadio. Welcome back to
(00:27):
the show, fellow Ridiculous Historians. Thank you, as always so
much for tuning in. We are recording this on Thursday,
April seventeenth, and we are pleased as punch to return
to our continuing series on Wonders of the Ancient World.
That's our super producer, mister Max Williams. It's him, yeah,
(00:50):
also doing double duty as our research associate for this one.
You're Noel Brown's bowling. That is what they call me,
yes outside of Vegas. Oh my gosh, dude, I was
re listening to part two of our Paul is Dead
conversation at the very end of that episode. Everybody, re
listen back astute Ridiculous Historians. You will hear Nol and
(01:15):
I refer to the fact that I do have a
different persona in Vegas, which I feel like we need
to clarify that I stumbled into it. As you recall, Nol,
that's how you walk in Vegas. It's the only way
to be. And we wish, wish the identity of Greg
(01:35):
Prime the best. We're not here to talk about Vegas,
which is maybe a wonder of the modern world.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
You're not allowed to talk about Vegas.
Speaker 3 (01:43):
What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, not to be
broadcast or podcasts.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
That was one of their big That was one of
their like creepiest tourism mottos right for a while.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
Yeah, it implies like, you know, go ahead do crimes.
It's cool, we won't tell.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
So if you get exactly just so, if you go
to Las Vegas today, you will see multiple sort of
homages too, great wonders.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
The ancient world, like the what is it?
Speaker 3 (02:16):
The there's the luxe, the luxere is what it's called.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
It looks like a paramid.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
There's a old tower. Sure, there's a whole Paris hotel
that's actually pretty cool. Walking through some of those hotels
is worth your time. It's almost like a Disney five
kind of experience. You know, there's a lot of attention
to detail. You got to appreciate it at least.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, And you don't have to be suckered
in by the circus of Vegas, but.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
You do have a circus of Vegas.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
So there we go. But you do have to recognize
there is a reason that this this thoroughly American metropolis
puts so much time into building wonders, constructing the cons
the wonder It is loosely, I would say, inspired by
(03:06):
the very real subject of our exploration today, the Seven
Wonders of the Ancient World. Now, previously we did I
think a very fair, very level headed exploration of one
of the most controversial wonders of the world, the hanging
gardens of quote unquote Babylon.
Speaker 3 (03:27):
Yes right, you know your mileage may vary as to
where they actually were hanging.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
And now we're returning to this series, and we're going
to go a little meta with it in future episodes.
But we're we're returning we as as longtime ridiculous historians
may know, we're very close to our cartoonish goal of
doing one episode per every state in these United States.
(03:55):
We're picking up more continuing series. This is the second
piece of our series on the Wonders of the Ancient
World's looking through the research and learning from these ancient
(04:16):
primary sources. The one thing it reminds me of is
the concept of amazing architecture in graveyards. What's the weirdest,
most amazing graveyard you have visited?
Speaker 3 (04:32):
I just roamed through one recently when I was in Philadelphia,
I had a day off and I just took a
wander around kind of the city center area, which is
where a lot of the historical sites are, and just
happened upon the graveyard where Benjamin Franklin is entombed.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
Paid the five bucks to.
Speaker 1 (04:53):
Get him.
Speaker 3 (04:56):
Five dollars five five bones to check out the bones,
and then you did get a little commemorative map. And
I recently got a fun little mirrorless DSLR camera, so
I took some graveyard picks and ada blasts. Oh, i'll
send them to you soon. I'm gonna actually do a
photo set. I haven't filled up my cards yet, but
it's pretty sick by the way. It's like it shoots
(05:16):
in really really high reds, so you can take a
picture of like a whole vista and then in post
zoom into like the eye of a pigeon somewhere in
the background.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
It's a lot of fun.
Speaker 3 (05:26):
I also wandered through the Philly Chinatown, which is worth
everyone's time. But yeah, but Benny Franks is buried in
this graveyard and I can't recall the name. And there's
some other you know, United States governmental luminaries entombed there
as well. But there were definitely some pretty ostentatious mausoleums
as we also have here in Atlanta at the what's
(05:48):
that cool cemetery.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
Callge Well, there's Oakland.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
That's the one.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
Yeah, there's Oakland. There are a couple of others that
I like, but I feel as though if I go
too deep into this, I will sound creepy. I love
I love a New Orleans graveyard. I love all right.
You know, I used to live in Central America and
they have a lot of uh similar things. There's actually
(06:14):
if anybody wants to go on a rabbit hole, do
check out in in Latin America. Do check out the
various ostentatious burial places for former cartel members. They're as
big as condos. In some cases they're as big as houses.
(06:36):
The architecture is amazing, and there's there's a peaceful thing
uh to Maslimbs. But as as we are going to
learn in this episode on an Ancient Wonder of the World,
the word Maslim comes from a very specific branch of etymology.
It all goes back to one of the wonders that
(06:58):
people have a hard time naming at Trivia when they're
playing turkey with their friends. It's the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus.
Speaker 3 (07:07):
Yeah, and every time I hear it or read it,
I want to say, that is Hella Carnassas.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
I like that. I think it's good. I think you
should keep that one.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
Well, it's just part of who I am.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
But let's go to ad non Kidlawie writing for art Nets.
He's got a great quotation that sets us up for this.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
That's right.
Speaker 3 (07:28):
He says, among the seven wonders of the ancient world,
the Mausoleum at Halacarnasas stood as a testament to both
architectural ambition and one king's eternal vanity.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
What kings with egoity?
Speaker 1 (07:41):
Crazy?
Speaker 3 (07:42):
They probably think this song is about them and this podcast,
and it kind of is built in what is now
Bodrum Turkey or Bodrum Turkey. This monumental tomb rose approximately
one hundred and forty eight feet into the Mediterranean sky,
about the height of a modern fourteen story building, dominating
the landscape of ancient Halla Carnassis.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
Yeah, so here's the thing before we get into the
story of this giant tomb made for a guy who
might have been a little bit into himself, Scooch. We've
got we've got to give some context. Okay, so we
have to go to the BCE era before Common era,
(08:27):
and our first question there is, hey, Hallakarnassus. Halle carnass
is a weird word. What does that mean? It's in
ancient Greek city, it's over on, as he said, it's
in modern day Buldrum, Turkier, and right now, modern experts
(08:48):
don't know a ton about, as Lauren would say, the
actual facts existence of Halle carnass We know that it
did exist. It had a large, pretty advantageous harbor. It
was in prime position on the Sa routes if you
look at it on paper, just like the Darien Gap.
Speaker 3 (09:10):
Can I just say that the Gulf of Seramicus is
not one that I'm familiar with, not a golf that
I am aware of until now? And also doesn't that
kind of sound like a name of like a place
in like eldin Ring or something a little bit the
Gulf of Saramicus. It sounds like a scary place.
Speaker 1 (09:28):
It's more elden Ring than elder scroll for a sure.
Speaker 4 (09:33):
Definitely, it also sounds like an elden ring like the
creature would like scoop your brains out on one hand
and kill you.
Speaker 1 (09:41):
Elden Ring a famously non stressful, fun.
