The Lighthouse of Alexandria, sometimes called the Pharos of Alexandria, was a lofty tower
built by the Ptolemaic Kingdom between 280 and 247 BC and between 393 and 450 ft tall.
It was one of the tallest man-made structures on Earth for many centuries, and was regarded
as one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Badly damaged by three earthquakes
between 956 and 1323, it then became an abandoned ruin. It was the third longest surviving ancient
wonder until in 1480 the last of its remnant stones were used to build the Citadel of Qaitbay
on the site. In 1994, French archaeologists discovered some remains of the lighthouse
on the floor of Alexandria's Eastern Harbour.
Origin
Pharos was a small island just off the coast of the Nile Delta's western edge. In 332 BC
when Alexander the Great founded the city of Alexandria on an isthmus opposite to Pharos,
he caused the island to be united to the coast by a mole nearly a mile long called the Heptastadion.
The east side of the mole became the Great Harbour, now an open bay; on the west side
lay the port of Eunostos, with its inner basin Kibotos, now vastly enlarged to form the modern
harbour. Today's city development lying between the present Grand Square and the modern Ras
al-Tiin quarter is built on the silt which gradually widened and obliterated this mole,
and Ras al-Tiin represents all that is left of the island of Pharos, the site of the lighthouse
at its eastern point having been weathered away by the sea.
Construction
The lighthouse was constructed in the 3rd century BC. After Alexander the Great died
of a fever at age 32, the first Ptolemy announced himself king in 305 BC, and commissioned its
construction shortly thereafter. The building was finished during the reign of his son,
the second Ptolemy. It took 12 years to complete, at a total cost of 800 talents, and served
as a prototype for all later lighthouses in the world. The light was produced by a furnace
at the top and the tower was said to have been built mostly with solid blocks of limestone.
Strabo reported that Sostratus had a dedication inscribed in metal letters to the "Saviour
Gods". Later Pliny the Elder wrote that Sostratus was the architect, which is disputed. In the
second century AD the satirist Lucian wrote that Sostratus inscribed his name under plaster
bearing the name of Ptolemy. This was so that when the plaster with Ptolemy's name fell
off, Sostratus's name would be visible in the stone.
Height and description Judith McKenzie writes that "The Arab descriptions
of the lighthouse are remarkably consistent, although it was repaired a number of times
especially after earthquake damage. The height they give varies only fifteen per cent from
c 103 to 118m, on a base c. 30 by 30m square... the Arab authors indicate a tower with three
tapering tiers, which they describe as square, octagonal and circular, with a substantial
ramp". The fullest description of the lighthouse
comes "from the Arab traveler Abou Haggag Youssef Ibn Mohammed el-Balawi el-Andaloussi,
who visited the Pharos as a tourist in AH 561."
Constructed from large blocks of light-coloured stone, the tower was made up of three stages:
a lower square section with a central core, a middle octagonal section, and, at the top,
a circular section. At its apex was positioned a mirror which reflected sunlight during the
day; a fire was lit at night. Extant Roman coins struck by the Alexandrian mint show
that a statue of a Triton was positioned on each of the building's four corners. A statue
of Poseidon or Zeus stood atop the lighthouse. The Pharos' masonry blocks were interlocked,
sealed together using molten lead, to withstand the pounding of the waves.
Destruction In 796, the lighthouse may have lost its upper
tier, which apparently went without repair for about a century. There are reports that
Sultan Ahmad ibn Tulun then built a mosque with a dome in place of the upper tier, but
this seems to conflict with travelling geographer Muhammad al-Idrisi's report that the structure
still operated as a lighthouse on his visit in 1115 AD.
The lighthouse was badly damaged in the earthquake of 956, and then again in 1303 and 1323. The
two earthquakes in 1303 and 1323 damaged the lighthouse to the extent that the Moroccan
traveller Ibn Battuta reported no longer being able to enter the ruin. Finally the stubby
remnant disappeared in 1480, when the then-Sultan of Egypt, Qaitbay, built a medieval fort on
the larger platform of the lighthouse site using some of the fallen stone.
Recent archaeological research French archaeologists led by Jean-Yves Empereur
discovered remains of the lighthouse in late 1994 on the floor of Alexandria's Eastern
Harbour. Some of these remains were brought up and were lying at the harbour on public
view at the end of 1995. A Nova program chronicled the discovery. Subsequent satellite imaging
has revealed further remains. It is possible to go diving and see the ruins. The secretariat
of the UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage are currently
working with the Government of Egypt on an initiative to add the bay of Alexandria on
a World Heritage List of submerged cultural sites.
Significance Pharos became the etymological origin of the
word 'lighthouse' in Greek, Persian, many Romance languages such as French, Italian
and Spanish, Romanian and Portuguese, and even some Slavic languages like Bulgarian.
In Russian, a derived word means "headlight". In 2008 it was suggested that the Pharos was
the vertical yardstick used in the first precise measurement of the size of the earth.
Pharos in culture
The lighthouse remains a civic symbol of the city of Alexandria and of the Alexandria Governorate
with which the city is more or less coterminous. A stylised representation of the Lighthouse
appears on the flag and seal of the Governorate and on many public services of the city, including
the seal of Alexandria University. In architecture
A well-preserved ancient tomb in the town of Abusir, 48 kilometres southwest of Alexandria,
is thought to be a scaled-down model of the Alexandria Pharos. Known colloquially under
various names – the Pharos of Abusir, the Abusir funerary monument and Burg al-Arab –
it consists of a 3-story tower, approximately 20 metres in height, with a square base, an
octagonal midsection and cylindrical upper section, like the building upon which it was
apparently modelled. It dates to the reign of Ptolemy II, and is therefore likely to
have been built at about the same time as the Alexandria Pharos.
The design of minarets in many early Egyptian Islamic mosques followed a similar three-stage
design to that of the Pharos, attesting to the building's broader architectural influence.
The George Washington Masonic National Memorial is fashioned after the ancient Lighthouse
of Alexandria in Egypt. In books
Julius Caesar, in his Civil Wars, describes the Pharos and how it was a key landmark to
his subduing Ptolemy XIV's armies, describing its strategic importance in his sentences
"Now because of the narrowness of the strait there can be no access by ship to the harbour
without the consent of those who hold the Pharos. In view of this, Caesar took the precaution
of landing his troops while the enemy was preoccupied with fighting, seized the Pharos
and posted a garrison there. The result was that safe access was secured for his corn
supplies and reinforcements." [It was common for Caesar in his writings to refer to himself
in the third person.] The Romano-Jewish historian Josephus describes
it in his book The Jewish War when he gives a geographical overview of Egypt.
It was described at length in the Zhufan Zhi by Zhao Rugua, a Chinese customs inspector
for the port city of Quanzhou during the Song Dynasty.
References Notes
Bibliography
Further reading
External links The Lighthouse at Alexandria at history.com