Mausoleum of Augustus

By N.S. Gill, About.com Guide

The final resting place of the first Roman emperor, Augustus, is known as the Mausoleum of Augustus. The first of the imperial monumental tombs, it was an enormous 4-story circular building. The lowest floor was 200 feet in diameter; above were terraces and on top of them, a statue of the emperor. Following his defeat of his rival claimant to power in Rome, and his return from Egypt to Rome, Augustus started building this monument in 28 B.C., in the Campus Martius. To see inscriptions concerning this monument, see The Mausoleum of Augustus and the Res Gestae.

Sources:

• Mausoleum of Augustus
• A handbook of Architectural Styles, by Albert Rosengarten; translated by W. Collett-Sandars (1876).

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• Mausoleum of Augustus Exterior
• Mausoleum of Augustus from the Interior

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