MAUSOLEUM. — Term applied to the splendid monument erected at Halicarnassus by Artemisia in memory of her husband Mausolus, ruler of Caria (352 BC), later extended to denote the grandest funerary monuments (Strabo, V, 3, 8; Valerius Maximus, IV, 6; Pliny, XXXVI, 5, 4). From the primitive method of burial in earthen and stone tumuli raised over the corpse, used by Bronze Age agricultural peoples, there developed gradually the Etruscan tumuli of the necropoleis at Caere, Tarquinia and Vulci, conical mounds surrounded by retaining walls (7th–6th centuries BC).
The Romans adopted this system, raising the retaining walls into substantial stone constructions. In the 1st century BC the support of the mound became a cylindrical drum, creating the type of funerary monument culminating in the tomb of Caecilia Metella (second half of the 1st century BC) on the first mile of the Appian Way. Beside the great Mausoleum of Augustus near the Via Flaminia (28 BC), with its high drum, annular corridor and mound surmounted by evergreen trees, stand contemporary sepulchral mausolea such as Casal Rotondo on the Appian Way, that of Lucilius Peto on the Salarian Way, the Plautii on the Tiburtina, Munatius Plancus near Gaeta and many others. The cylindrical mausoleum became during the 1st century of the Empire the standard type of patrician tomb, virtually a national style. Outstanding in its grandeur was the Mausoleum of Hadrian (AD 132–39), now Castel Sant’Angelo, with its square base rising to a cylindrical drum enclosing the sepulchral chamber. The so-called Mausoleum of Septimius Severus on the Via Tuscolana and that of the Gordians (Tor de’ Schiavi) on the Prenestina road are of the same circular plan with domed crown, as are the so-called Mausoleum of Gallienus at the third mile of the Appian Way (3rd century) and the Mausoleum of Romulus, son of Maxentius, near the circus named after that emperor.
A similar structure was adopted for the numerous mausolea erected after the triumph of Christianity around the Roman basilicas as tombs of imperial family members and distinguished Roman houses, such as that of the Anicii beside the basilica of St Peter in the Vatican (4th–5th centuries). To the Constantinian period belongs the so-called Mausoleum of St Helena, mother of Constantine (Tor Pignattara), on the second mile of the Via Labicana, as shown by the masonry style, construction technique and the great porphyry sarcophagus found there, now in the Vatican Museums.
A notable contemporary monument is the Mausoleum of Constantia, daughter of Constantine and wife first of Hannibalianus and then of Gallus Caesar, beside the basilica of St Agnes outside the walls. It is a rotunda within a 4th-century cemetery enclosure, with an annular plan and barrel vault adorned with magnificent mosaics depicting vines and cupids engaged in the tasks of the vintage, symbols of faith still wrapped in pagan imagery.
The series of mausolea closes solemnly with that of Theodoric (d. 526) in Ravenna, in which diverse elements are fused while remaining Roman in essence and in full continuity with analogous monuments that preceded II. — See pl. XXX.
(MAXIMU
M ILLUD.) — These are the opening words of the apostolic letter issued by Benedict XV on 30 November 1918 on the propagation of the faith in missionary territories. It consists of a general introduction offering a historical synthesis of Catholic missionary activity, followed by three parts and a concluding section.
The first part is addressed to mission superiors and sets out the personal qualities and duties required for the development of the missions and the training of indigenous clergy. The second part is directed to missionaries themselves, reminding them of their duty to propagate solely the Kingdom of Christ; to this end they must acquire profound learning, master the language of the peoples among whom they labour, and above all lead holy and heroic lives. The third part, addressed to all Christians, speaks of the duty to support the missions through prayer, fostering vocations to missionary service and making offerings; it also recommends the Missionary Union of the Clergy. The prosperity of the missions, it concludes, depends on the faithful and missionaries fulfilling their duties. Published just after the end of the First World War, the apostolic letter rekindled missionary zeal throughout Christendom and spurred missionary studies.