Speaker 3 (09:45):
Game, famously too stressful for me to finish. And I
will tell you, guys, I may have mentioned this not
to go too off track, but I have found the
perfect goldilocks zone of a video game for me that
scratches all the itches, ticks all the boxes, and I'm
just loving every minute of it. And that game is
Monster Hunter Wilds. It's all the fun parts of games
(10:07):
like elden Rang, none of the.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
Head slammed against wall, frustration of it I know, and
keeps all fining about. Oh I love it. I love
it with all my heart. I got a joint, we
got a hot monsters together, guys. It's a blast.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
So a person who also like the love you have
for Monster Hunter is similar to the love that some
of the rulers of Halla Carrass has had for their
their regional power in the world. One of their most
famous rulers was a woman, Artemisia. The first she served
(10:45):
under Xerxes. Everybody remembers him from the documentary three hundred from.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
Yeah five hundred, I was wrong.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
Yeah, Artemisia, The first.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
Big on earrings, big on facial piercings.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
Xerxys from the Docs, you know, oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
famously accurate. I love the immortals in that one. I
love the like the vague superpowers in that one. I
don't want.
Speaker 3 (11:12):
It's a fun looking movie, but it is a load
of comic book Yeah it is if it was a
comic book right and they did it, you know. I
think it may be one of the only Zack Snyder
pictures that I think suits him the best. Like it
was not been a fan of a lot of his
other stuff, but that one feels right for him.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
I think he did a good job.
Speaker 1 (11:32):
The historical Xerxes, it occurs to me, is a great
pitch for our friend Ben Thompson over a badass he
if he hasn't covered it yet, and as his Artemisia
one very much a badass for her own right. So
Xerxes with the help of Artemisia the first they invade
(11:53):
Grease in about four eighty BC. And these are facts
coming to us for our friends of Pretannica dot com. Again,
with Royals, they tend to not be super creative with naming,
so we're not focusing on Artemisia the first. Uh, we're
(12:14):
we're focusing on Artemisia Street named the second and her husband,
Mauzuleus Soiler. Also, how Game of Thrones is this dude?
Also her husband and her biological brother.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
Okay, okay, no judgment, maybe a little judgment.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
They just went a little olive garden with romance.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
You know what you mean, unlimited breadsticks?
Speaker 1 (12:40):
Uh, sort of when you're here your family.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
Ah, yes, of course. That old chestnut.
Speaker 3 (12:50):
Mazulus, according to Britannica, was a Persian sat trap set
trap a governor.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
When I looked at it.
Speaker 3 (12:57):
On paper, it looks like a Persian strap, which sounds
like a lot of fun. Though virtually they say an
independent ruler of Kara Karia rather in southwestern and Toolia
from three seventy seven seventy six ish to three point
fifty three BCE.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
And this guy. I love that we're bringing up satrap.
It's one of those relatively archaic words for authorities, sort
of similar to being a suzerain. This guy. Yeah, imagine
the governor of your province or your state or what
have you, functioning essentially as a small king. That is
(13:38):
what mark and statures he's got a short king to
short king Spring. He's got a short reach for sure,
but within his reach he has an iron grasp. Yeah,
and we ben oh oh, well, No, the thing is
this guy, slowly over his career as a despot, he
(14:00):
expands his control to some surrounding areas. And then Mauzeleless
just spelling this out so we can all get the
etymology in a us l us he dies, He dies
before he does all the stuff he wanted to do,
and when he dies he's still a big deal. And
(14:24):
during this time, as later occurs in different points of history,
people want to sort of give the flowers, they want
to pay the respects. They want to build a cartoonish
Vegas level doing a callback, a cartoonish Vegas level monument
(14:48):
to this dead ruler.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
Well, it is funny.
Speaker 3 (14:50):
I think we've talked about it in our discussions over
around stuff. They don't want you to know about the
Georgia guidestones. If anyone isn't familiar with that, do recommend
looking into that story and checking out our episodes. But
the official industry term to this day for tombstones. They
don't call it tombstones. They call them monuments.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
Right, Yes, this I appreciate you pointing that out because
you want to be you know, careful and respectful with
the survivors of someone who's passed. To understand how this
all this in the weeds geopolitics of bygone eras to
(15:32):
understand how it results in a wonder of the world,
we have to know a little bit about Masilus's financials.
So him and his.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
Bit of a big spender, a bit of a guy,
you know, he was not.
Speaker 1 (15:49):
He may have been brave, clean and reverent to quote
the boy Scouts, but he was not thrifty. He and
his sister wife a true term Artemisia the second. In particular,
they spent tons of money doing their version of MTV cribs.
With their capital overall, they constructed defensive walls, they made
(16:14):
a Theata, they made multiple temples, they made other public buildings.
We could actually despotism aside, we could argue that they
were improving the quality of life for people in the capitol.
Speaker 3 (16:29):
Yeah, they're definitely focused on infrastructure and public works. But
of course, as you can imagine, these spending habits also
extended to their private domicile and their personal shopping habits.
Speaker 2 (16:40):
Let's call them. We're pretty outlandish and extravagant.
Speaker 1 (16:43):
Yeah, and so it comes to pass. In three point
fifty three BCE, Mausulus dies and when he dies, his widow,
Artemisia the Second becomes the ruler of the land. And
she says, I like spending money. I missed my brother
or I miss my husband.
Speaker 3 (17:04):
Little retail therapy, right, I mean, yes, exactly, I'm going
to do the ancient equivalent of showing up to target
with no shopping lists, just vibes targeageman marcus, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
there we go.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
Uh. So, she says, We're going to build this magnificent
tomb to honor my brother or await my husband.
Speaker 2 (17:31):
So to my boo, yeah yeah, my booth.
Speaker 1 (17:34):
Hang. So to create this enormous, opulent structure, Artemisia the
Second contacts the most talented, prolific, well known Greek artist
and architects of the day and brings them to Hollycardasses.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
That's right, we're talking about.
Speaker 3 (17:55):
Of course, you already know Satrios of Paros and Pythia
of prayin Prime. Uh the four walls of the structure
in question here, the mausoleum is they're not calling it
that quite yet, though, let's just be clear. We're adorned
with these relief carvings created by four of the most
(18:17):
famous Greek sculptors of the day.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
That would include.
Speaker 3 (18:20):
Scope Us, who was the artistic foreman. Let's just say,
of the reconstruction of the Temple of Artemis, which the
other want to talk about.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
Yeah, we're going to talk.
Speaker 3 (18:29):
About that in a future episode. And this is of
course a thesis.
Speaker 1 (18:35):
And those other uh, the other four sculptors sort of
the beetles of the construction of the moles, which are
are the Ocares, Briaxis, and Timotheos. Uh So, four really
big names legends in their time. Spoiler alert, folks. As
often happens, this ruler Artemisia the second dies and she
(19:01):
dies before the construction of this opulent tomb is complete.
She actually only outlives her brother or her husband, Mausulus,
by about two years, and after she expires, she is cremated,
as was her partner, and the ashes of both spouses
(19:25):
are placed in this tomb which is still under construction.
So there are these big to dos, these big funeral ceremonies.
There are a lot of sacrifices of animals, not humans,
so far as we know. And the steps leading to
I love the point you made what would later be
called the mausoleum. The steps leading to this memorial site
(19:49):
are covered with stones and rubble to close off any
untwold access to the interior.
Speaker 3 (19:58):
Indeed, to keep out the you know, can't have anybody
tagging this glorious testament to the greatness of these these despots.
So to add an additional closing note on this part,
Max mentions in the research, much of the building process
is not one hundred percent known in terms of, you know,
the actual methods that were used to construct them, which
(20:20):
is often the case of some of these ancient structures.
