Context<hr>
     After Artemisia II reached out to the most talented architects of her time to 
construct the magnificent tombstone of her husband, the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus, which later 
became one of the seven wonders of the world, her love for her dear Mausolus was not yet 
fully satisfied. She brought in Isocrates and Theopompus, true legends from Greece.
She hired these distinguished men to lend their eloquence in favour 
of her deceased husband whose memory they immortalised. To receive this favour, the inconsolable 
woman addressed them in the following manner, after her deep love made her momentarily forget that 
she was standing in front of the celebrated Isocrates.<hr>
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                                         Artemisia to Isocrates<hr>
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     It is through you, the orator, that I hope to immortalise Mausolus. It is your 
task to breathe life into all the statues I erect for him. You will 
build him an imperishable tomb, defying time itself, and that will 
forever immortalise Mausolus, Isocrates, and Artemisia. I do not believe that time and chance 
honour gold, marble, precious stones, and the other precious materials I use to 
build this stunning monument. No, I know that these three hundred columns, whose arrangement is 
deliberately observed, whose foundations are strongly anchored, whose decorations are 
magnificent, and where the art surpasses material itself, will one day be pitiful ruins. Not much 
later, there will be nothing left of it. All these bas-reliefs adorning the four sides of this 
tomb will be worn away by the weather, and we will barely be able to distinguish 
some imperfect figures amid the ones we admire today. These obelisks, which 
appear to defy the storm, may be struck by lightning and reduced to ash. These 
smoky pots, these extinguished torches, these armour trophies and all the ornaments that 
architecture can offer will not prevent the destruction of this work. Even if I have 
used all my riches for this tomb and made it, through the expert hands of 
Scopas, Bryaxis, Timotheus, and Leochares, one of the wonders of the world, if nobody 
takes care to preserve its memory in writing, the statues I have erected, the gold, marble, 
precious stones, columns, bas-reliefs, obelisks, 
smokin pots, extinguished torches, and all the architectural ornaments that appear 
in this work will not prevent Mausolus, his tomb, his architects, his sculpturers 
and Artemisia herself from being buried in oblivion. They will be unknown to future 
generations as if they had never existed.<hr>
     Thusly, Isocrates, Theopompus, it is you who must provide a solid foundation for this 
edifice, bring these marbles to life with grand inscriptions, resurrect 
Mausolus, and enable me to live eternally even when I feel my death impending. I do not 
ask you, Isocrates, to praise Helen or Bucephalus as you have done in the past.<hr>
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                                                 8<hr>