Structure and Scale:

(Zanker)

The surviving remains make it clear that the scale of Augustus’ Mausoleum was enormous. Since so little of the upper structure remains, there has been significant difficulty in reconstructing details of the upper levels. However, what remains of the base makes it fairly clear that the building was a five-tiered, circular structure. It can be inferred from the surviving structure that the Mausoleum was nearly 40 meters high and spanned a diameter of nearly ninety meters (Rehak 38). While the interior structural walls were mostly of concrete and brick, the external surfaces were faced with travertine and Luna marble and finely decorated with a frieze and other embellishments (Rehak 38-9).

(Clardige)

Except for a single entrance passageway and three concentric burial chambers, the spaces between the masonry walls were filled with rubble (Rehak 38). In the center of the Mausoleum was a tall central pillar, where the remains of Augustus himself may have been deposited (Claridge 182).

(Boatwright)

The entire structure was topped with a large mound of earth (or tumulus) and planted with trees. Architecturally, this was a design that contemporary observers, like Strabo, would have associated with the burial places of ancient Greek and oriental heroes (Zanker 75). Recently, it has been suggested that tumulus tombs in Anatolia, from the time of the Iliad, may have had a significant influence on the design of the Mausoleum.

(Zanker)

Compared to the scale of other contemporary buildings, the mausoleum would have truly gargantuan. The mausoleum was even taller than the top of the pediment of the temple of Venus Victrix on the top of the theatre of Pompey, which would have been visible in the distance (Rehak 38).

To further accentuate the sheer scale of the structure, the Mausoleum was purposely surrounded by public gardens and isolated from other construction (Zanker 74).