It is, however, believed that the construction began it in
three fifty three BCE, right before Masulus Is death, and
finished in three fifty one BC, shortly after Artemisius death
Artemisius is death. And yeah, it's important to say that
while it's not known for certain, it is believed that
much of the manual laver was were performed of course,
(20:43):
surprise surprise, by slaves.
Speaker 1 (20:46):
By It is believed. We also mean, it is true.
Speaker 3 (20:50):
Have you seen that there's a really great little it's
ft up? But the show's wonder shows and there's a
little clip where it's these kids.
Speaker 2 (20:58):
They kind of have these kids songs.
Speaker 3 (21:00):
They're singing messed up stuff, and there's one where it's like,
slaves built the Pyramids, slaves built the Parthenos, same built America. No,
it's just like a funny little goofy kids song, but
they're talking about how slaves built everything, and then it
ends with thank you slaves.
Speaker 1 (21:18):
I'm just I'm thinking of that beautiful song Fame where
they just the refrain is someone yelling Fame.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
Well, sure, that's yeah, David Bowie and John Lennon.
Speaker 1 (21:27):
So next question, what did this edifice this? I mean,
it is full of sculptures. What did this structure look like?
We do have good news. We teased it at the top.
Unlike our first episode in this series on the Hanging
Gardens of Babylon, the Mauzle Limb at Halla Karnassis is
(21:50):
much more well established in the historical record. We know
exactly where it was constructed. There are primary sources with
direct first hand accounts of the tomb. In short, we
know that it existed where and when it is purported
to exist.
Speaker 2 (22:09):
That's right.
Speaker 3 (22:09):
Unlike the famed hanging gardens, right, So with that, let's
get into some elder talk. Pliny the Elder to be specific,
the Roman scholar who we often quote because he was
a great historian, a great documentary cataloger of history, and
he was also a naval commander. He provided our most
(22:29):
detailed contemporary accounts of many things from this era, including
the Mausoleum of Halla Carnasses. According to his account, the
monument's base was nearly square, with a perimeter measuring four
hundred and eleven feet. It was adorned with thirty six
columns that circled the structure and created sort of what
(22:50):
you might refer to as a colonnade that supported a
pyramid shaped roof made up of twenty four steps.
Speaker 1 (22:58):
Okay, so ziggarat esque.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
There you go.
Speaker 1 (23:01):
Proof. And for everybody outside of the United States and
Namibia at this point, if we could do a quick
ancient historic inflation calculator or concurreacion and a dude, so
four hundred and eleven feet is a little more than
(23:24):
one hundred and twenty five meters, So this is very
very big for the time.
Speaker 2 (23:28):
That's right.
Speaker 3 (23:29):
They're going large or going home on top of this
structure that we've described. Was kind of what you would
call the coupdi grav whole thing. The star on top
of the tree, a structure known as a quadraga, which
is made up of four horse chariot situations carved from
white marble. These must have been glorious to behold. The
(23:51):
chariots carrying figures thoughts to be Maziles himself and Ardimisia.
Speaker 2 (23:56):
The second.
Speaker 1 (23:57):
Yeah, yeah, very again, very modest, very humble. Nobody has problems,
no one's going hungry or hoping for freedom. This is
this is also as cold as it sounds. This is
fantastic marketing and intimidation because if you were a ship
(24:18):
coming into this beautiful sheltered harbor, you are going to
see these sculptures as you approach. And the monument again
it's it's Leviathan. It's a gigantic scale. People are figuring
out how to build this thing in a way such
(24:38):
that it doesn't immediately collapse. So shout out to all
the engineers in the crowd.
Speaker 2 (24:43):
For sure.
Speaker 1 (24:44):
The foundation is about two feet or i'd say like
aboutzero point six meters deep into the ground, and they
had to dig down into the ground because they were
carrying two two thousand estimated two thousand tons of marble
blocks in the construction, and marble also, of course it's
(25:09):
peak opulence. It's quite expensive, it's not super easy to
work with. These guys are still also, by the way,
I think you would love this ridiculous historians. They're using
a lot of lead in the construction. They got lead dowels,
they got iron clamps, but they're using molten lead to
(25:30):
fasten these blocks together. And this is like nobody knows
about the long term knock on effects of lead exposure
at this point, so this is a revolutionary technique.
Speaker 3 (25:42):
We did recently cite a study indicating that the IQ
of folks from this era in this part of the
world definitely saw a decline over time that was likely
a knock on effect of lead contamination. To your point, Ben,
(26:04):
you know, it's funny when we're hearing this description of
this mausoleum or of this grand burial monument, it really
makes me think of a lot of neo classical types
of monuments throughout the world, and even here in the
United States, like in Berlin there's the Brandenburger Gate or
the Brandenburg Gate, which it has these you know, horses
(26:25):
on top very much seemingly inspired by this kind of thing.
And even in New York City or you've got the
Grand Army Plaza where it's got this like eagle situation
and a lot of this stuff, you realize was definitely
a nod to some of these classical architecture.
Speaker 2 (26:42):
I guess that's where neoclassical country.
Speaker 1 (26:44):
The original version of the Washington Monument was something quite similar.
And for sure, when I accidentally got baptized as a
Buddhist in Salt Lake City recently yet accident, I was
thinking of something similar. If you go to the Big
(27:05):
LDS Temple there in Salt Lake City, you will see
a top it a golden statue of the angel Moroni,
and it's very similar this idea of sort of propagating visibility.
Look upon our works, and as we said, you know,
they're pulling the brightest minds of their generation to decorate
(27:29):
and ornament this monument. Each of the four sculptors we
previously mentioned are assigned one of the four facades of
the building. So to your earlier point, they have a
bunch of like Baker's dozens of free standing sculptures. These
are gonna depict battles between the Greeks and the Amazons.
(27:52):
They're super intricate, think like Angor Watt level intricate. Some
of this spoiler, the monument does get destroyed, but some
of the sculptures made it to the British Museum, including
one that is thought to be a statue of the
(28:13):
dead man himself, Mazuleus. However, speaking of humility and embellishment,
know this statue is ten feet tall. I don't think
Masulus was ten feet tall.
Speaker 3 (28:24):
No, remember he was a short king. We talked about that.
So can you go visit this then? Well, first of all,
let's get it out of the way. I think it's clear.
The term mausoleum, which we use to this day to
describe large burial sites, usually reserved for multiple bodies. Oftentimes
they are for entire families. You know, you'll have like
(28:44):
different little slots within these mazle gums where various members
of a lineage will be stored, kind of have them
reserved for when folks pass. The second question, now they've
got down out of the way, can you go see
this thing today? I mean.
Speaker 1 (29:04):
Asterisk, yes, asterisk So uh, you are going to be
unfortunately disappointed it's going to be a deeper disappointment than
the first time I visited the famous London Tower, right
and just cool, Well, no, it's cool, it's beautiful, and
(29:24):
obviously I love the Ravens, I love the Corvids. I
kicked up with them for a while for a few days.
But the first thing you'll realize when you go to
the Tower of London is that tower meant a very
different thing free skyscraper technology.
Speaker 2 (29:41):
I mean, so it doesn't quite have the wow factor.
Speaker 1 (29:43):
Yeah, I mean it's understood bers Dubai.
Speaker 2 (29:47):
It is not.
Speaker 1 (29:48):
But this this is not to say that the Maslem
is not a immensely impressive piece of construction, because it
did stand the test of time for nearly two thousand years.
