Lighthouse of Alexandria

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Lighthouse of Alexandria
Lighthouse - Thiersch.png
Drawing by archaeologist Hermann Thiersch (1909)
Location Pharos, Alexandria, Egypt
Year first constructed c. 280 BC
Deactivated 1303/1323
Foundation Stone
Construction Masonry
Height 393–450 ft (120–137 m)[citation needed]
Range 47 km (29 mi)

The Lighthouse of Alexandria, sometimes called the Pharos of Alexandria (/ˈfɛərɒs/; Ancient Greek: ὁ Φάρος τῆς Ἀλεξανδρείας), was a lighthouse built by the Ptolemaic Kingdom between 280 and 247 BC which was between 393 and 450 ft (120 and 137 m) tall.[citation needed] One of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, it was one of the tallest man-made structures in the world for many centuries. Badly damaged by three earthquakes between AD 956 and 1323, it then became an abandoned ruin. It was the third longest surviving ancient wonder (after the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus and the extant Great Pyramid of Giza) until 1480, when 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.[1] The Ministry of State of Antiquities in Egypt has planned, as of late 2015, to turn submerged ruins of ancient Alexandria, including those of the Pharos, into an underwater museum.[2]


Three-dimensional reconstruction based on a comprehensive 2006 study

Pharos was a small island located on the western edge of the Nile Delta. In 332 BC Alexander the Great founded the city of Alexandria on an isthmus opposite to Pharos. Alexandria and Pharos were later connected by a mole[3] spanning more than three-quarters of a mile, which was called the Heptastadion ("seven stadia"—a stadium was a Greek unit of length measuring approximately 180 m). 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.


Lighthouse remains found in the Mediterranean Sea.


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.[5] 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.[6][7]

Height and description[edit]

Judith McKenzie writes that "The Arab descriptions of the lighthouse are remarkably consistent, although it was repaired several times especially after earthquake damage. The height they give varies only fifteen per cent from c. 103 to 118 m [338 to 387 ft], on a base c. 30 by 30 m [98 by 98 ft] square."[8]



Al-Masudi writes that the seaward-facing eastern side featured an inscription dedicated to Zeus.[12]

A mosaic depicting the Pharos of Alexandria (labeled "Ο ΦΑΡΟΣ"), from Olbia, Libya c. 4th century AD



Recent archaeological research[edit]

In 1968 the lighthouse was rediscovered. UNESCO sponsored an expedition to send a team of marine archaeologists, led by Honor Frost, to the site. She confirmed the existence of the ruins representing part of the lighthouse. Due to the lack of specialists and the area becoming a military zone, it would be put on hold.[citation needed]

Greek archaeologists led by Jean-Yves Emperor re-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.[1] 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 (to include remains of the lighthouse) on a World Heritage List of submerged cultural sites.[13]



Pharos became the etymological origin of the word 'lighthouse' in Greek (φάρος), Persian (Fānūs – فانوس), many Romance languages such as French (phare), Italian and Spanish (faro), Romanian (far) and Portuguese (farol), some Germanic languages like Norwegian (fyr), and even some Slavic languages like Bulgarian (far). In Russian, a derived word means "headlight" (fara – фара).

In 2008 it was suggested[14] that the Pharos was the vertical yardstick used in the first precise measurement of the size of the earth.

Pharos in culture[edit]


In architecture[edit]


In books[edit]

  • Julius Caesar, in his Civil Wars (Part III, 111–112), describes the Pharos and its strategic importance. Gaining control of the lighthouse helped him subdue Ptolemy XIV's armies (48 BC):





  2. ^ "Sunken Ruins of Alexandria Will Be World's First Underwater Museum". Earthables. Retrieved March 27, 2016. 
  4. ^ Over twenty-three tons of silver. "This was an enormous sum, a tenth of the treasury when Ptolemy I assumed the throne. (In comparison, the Parthenon is estimated to have cost at least 469 talents of silver.)"[1]
  7. ^ Lucian How to Write History, LXII

    "After he [Sostratus] had built the work he wrote his name on the masonry inside, covered it with gypsum, and having hidden it inscribed the name of the reigning king. He knew, as actually happened, that in a very short time the letters would fall away with the plaster and there would be revealed: 'Sostratus of Cnidos, the son of Dexiphanes, to the Divine Saviours, for the sake of them that sail at sea.' Thus, not even he had regard for the immediate moment or his own brief life-time: he looked to our day and eternity, as long as the tower shall stand and his skill abide. History then should be written in that spirit, with truthfulness and an eye to future expectations rather than with adulation and a view to the pleasure of present praise."

  9. ^ Clayton & Price 1988, p. 153.
  10. ^ Haas 1997, p. 144.
  12. ^ Paul Jordan (2014). Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Routledge. p. 44. ISBN 978-1-317-86885-9. 
  14. ^ DIO volume 14 pages 3–12 and page 2 footnote.
  17. ^ It was common for Caesar in his writings to refer to himself in the third person



Further reading[edit]


External links[edit]