Lighthouse of Alexandria
The Lighthouse of Alexandria, sometimes called the Pharos of was a lighthouse built by the Ptolemaic Kingdom, during the reign of Ptolemy II Philadelphus (280–247 BC), which has been estimated to be at least 100 metres (330 ft) in overall height.
Designed by the Greek architect Sostratos and completed around 270 B.C., the lighthouse helped to guide Nile River ships in and out of the city’s busy harbor. One of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, for many centuries it was one of the tallest man-made structures in the world.
Archeologists have found ancient coins on which the lighthouse was depicted, and from them deduced that the structure had three tiers: a square level at the bottom, an octagonal level in the middle and a cylindrical top. Above that stood a 16-foot statue, most likely of Ptolemy II or Alexander the Great, for whom the city was named.
Extant Roman coins struck by the Alexandrian mint show that a statue of Triton was positioned on each of the building’s four corners, and a statue of Poseidon or Zeus stood atop. At its apex was positioned a mirror which reflected sunlight during the day; a fire was lit at night. 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. Although, since the lighthouse was over 300 feet tall the use of limestone as the main material is doubtful due to the possibility of collapsing under its own weight.
The lighthouse was severely damaged by three earthquakes between AD 956 and 1323 and became an abandoned ruin. Some of its remains have since been discovered at the bottom of the Nile.
Pharos became the etymological origin of the word “lighthouse” in Greek (φάρος), many Romance languages such as French (phare), Italian and Spanish (faro), Catalan, Romanian (far) and Portuguese (farol), and even some Slavic languages like Bulgarian (far). In Turkish, Serbian and Russian, a derived word means “headlight” (far; фар; фара).