Even Alexander the Great comes by and decides not to
destroy it. Europeans in the medieval era would come by
(30:10):
and they would see it and they would say, oh,
that's cool.
Speaker 2 (30:14):
That Alexander the Great.
Speaker 3 (30:15):
Bit reminds me of the part in Batman where the
Joker and his henchmen are like smashing up the museum
and then he comes across a Francis Bacon painting that's
kind of fed up, and he goes, wait, leave that one.
Speaker 2 (30:26):
I like it.
Speaker 1 (30:29):
Wait which which Batman franchise was that one Batman.
Speaker 5 (30:34):
With the Prince And they're in the museum and they're
painting and slicing up the paintings, and then they come
across this Francis Bacon painting, who's a notoriously macabre kind
of painter, and the Joker says, no, leave that one.
Speaker 1 (30:47):
I love that. I love all the jew I love
all the Joker adaptations except for one. And I'm gonna
be diplomatic.
Speaker 2 (30:54):
The one with the face tattoos.
Speaker 1 (30:57):
Being diplomatic, but I think we're on the same page.
Speaker 4 (31:00):
The one who's to use condoms sent to the fellow actors.
Speaker 3 (31:02):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I guess he was doing method I
don't know. It's super cool.
Speaker 1 (31:07):
Sometimes people use doing method acting as an excuse to
just be pills. Daniel day Lewis would never I'm saying anyway,
the monument itself, it doesn't fall to human shenanigans, it
doesn't fall to human villainy. It falls to the passage
(31:27):
of the living natural world, a series of earthquakes between
the eleventh and fifteenth centuries CE. So this is around
for so so long, and even when it's kind of
a wreck and ruin, people are still on board with it.
(31:48):
I mean, it's a lot of marble, you know what
I mean.
Speaker 2 (31:50):
Yeah, there's still some tasty bits that you can see.
Speaker 1 (31:53):
So in fourteen ninety four, again ce Knights of Saint
John go to the site, the construction destruction site of
the mausoleum. They take these marble blocks, and the ones
that they're able to recover and move they use to
(32:16):
fortify their castle of Saint Peter. And they're able to
do this. Marble is super heavy, right, but they're able
to do this because the castle is nearby, and in
doing so they accidentally preserve pieces of this wonder of
the world.
Speaker 3 (32:33):
Sure, and as they're excavating the site, they also accidentally
happen upon a secret chamber that's filled with beautiful sculptures
and statues. They initially believe that they'd found the actual
burial chamber, but Mazillus's actual facts Lauren vocal bomb burial
site remains lost to history.
Speaker 1 (32:56):
History. Yeah, it's very just okay, now we know only
ruins remain. Shout out to Osamandias, the Muslims foundations. The
remnants of the debris they're at the original site right now.
You will find more of an impact in culture than
(33:19):
you will find in the soil. Similar to the taj Mahal.
This is a gargantuan monument to one man's ego, and
it's the reason, it's the reason that masolem is now
(33:39):
a word for a very fancy grave.
Speaker 3 (33:42):
Indeed, love a mausoleum. They're a lot of fun and
they're also you know, very tim burtony. There's a certain
kind of I don't know, Gothic spookiness to them, like
I believe I remember, oh gosh, we don't talk about
a Neil game anymore.
Speaker 2 (33:56):
But the Graveyard Book was really cool.
Speaker 3 (33:58):
And in the Graveyard Book, I believe of a mausoleum
was sort of like the entrance and exit to like
the underworld.
Speaker 2 (34:04):
Oh sure, ghosts and haunts and that one.
Speaker 1 (34:07):
Oh, it reminds me of the excellent Clive Barker book
Night Breed. Yeah, of course that's the idiot. Yeah, the
Graveyard City. Now, of course, as we are going to
wrap up every episode this series are Wonders of the World.
One of the big questions for our fellow gamers out
there is obviously, should I build this wonder the Masolem
(34:33):
of Halikarnassis or the Moslim at Halacarnassis. Should I build
it in the game, it gives you scientific and seafaring
traits in some iterations, or it gives you culture and
points for an artist thing. It increases your gold income. However,
(34:53):
as a research associate, Max needs everyone listening to know
SIEV six is really where the Muslim will shine.
Speaker 2 (35:02):
Bright Ooh okay, so they've they've upgraded it a little bit.
Speaker 4 (35:06):
You know, it's like one of the most overpowered wonders
and Civilizations six because it has two abilities and each
of them individually will make it one of the best
wonders in the game because what it does, especially you
have to build it adjacent to a harbor in a
city on the coast. So like, that's one cool thing
(35:28):
that Day introduced in Stif six where it's like you
can't just build things in random places, like you can't
for the pyramids and tundra and stuff like that, which
is like, okay, that makes sense, but uh so, but
in other words, you have this one. You have to
have a lot of coastal and all your coastal tiles
just get beasted out. So it makes the city into
a super city. But it also gives you an extra
charge on a great on a great engineer going forward,
(35:48):
on all your great engineers going forward. So let's just
say you have a great engineer like uh, Eiffel is
one of the great engineers you can get who gives
you a bunch of like production for building wonders. So
like literally you can just beast out like three wonders
with this thingale On. It's the most and some reason
the AI never want to build.
Speaker 1 (36:04):
It right, right, so it's advantageous. Now, of course we
have saved clearly the most pivotal and impactful question for
the end. However, we have good news, folks, this is
not the end of the series. We have additional wonders
to explore technically five. We're also going to have a
(36:27):
little bit of a meta episode about what makes a
wonder a wonder. We have so much more to get to.
Speaker 3 (36:33):
To call back to Clive Barker, so many wonders to
show you, right.
Speaker 1 (36:37):
Yes, yes, very very l Raiser, I love it all.
I love we Also yeah again we have a we
have a meta episode on what makes a wonder a wonder?
We can't wait to hang out with you later this
week when we talk about another wonder of the modern
world with perhaps some damning consequences. We're doing a ridiculous
(36:58):
history of tupperware.
Speaker 2 (37:00):
Oh my gosh, I love that tupperware burp hughes.
Speaker 3 (37:03):
Thanks to Max Williams, a super producer who also served
does our research associate extraordinaire on this episode. Huge thanks
to Alex Williams, who composed our theme.
Speaker 1 (37:13):
Big big thanks, of course to The Puzzler and the Twister.
That would be the Devil and the Angel on the
shoulders of our show. That's aj Bahamas Jacobs, host of
The Puzzler, and that's Jonathan Strickland.
Speaker 3 (37:29):
AJ joining us pretty soon.
Speaker 1 (37:30):
AJ is joining us pretty soon. He's he's got some
he's got some bangor research to share with us, and
of course we can't wait to hang with him. Also,
big thanks to Rachel Big Spinach Lance, the number one
world expert on underwater explosions, which I still love being
able to.
Speaker 2 (37:50):
Say, yes, it's a very niche expertise and we're here
for it.
Speaker 1 (37:54):
And of course Chris rossi Otis Eves Jeffcoat here in spirit,
and big thanks to you know, I'd love to I
can't wait to see what wonders we explore in the future.
Speaker 3 (38:08):
Oh, I thought you're gonna say, to see what my
mausoleum looks like.
Speaker 1 (38:11):
Dark. No, that'd be rude.
Speaker 3 (38:13):
No, it's gonna be it's gonna be rad I'm already
designing it.
Speaker 2 (38:17):
Let's see you next time, folks.
