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11Neither could it be urged that it was from want of skill and taste in architecture, that he did so. Born at Mylasa, and perceiving that Halicarnassus was a situation fortified by nature, and a place well adapted for commerce, with a commodious harbour, he fixed his residence there. The site of the city bears a resemblance to a theatre, as to general form. In the lowest part of it, near the harbour, a forum was built: up the hill, about the middle of the curve, was a large square in the centre of which stood the mausoleum, a work of such grandeur that it was accounted one of the seven wonders of the world. In the centre, on the summit of the hill, was the temple of Mars, with its colossal statue, which is called ἀκρόλιθος, sculptured by the eminent hand of Leocharis. Some, however, attribute this statue to Leocharis; others to Timotheus. On the right, at the extreme point of the curve, was the temple of Venus and Mercury, close to the fountain of Salmacis.
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