ARCHITECT

Work
Cited by Stobaeus.

- Mausoleum of Halicarnassus (355-350 BC): One of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world, the name of this unusual structure has become a synonym for any grandiose funerary monument. Mausolos, satrap of Halicarnassus from 377 to 353 BC, commissioned Pytheos and his colleague Satyrus to design and build him a magnificent monument. The base was three-tiered, each step ornately ornamented. Above this was the tomb proper, or crypt, set in the middle of a vast floor, measuring 66 x 77 x 16 metres. Over this rose an elaborate temple, set about with 36 Ionic columns. The roof was surmounted by a stepped pyramid, its 24 steps culminating in a platform upon which Pytheos set a chariot drawn by four horses (a quadriga), in which were placed statues of Mausolos and his wife Artemisia. The whole structure was 55 metres tall. The three huge steps of the base were ornamented with scenes from the Battle of the Titans, the Battle of the Centaurs and the Battle of the Amazons. The west side of the monument was completed at a later date by the architect Hermogenes. The sculptures ornamenting the monument were created by the most famous sculptors of the day: Bryaxis, Leochares, Praxiteles, Scopas, Timotheus. The monument was destroyed in an earthquake in 1200. In 1400 the Knights of Rhodes used the stone to build their Fortress of St Peter in Halicarnassus. In 1857 the site was excavated by British archaeologist Charles Newton, and much material came to light. Most of the finds, including the statues of Mausolos and Artemisia and part of the frieze, are now in the British Museum.

- The Temple of Artemis Cybele: At Sardis. Ionic order temple measuring 45.70 x 99.20 metres in plan, with 160 columns (8 x 20). This temple, which was built to replace an earlier one destroyed by the Ionians in 497 BC, is in many aspects similar to the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus.

- The Temple of Athena Polias ("guardian of the city"): At Priene. Monument of rare beauty in the organisation of its plan (grid of 6 x 6 Attic feet) and the perfection of its forms. Ionic order.

"Commentaries": Books commenting and describing his studies for his best-known works. Together with the treatises of Hermogenes, these books were the most authoritative documents on ancient Greek architecture, and were used by Vitruvius as the basis for his descriptions. Lost.