Speaker 3 (38:25):
For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Ridiculous History is a production of iHeartRadio. Welcome back to
(00:27):
the show, fellow Ridiculous Historians. Thank you, as always so
much for tuning in. We are recording this on Thursday,
April seventeenth, and we are pleased as punch to return
to our continuing series on Wonders of the Ancient World.
That's our super producer, mister Max Williams. It's him, yeah,
(00:50):
also doing double duty as our research associate for this one.
You're Noel Brown's bowling. That is what they call me,
yes outside of Vegas. Oh my gosh, dude, I was
re listening to part two of our Paul is Dead
conversation at the very end of that episode. Everybody, re
listen back astute Ridiculous Historians. You will hear Nol and
(01:15):
I refer to the fact that I do have a
different persona in Vegas, which I feel like we need
to clarify that I stumbled into it. As you recall, Nol,
that's how you walk in Vegas. It's the only way
to be. And we wish, wish the identity of Greg
(01:35):
Prime the best. We're not here to talk about Vegas,
which is maybe a wonder of the modern world.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
You're not allowed to talk about Vegas.
Speaker 3 (01:43):
What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, not to be
broadcast or podcasts.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
That was one of their big That was one of
their like creepiest tourism mottos right for a while.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
Yeah, it implies like, you know, go ahead do crimes.
It's cool, we won't tell.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
So if you get exactly just so, if you go
to Las Vegas today, you will see multiple sort of
homages too, great wonders.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
The ancient world, like the what is it?
Speaker 3 (02:16):
The there's the luxe, the luxere is what it's called.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
It looks like a paramid.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
There's a old tower. Sure, there's a whole Paris hotel
that's actually pretty cool. Walking through some of those hotels
is worth your time. It's almost like a Disney five
kind of experience. You know, there's a lot of attention
to detail. You got to appreciate it at least.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, And you don't have to be suckered
in by the circus of Vegas, but.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
You do have a circus of Vegas.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
So there we go. But you do have to recognize
there is a reason that this this thoroughly American metropolis
puts so much time into building wonders, constructing the cons
the wonder It is loosely, I would say, inspired by
(03:06):
the very real subject of our exploration today, the Seven
Wonders of the Ancient World. Now, previously we did I
think a very fair, very level headed exploration of one
of the most controversial wonders of the world, the hanging
gardens of quote unquote Babylon.
Speaker 3 (03:27):
Yes right, you know your mileage may vary as to
where they actually were hanging.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
And now we're returning to this series, and we're going
to go a little meta with it in future episodes.
But we're we're returning we as as longtime ridiculous historians
may know, we're very close to our cartoonish goal of
doing one episode per every state in these United States.
(03:55):
We're picking up more continuing series. This is the second
piece of our series on the Wonders of the Ancient
World's looking through the research and learning from these ancient
(04:16):
primary sources. The one thing it reminds me of is
the concept of amazing architecture in graveyards. What's the weirdest,
most amazing graveyard you have visited?
Speaker 3 (04:32):
I just roamed through one recently when I was in Philadelphia,
I had a day off and I just took a
wander around kind of the city center area, which is
where a lot of the historical sites are, and just
happened upon the graveyard where Benjamin Franklin is entombed.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
Paid the five bucks to.
Speaker 1 (04:53):
Get him.
Speaker 3 (04:56):
Five dollars five five bones to check out the bones,
and then you did get a little commemorative map. And
I recently got a fun little mirrorless DSLR camera, so
I took some graveyard picks and ada blasts. Oh, i'll
send them to you soon. I'm gonna actually do a
photo set. I haven't filled up my cards yet, but
it's pretty sick by the way. It's like it shoots
(05:16):
in really really high reds, so you can take a
picture of like a whole vista and then in post
zoom into like the eye of a pigeon somewhere in
the background.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
It's a lot of fun.
Speaker 3 (05:26):
I also wandered through the Philly Chinatown, which is worth
everyone's time. But yeah, but Benny Franks is buried in
this graveyard and I can't recall the name. And there's
some other you know, United States governmental luminaries entombed there
as well. But there were definitely some pretty ostentatious mausoleums
as we also have here in Atlanta at the what's
(05:48):
that cool cemetery.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
Callge Well, there's Oakland.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
That's the one.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
Yeah, there's Oakland. There are a couple of others that
I like, but I feel as though if I go
too deep into this, I will sound creepy. I love
I love a New Orleans graveyard. I love all right.
You know, I used to live in Central America and
they have a lot of uh similar things. There's actually
(06:14):
if anybody wants to go on a rabbit hole, do
check out in in Latin America. Do check out the
various ostentatious burial places for former cartel members. They're as
big as condos. In some cases they're as big as houses.
(06:36):
The architecture is amazing, and there's there's a peaceful thing
uh to Maslimbs. But as as we are going to
learn in this episode on an Ancient Wonder of the World,
the word Maslim comes from a very specific branch of etymology.
It all goes back to one of the wonders that
(06:58):
people have a hard time naming at Trivia when they're
playing turkey with their friends. It's the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus.
Speaker 3 (07:07):
Yeah, and every time I hear it or read it,
I want to say, that is Hella Carnassas.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
I like that. I think it's good. I think you
should keep that one.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
Well, it's just part of who I am.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
But let's go to ad non Kidlawie writing for art Nets.
He's got a great quotation that sets us up for this.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
That's right.
Speaker 3 (07:28):
He says, among the seven wonders of the ancient world,
the Mausoleum at Halacarnasas stood as a testament to both
architectural ambition and one king's eternal vanity.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
What kings with egoity?
Speaker 1 (07:41):
Crazy?
Speaker 3 (07:42):
They probably think this song is about them and this podcast,
and it kind of is built in what is now
Bodrum Turkey or Bodrum Turkey. This monumental tomb rose approximately
one hundred and forty eight feet into the Mediterranean sky,
about the height of a modern fourteen story building, dominating
the landscape of ancient Halla Carnassis.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
Yeah, so here's the thing before we get into the
story of this giant tomb made for a guy who
might have been a little bit into himself, Scooch. We've
got we've got to give some context. Okay, so we
have to go to the BCE era before Common era,
(08:27):
and our first question there is, hey, Hallakarnassus. Halle carnass
is a weird word. What does that mean? It's in
ancient Greek city, it's over on, as he said, it's
in modern day Buldrum, Turkier, and right now, modern experts
(08:48):
don't know a ton about, as Lauren would say, the
actual facts existence of Halle carnass We know that it
did exist. It had a large, pretty advantageous harbor. It
was in prime position on the Sa routes if you
look at it on paper, just like the Darien Gap.
Speaker 3 (09:10):
Can I just say that the Gulf of Seramicus is
not one that I'm familiar with, not a golf that
I am aware of until now? And also doesn't that
kind of sound like a name of like a place
in like eldin Ring or something a little bit the
Gulf of Saramicus. It sounds like a scary place.
Speaker 1 (09:28):
It's more elden Ring than elder scroll for a sure.
Speaker 4 (09:33):
Definitely, it also sounds like an elden ring like the
creature would like scoop your brains out on one hand
and kill you.
Speaker 1 (09:41):
Elden Ring a famously non stressful, fun.
