<Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> This article needs additional citations for verification . Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . Unsourced material may be challenged and removed . (August 2012) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) </Td> </Tr> <P> A mausoleum is an external free - standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the interment space or burial chamber of a deceased person or people . A monument without the interment is a cenotaph . A mausoleum may be considered a type of tomb, or the tomb may be considered to be within the mausoleum . </P> <P> The word derives from the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus (near modern - day Bodrum in Turkey), the grave of King Mausolus, the Persian satrap of Caria, whose large tomb was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World . </P> <P> Historically, mausolea were, and still may be, large and impressive constructions for a deceased leader or other person of importance . However, smaller mausolea soon became popular with the gentry and nobility in many countries . In the Roman Empire, these were often ranged in necropoles or along roadsides: the via Appia Antica retains the ruins of many private mausolea for miles outside Rome . However, when Christianity became dominant, mausoleums were out of use . </P>

Where do we get our modern word mausoleum from