Artemisia Drinks the Ashes of Her Husband Mausolus. A.M. 3651.

This is one of a group of drawings by British artist and book illustrator Edward Francis Burney, depicting scenes from Greek and Roman history and mythology. This composition was used for a headpiece in 'Le Souvenir', a memorandum book published by Suttaby, Evance, Fox, Richardson/London in 1822, on the page for 16th November. Artemisia II was the wife and sister of King Mausolus of Caria. She reigned independently after his death. Such was Artemisia's grief for Mausolus that she commissioned the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus, a monumental above-ground burial tomb dedicated to her late husband and brother. She is also said to have drunk Mausolus' ashes with her drink every day that she survived him. The Mausoleum was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World however the site is now a ruin in modern-day Turkey. 'Mausoleum' is now used as a general term for an enclosed burial site.