Speaker 3 (09:45):
Game, famously too stressful for me to finish. And I
will tell you, guys, I may have mentioned this not
to go too off track, but I have found the
perfect goldilocks zone of a video game for me that
scratches all the itches, ticks all the boxes, and I'm
just loving every minute of it. And that game is
Monster Hunter Wilds. It's all the fun parts of games
(10:07):
like elden Rang, none of the.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
Head slammed against wall, frustration of it I know, and
keeps all fining about. Oh I love it. I love
it with all my heart. I got a joint, we
got a hot monsters together, guys. It's a blast.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
So a person who also like the love you have
for Monster Hunter is similar to the love that some
of the rulers of Halla Carrass has had for their
their regional power in the world. One of their most
famous rulers was a woman, Artemisia. The first she served
(10:45):
under Xerxes. Everybody remembers him from the documentary three hundred from.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
Yeah five hundred, I was wrong.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
Yeah, Artemisia, The first.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
Big on earrings, big on facial piercings.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
Xerxys from the Docs, you know, oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
famously accurate. I love the immortals in that one. I
love the like the vague superpowers in that one. I
don't want.
Speaker 3 (11:12):
It's a fun looking movie, but it is a load
of comic book Yeah it is if it was a
comic book right and they did it, you know. I
think it may be one of the only Zack Snyder
pictures that I think suits him the best. Like it
was not been a fan of a lot of his
other stuff, but that one feels right for him.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
I think he did a good job.
Speaker 1 (11:32):
The historical Xerxes, it occurs to me, is a great
pitch for our friend Ben Thompson over a badass he
if he hasn't covered it yet, and as his Artemisia
one very much a badass for her own right. So
Xerxes with the help of Artemisia the first they invade
(11:53):
Grease in about four eighty BC. And these are facts
coming to us for our friends of Pretannica dot com. Again,
with Royals, they tend to not be super creative with naming,
so we're not focusing on Artemisia the first. Uh, we're
(12:14):
we're focusing on Artemisia Street named the second and her husband,
Mauzuleus Soiler. Also, how Game of Thrones is this dude?
Also her husband and her biological brother.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
Okay, okay, no judgment, maybe a little judgment.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
They just went a little olive garden with romance.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
You know what you mean, unlimited breadsticks?
Speaker 1 (12:40):
Uh, sort of when you're here your family.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
Ah, yes, of course. That old chestnut.
Speaker 3 (12:50):
Mazulus, according to Britannica, was a Persian sat trap set
trap a governor.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
When I looked at it.
Speaker 3 (12:57):
On paper, it looks like a Persian strap, which sounds
like a lot of fun. Though virtually they say an
independent ruler of Kara Karia rather in southwestern and Toolia
from three seventy seven seventy six ish to three point
fifty three BCE.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
And this guy. I love that we're bringing up satrap.
It's one of those relatively archaic words for authorities, sort
of similar to being a suzerain. This guy. Yeah, imagine
the governor of your province or your state or what
have you, functioning essentially as a small king. That is
(13:38):
what mark and statures he's got a short king to
short king Spring. He's got a short reach for sure,
but within his reach he has an iron grasp. Yeah,
and we ben oh oh, well, No, the thing is
this guy, slowly over his career as a despot, he
(14:00):
expands his control to some surrounding areas. And then Mauzeleless
just spelling this out so we can all get the
etymology in a us l us he dies, He dies
before he does all the stuff he wanted to do,
and when he dies he's still a big deal. And
(14:24):
during this time, as later occurs in different points of history,
people want to sort of give the flowers, they want
to pay the respects. They want to build a cartoonish
Vegas level doing a callback, a cartoonish Vegas level monument
(14:48):
to this dead ruler.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
Well, it is funny.
Speaker 3 (14:50):
I think we've talked about it in our discussions over
around stuff. They don't want you to know about the
Georgia guidestones. If anyone isn't familiar with that, do recommend
looking into that story and checking out our episodes. But
the official industry term to this day for tombstones. They
don't call it tombstones. They call them monuments.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
Right, Yes, this I appreciate you pointing that out because
you want to be you know, careful and respectful with
the survivors of someone who's passed. To understand how this
all this in the weeds geopolitics of bygone eras to
(15:32):
understand how it results in a wonder of the world,
we have to know a little bit about Masilus's financials.
So him and his.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
Bit of a big spender, a bit of a guy,
you know, he was not.
Speaker 1 (15:49):
He may have been brave, clean and reverent to quote
the boy Scouts, but he was not thrifty. He and
his sister wife a true term Artemisia the second. In particular,
they spent tons of money doing their version of MTV cribs.
With their capital overall, they constructed defensive walls, they made
(16:14):
a Theata, they made multiple temples, they made other public buildings.
We could actually despotism aside, we could argue that they
were improving the quality of life for people in the capitol.
Speaker 3 (16:29):
Yeah, they're definitely focused on infrastructure and public works. But
of course, as you can imagine, these spending habits also
extended to their private domicile and their personal shopping habits.
Speaker 2 (16:40):
Let's call them. We're pretty outlandish and extravagant.
Speaker 1 (16:43):
Yeah, and so it comes to pass. In three point
fifty three BCE, Mausulus dies and when he dies, his widow,
Artemisia the Second becomes the ruler of the land. And
she says, I like spending money. I missed my brother
or I miss my husband.
Speaker 3 (17:04):
Little retail therapy, right, I mean, yes, exactly, I'm going
to do the ancient equivalent of showing up to target
with no shopping lists, just vibes targeageman marcus, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
there we go.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
Uh. So, she says, We're going to build this magnificent
tomb to honor my brother or await my husband.
Speaker 2 (17:31):
So to my boo, yeah yeah, my booth.
Speaker 1 (17:34):
Hang. So to create this enormous, opulent structure, Artemisia the
Second contacts the most talented, prolific, well known Greek artist
and architects of the day and brings them to Hollycardasses.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
That's right, we're talking about.
Speaker 3 (17:55):
Of course, you already know Satrios of Paros and Pythia
of prayin Prime. Uh the four walls of the structure
in question here, the mausoleum is they're not calling it
that quite yet, though, let's just be clear. We're adorned
with these relief carvings created by four of the most
(18:17):
famous Greek sculptors of the day.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
That would include.
Speaker 3 (18:20):
Scope Us, who was the artistic foreman. Let's just say,
of the reconstruction of the Temple of Artemis, which the
other want to talk about.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
Yeah, we're going to talk.
Speaker 3 (18:29):
About that in a future episode. And this is of
course a thesis.
Speaker 1 (18:35):
And those other uh, the other four sculptors sort of
the beetles of the construction of the moles, which are
are the Ocares, Briaxis, and Timotheos. Uh So, four really
big names legends in their time. Spoiler alert, folks. As
often happens, this ruler Artemisia the second dies and she
(19:01):
dies before the construction of this opulent tomb is complete.
She actually only outlives her brother or her husband, Mausulus,
by about two years, and after she expires, she is cremated,
as was her partner, and the ashes of both spouses
(19:25):
are placed in this tomb which is still under construction.
So there are these big to dos, these big funeral ceremonies.
There are a lot of sacrifices of animals, not humans,
so far as we know. And the steps leading to
I love the point you made what would later be
called the mausoleum. The steps leading to this memorial site
(19:49):
are covered with stones and rubble to close off any
untwold access to the interior.
Speaker 3 (19:58):
Indeed, to keep out the you know, can't have anybody
tagging this glorious testament to the greatness of these these despots.
So to add an additional closing note on this part,
Max mentions in the research, much of the building process
is not one hundred percent known in terms of, you know,
the actual methods that were used to construct them, which
(20:20):
is often the case of some of these ancient structures.
