UK_622 Slabs from the Amazon frieze Carved about 350 BC
This, the best preserved of the three friezes from the Mausoleum, showed the expedition by Herakles and Theseus to Themiskyra, and the subsequent fierce battle with the Amazon women. The subject was a common theme in Greek art, but it was particularly relevant to Maussollos. According to Karian tradition, an axe once owned by the Amazon queen, Hippolyte, was housed at Labraunda, the ancestral sanctuary of the Hekatomnid dynasty. She is shown in combat with Herakles on one section of the frieze (Sculpture 1008), which is part of an unusually long slab.
This focal point of the battle may have had a prominent position on the monument, perhaps at the centre of the principal, east side. The frieze was positioned at the top of the podium, and a corner block, recovered from the Castle of St Peter at Bodrum, indicates that it met at the corners, and probably ran around all four sides of the Mausoleum. The whole frieze was richly coloured, with the background painted blue, and the flesh of the male figures painted red. Bronze (perhaps gilded) was used for some of the weapons and for the bridles and bits of horses.
British Museum
UK_622 Slabs from the Amazon frieze Carved about 350 BC
This, the best preserved of the three friezes from the Mausoleum, showed the expedition by Herakles and Theseus to Themiskyra, and the subsequent fierce battle with the Amazon women. The subject was a common theme in Greek art, but it was particularly relevant to Maussollos. According to Karian tradition, an axe once owned by the Amazon queen, Hippolyte, was housed at Labraunda, the ancestral sanctuary of the Hekatomnid dynasty. She is shown in combat with Herakles on one section of the frieze (Sculpture 1008), which is part of an unusually long slab.
This focal point of the battle may have had a prominent position on the monument, perhaps at the centre of the principal, east side. The frieze was positioned at the top of the podium, and a corner block, recovered from the Castle of St Peter at Bodrum, indicates that it met at the corners, and probably ran around all four sides of the Mausoleum. The whole frieze was richly coloured, with the background painted blue, and the flesh of the male figures painted red. Bronze (perhaps gilded) was used for some of the weapons and for the bridles and bits of horses.
British Museum