The Foundations of the removed Nereid Monument,Xanthos, Turkey (photo)

The Nereid Monument is a sculptured tomb from Xanthos in classical period Lycia, close to present-day Kinik in Antalya Province, Turkey. It took the form of a Greek temple on top of a base decorated with sculpted friezes, and is thought to have been built in the early fourth century BC as a tomb for Arbinas (Lycian: Erbbina, or Erbinna), the Xanthian dynast who ruled western Lycia. The tomb is thought to have stood until the Byzantine era before falling into ruin. The ruins were rediscovered by British traveler Charles Fellows in the early 1840s. Fellows had them shipped to the British Museum where they remain. Designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1988, Xanthos was the capital city of the Lycian Federation. The Xanthosians famously twice chose to commit mass suicide rather than submit to invading forces. In 540 BC the Xanthosian men set fire to their women, children, slaves and treasure upon the acropolis before making their final doomed attack upon the invading Persians. Xanthos was later repopulated but the same gruesome story repeated itself in 42 BC when Brutus attacked the city during the Roman civil wars in order to recruit troops and raise money.