It is, however, believed that the construction began it in
three fifty three BCE, right before Masulus Is death, and
finished in three fifty one BC, shortly after Artemisius death
Artemisius is death. And yeah, it's important to say that
while it's not known for certain, it is believed that
much of the manual laver was were performed of course,
(20:43):
surprise surprise, by slaves.
Speaker 1 (20:46):
By It is believed. We also mean, it is true.
Speaker 3 (20:50):
Have you seen that there's a really great little it's
ft up? But the show's wonder shows and there's a
little clip where it's these kids.
Speaker 2 (20:58):
They kind of have these kids songs.
Speaker 3 (21:00):
They're singing messed up stuff, and there's one where it's like,
slaves built the Pyramids, slaves built the Parthenos, same built America. No,
it's just like a funny little goofy kids song, but
they're talking about how slaves built everything, and then it
ends with thank you slaves.
Speaker 1 (21:18):
I'm just I'm thinking of that beautiful song Fame where
they just the refrain is someone yelling Fame.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
Well, sure, that's yeah, David Bowie and John Lennon.
Speaker 1 (21:27):
So next question, what did this edifice this? I mean,
it is full of sculptures. What did this structure look like?
We do have good news. We teased it at the top.
Unlike our first episode in this series on the Hanging
Gardens of Babylon, the Mauzle Limb at Halla Karnassis is
(21:50):
much more well established in the historical record. We know
exactly where it was constructed. There are primary sources with
direct first hand accounts of the tomb. In short, we
know that it existed where and when it is purported
to exist.
Speaker 2 (22:09):
That's right.
Speaker 3 (22:09):
Unlike the famed hanging gardens, right, So with that, let's
get into some elder talk. Pliny the Elder to be specific,
the Roman scholar who we often quote because he was
a great historian, a great documentary cataloger of history, and
he was also a naval commander. He provided our most
(22:29):
detailed contemporary accounts of many things from this era, including
the Mausoleum of Halla Carnasses. According to his account, the
monument's base was nearly square, with a perimeter measuring four
hundred and eleven feet. It was adorned with thirty six
columns that circled the structure and created sort of what
(22:50):
you might refer to as a colonnade that supported a
pyramid shaped roof made up of twenty four steps.
Speaker 1 (22:58):
Okay, so ziggarat esque.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
There you go.
Speaker 1 (23:01):
Proof. And for everybody outside of the United States and
Namibia at this point, if we could do a quick
ancient historic inflation calculator or concurreacion and a dude, so
four hundred and eleven feet is a little more than
(23:24):
one hundred and twenty five meters, So this is very
very big for the time.
Speaker 2 (23:28):
That's right.
Speaker 3 (23:29):
They're going large or going home on top of this
structure that we've described. Was kind of what you would
call the coupdi grav whole thing. The star on top
of the tree, a structure known as a quadraga, which
is made up of four horse chariot situations carved from
white marble. These must have been glorious to behold. The
(23:51):
chariots carrying figures thoughts to be Maziles himself and Ardimisia.
Speaker 2 (23:56):
The second.
Speaker 1 (23:57):
Yeah, yeah, very again, very modest, very humble. Nobody has problems,
no one's going hungry or hoping for freedom. This is
this is also as cold as it sounds. This is
fantastic marketing and intimidation because if you were a ship
(24:18):
coming into this beautiful sheltered harbor, you are going to
see these sculptures as you approach. And the monument again
it's it's Leviathan. It's a gigantic scale. People are figuring
out how to build this thing in a way such
(24:38):
that it doesn't immediately collapse. So shout out to all
the engineers in the crowd.
Speaker 2 (24:43):
For sure.
Speaker 1 (24:44):
The foundation is about two feet or i'd say like
aboutzero point six meters deep into the ground, and they
had to dig down into the ground because they were
carrying two two thousand estimated two thousand tons of marble
blocks in the construction, and marble also, of course it's
(25:09):
peak opulence. It's quite expensive, it's not super easy to
work with. These guys are still also, by the way,
I think you would love this ridiculous historians. They're using
a lot of lead in the construction. They got lead dowels,
they got iron clamps, but they're using molten lead to
(25:30):
fasten these blocks together. And this is like nobody knows
about the long term knock on effects of lead exposure
at this point, so this is a revolutionary technique.
Speaker 3 (25:42):
We did recently cite a study indicating that the IQ
of folks from this era in this part of the
world definitely saw a decline over time that was likely
a knock on effect of lead contamination. To your point, Ben,
(26:04):
you know, it's funny when we're hearing this description of
this mausoleum or of this grand burial monument, it really
makes me think of a lot of neo classical types
of monuments throughout the world, and even here in the
United States, like in Berlin there's the Brandenburger Gate or
the Brandenburg Gate, which it has these you know, horses
(26:25):
on top very much seemingly inspired by this kind of thing.
And even in New York City or you've got the
Grand Army Plaza where it's got this like eagle situation
and a lot of this stuff, you realize was definitely
a nod to some of these classical architecture.
Speaker 2 (26:42):
I guess that's where neoclassical country.
Speaker 1 (26:44):
The original version of the Washington Monument was something quite similar.
And for sure, when I accidentally got baptized as a
Buddhist in Salt Lake City recently yet accident, I was
thinking of something similar. If you go to the Big
(27:05):
LDS Temple there in Salt Lake City, you will see
a top it a golden statue of the angel Moroni,
and it's very similar this idea of sort of propagating visibility.
Look upon our works, and as we said, you know,
they're pulling the brightest minds of their generation to decorate
(27:29):
and ornament this monument. Each of the four sculptors we
previously mentioned are assigned one of the four facades of
the building. So to your earlier point, they have a
bunch of like Baker's dozens of free standing sculptures. These
are gonna depict battles between the Greeks and the Amazons.
(27:52):
They're super intricate, think like Angor Watt level intricate. Some
of this spoiler, the monument does get destroyed, but some
of the sculptures made it to the British Museum, including
one that is thought to be a statue of the
(28:13):
dead man himself, Mazuleus. However, speaking of humility and embellishment,
know this statue is ten feet tall. I don't think
Masulus was ten feet tall.
Speaker 3 (28:24):
No, remember he was a short king. We talked about that.
So can you go visit this then? Well, first of all,
let's get it out of the way. I think it's clear.
The term mausoleum, which we use to this day to
describe large burial sites, usually reserved for multiple bodies. Oftentimes
they are for entire families. You know, you'll have like
(28:44):
different little slots within these mazle gums where various members
of a lineage will be stored, kind of have them
reserved for when folks pass. The second question, now they've
got down out of the way, can you go see
this thing today? I mean.
Speaker 1 (29:04):
Asterisk, yes, asterisk So uh, you are going to be
unfortunately disappointed it's going to be a deeper disappointment than
the first time I visited the famous London Tower, right
and just cool, Well, no, it's cool, it's beautiful, and
(29:24):
obviously I love the Ravens, I love the Corvids. I
kicked up with them for a while for a few days.
But the first thing you'll realize when you go to
the Tower of London is that tower meant a very
different thing free skyscraper technology.
Speaker 2 (29:41):
I mean, so it doesn't quite have the wow factor.
Speaker 1 (29:43):
Yeah, I mean it's understood bers Dubai.
Speaker 2 (29:47):
It is not.
Speaker 1 (29:48):
But this this is not to say that the Maslem
is not a immensely impressive piece of construction, because it
did stand the test of time for nearly two thousand years.
Even Alexander the Great comes by and decides not to
destroy it. Europeans in the medieval era would come by
(30:10):
and they would see it and they would say, oh,
that's cool.
Speaker 2 (30:14):
That Alexander the Great.
Speaker 3 (30:15):
Bit reminds me of the part in Batman where the
Joker and his henchmen are like smashing up the museum
and then he comes across a Francis Bacon painting that's
kind of fed up, and he goes, wait, leave that one.
Speaker 2 (30:26):
I like it.
Speaker 1 (30:29):
Wait which which Batman franchise was that one Batman.
Speaker 5 (30:34):
With the Prince And they're in the museum and they're
painting and slicing up the paintings, and then they come
across this Francis Bacon painting, who's a notoriously macabre kind
of painter, and the Joker says, no, leave that one.
Speaker 1 (30:47):
I love that. I love all the jew I love
all the Joker adaptations except for one. And I'm gonna
be diplomatic.
Speaker 2 (30:54):
The one with the face tattoos.
Speaker 1 (30:57):
Being diplomatic, but I think we're on the same page.
Speaker 4 (31:00):
The one who's to use condoms sent to the fellow actors.
Speaker 3 (31:02):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I guess he was doing method I
don't know. It's super cool.
Speaker 1 (31:07):
Sometimes people use doing method acting as an excuse to
just be pills. Daniel day Lewis would never I'm saying anyway,
the monument itself, it doesn't fall to human shenanigans, it
doesn't fall to human villainy. It falls to the passage
(31:27):
of the living natural world, a series of earthquakes between
the eleventh and fifteenth centuries CE. So this is around
for so so long, and even when it's kind of
a wreck and ruin, people are still on board with it.
(31:48):
I mean, it's a lot of marble, you know what
I mean.
Speaker 2 (31:50):
Yeah, there's still some tasty bits that you can see.
Speaker 1 (31:53):
So in fourteen ninety four, again ce Knights of Saint
John go to the site, the construction destruction site of
the mausoleum. They take these marble blocks, and the ones
that they're able to recover and move they use to
(32:16):
fortify their castle of Saint Peter. And they're able to
do this. Marble is super heavy, right, but they're able
to do this because the castle is nearby, and in
doing so they accidentally preserve pieces of this wonder of
the world.
Speaker 3 (32:33):
Sure, and as they're excavating the site, they also accidentally
happen upon a secret chamber that's filled with beautiful sculptures
and statues. They initially believe that they'd found the actual
burial chamber, but Mazillus's actual facts Lauren vocal bomb burial
site remains lost to history.
Speaker 1 (32:56):
History. Yeah, it's very just okay, now we know only
ruins remain. Shout out to Osamandias, the Muslims foundations. The
remnants of the debris they're at the original site right now.
You will find more of an impact in culture than
(33:19):
you will find in the soil. Similar to the taj Mahal.
This is a gargantuan monument to one man's ego, and
it's the reason, it's the reason that masolem is now
(33:39):
a word for a very fancy grave.
Speaker 3 (33:42):
Indeed, love a mausoleum. They're a lot of fun and
they're also you know, very tim burtony. There's a certain
kind of I don't know, Gothic spookiness to them, like
I believe I remember, oh gosh, we don't talk about
a Neil game anymore.
Speaker 2 (33:56):
But the Graveyard Book was really cool.
Speaker 3 (33:58):
And in the Graveyard Book, I believe of a mausoleum
was sort of like the entrance and exit to like
the underworld.
Speaker 2 (34:04):
Oh sure, ghosts and haunts and that one.
Speaker 1 (34:07):
Oh, it reminds me of the excellent Clive Barker book
Night Breed. Yeah, of course that's the idiot. Yeah, the
Graveyard City. Now, of course, as we are going to
wrap up every episode this series are Wonders of the World.
One of the big questions for our fellow gamers out
there is obviously, should I build this wonder the Masolem
(34:33):
of Halikarnassis or the Moslim at Halacarnassis. Should I build
it in the game, it gives you scientific and seafaring
traits in some iterations, or it gives you culture and
points for an artist thing. It increases your gold income. However,
(34:53):
as a research associate, Max needs everyone listening to know
SIEV six is really where the Muslim will shine.
Speaker 2 (35:02):
Bright Ooh okay, so they've they've upgraded it a little bit.
Speaker 4 (35:06):
You know, it's like one of the most overpowered wonders
and Civilizations six because it has two abilities and each
of them individually will make it one of the best
wonders in the game because what it does, especially you
have to build it adjacent to a harbor in a
city on the coast. So like, that's one cool thing
(35:28):
that Day introduced in Stif six where it's like you
can't just build things in random places, like you can't
for the pyramids and tundra and stuff like that, which
is like, okay, that makes sense, but uh so, but
in other words, you have this one. You have to
have a lot of coastal and all your coastal tiles
just get beasted out. So it makes the city into
a super city. But it also gives you an extra
charge on a great on a great engineer going forward,
(35:48):
on all your great engineers going forward. So let's just
say you have a great engineer like uh, Eiffel is
one of the great engineers you can get who gives
you a bunch of like production for building wonders. So
like literally you can just beast out like three wonders
with this thingale On. It's the most and some reason
the AI never want to build.
Speaker 1 (36:04):
It right, right, so it's advantageous. Now, of course we
have saved clearly the most pivotal and impactful question for
the end. However, we have good news, folks, this is
not the end of the series. We have additional wonders
to explore technically five. We're also going to have a
(36:27):
little bit of a meta episode about what makes a
wonder a wonder. We have so much more to get to.
Speaker 3 (36:33):
To call back to Clive Barker, so many wonders to
show you, right.
Speaker 1 (36:37):
Yes, yes, very very l Raiser, I love it all.
I love we Also yeah again we have a we
have a meta episode on what makes a wonder a wonder?
We can't wait to hang out with you later this
week when we talk about another wonder of the modern
world with perhaps some damning consequences. We're doing a ridiculous
(36:58):
history of tupperware.
Speaker 2 (37:00):
Oh my gosh, I love that tupperware burp hughes.
Speaker 3 (37:03):
Thanks to Max Williams, a super producer who also served
does our research associate extraordinaire on this episode. Huge thanks
to Alex Williams, who composed our theme.
Speaker 1 (37:13):
Big big thanks, of course to The Puzzler and the Twister.
That would be the Devil and the Angel on the
shoulders of our show. That's aj Bahamas Jacobs, host of
The Puzzler, and that's Jonathan Strickland.
Speaker 3 (37:29):
AJ joining us pretty soon.
Speaker 1 (37:30):
AJ is joining us pretty soon. He's he's got some
he's got some bangor research to share with us, and
of course we can't wait to hang with him. Also,
big thanks to Rachel Big Spinach Lance, the number one
world expert on underwater explosions, which I still love being
able to.
Speaker 2 (37:50):
Say, yes, it's a very niche expertise and we're here
for it.
Speaker 1 (37:54):
And of course Chris rossi Otis Eves Jeffcoat here in spirit,
and big thanks to you know, I'd love to I
can't wait to see what wonders we explore in the future.
Speaker 3 (38:08):
Oh, I thought you're gonna say, to see what my
mausoleum looks like.
Speaker 1 (38:11):
Dark. No, that'd be rude.
Speaker 3 (38:13):
No, it's gonna be it's gonna be rad I'm already
designing it.
Speaker 2 (38:17):
Let's see you next time, folks.
Speaker 3 (38:25):
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Ridiculous History News
Hosts And Creators
Ben Bowlin
Noel Brown
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