The Lighthouse of Alexandria, sometimes called the Pharos of Alexandria (; Ancient Greek: ? ????? ??? ????????????, contemporary Koine Greek pronunciation: [ho p?á.ros te:s a.lek.sandré:a:s]), was a lighthouse built by the Ptolemaic Kingdom between 280 and 247 BC which has been estimated to be 100 metres in overall height. One of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, for many centuries it was one of the tallest man-made structures in the world. 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), surviving in part 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. 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.
Video Lighthouse of Alexandria
Origin
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 Pharos. Alexandria and Pharos were later connected by a mole spanning more than 1200 metres (.75 mi), 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 el-Tin quarter is built on the silt which gradually widened and obliterated this mole, and the Ras el-Tin promontory 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.
Maps Lighthouse of Alexandria
Construction
The lighthouse was constructed in the 3rd century BC. After Alexander the Great died, the first Ptolemy (Ptolemy I Soter) 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 (Ptolemy II Philadelphus). It took twelve 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 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."
The fullest description of the lighthouse comes from Arab traveller Abou Haggag Youssef Ibn Mohammed el-Balawi el-Andaloussi, who visited Alexandria in A.D. 1166.
The Arab authors indicate that the lighthouse was constructed from large blocks of light-coloured stone, the tower was made up of three tapering tiers: 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's masonry blocks were interlocked, sealed together using molten lead, to withstand the pounding of the waves.
Al-Masudi writes that the seaward-facing eastern side featured an inscription dedicated to Zeus.
Destruction
The lighthouse was badly damaged in the earthquake of 956, and then again in 1303 and 1323. 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.
The 10th-century writer al-Mas'udi reports a legendary tale on the lighthouse's destruction, according to which at the time of Caliph Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan (r. 705-715) the Byzantines sent a eunuch agent, who adopted Islam, gained the Caliph's confidence, and secured permission to search for hidden treasure at the base of the lighthouse. The search was cunningly made in such a manner that the foundations were undermined, and the Pharos collapsed. The agent managed to escape in a ship waiting for him.
Archaeological research and rediscovery
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 specialized archaeologists and the area becoming a military zone, exploration was put on hold.
Greek archaeologists led by Jean-Yves Empereur re-discovered the physical 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. 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.
Significance
Legend has it that the people of the island of Pharos were wreckers; hence, Ptolemy I had the lighthouse built to help guide ships into port at night.
Pharos became the etymological origin of the word "lighthouse" in Greek (?????), Persian (F?n?s - ?????), many Romance languages such as French (phare), Italian and Spanish (faro), Romanian (far) and Portuguese (farol), and even some Slavic languages like Bulgarian (far). In Russian, a derived word means "headlight" (fara - ????).
In 2008 it was suggested that the Pharos was the vertical yardstick used in the first precise measurement of the size of the earth.
Proposed reconstruction
Since 1978 a number of proposals have been made to replace the lighthouse with a modern reconstruction. In 2015, the Egyptian government and the Alexandria governorate suggested building a skyscraper on the site of the lighthouse as part of the regeneration of the eastern harbour of Alexandria Port. The plan was opposed by Alexandria-based sociologist Amro Ali.
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 (30 mi) 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 (Arab's Tower) - it consists of a 3-storey tower, approximately 20 metres (66 ft) 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 (285-246 BC), 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, located in Alexandria, Virginia, is fashioned after the ancient Lighthouse.
In books
- 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 XIII's armies (48 BC):
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.
- The Romano-Jewish historian Josephus (37 - c.100 AD) describes it in his book The Jewish War (4.10.5) when he gives a geographical overview of Egypt.
- It was described in the Zhu fan zhi ("Records of Foreign Peoples") by Zhao Rugua (1170-1228), a Chinese customs inspector for the port city of Quanzhou during the Song dynasty.
- In Robert Silverberg's science fiction novelette Sailing to Byzantium (1985), a culture of the far future recreates ancient cities, full with every detail, among them Alexandria; several episodes of Silverberg's story take place on the rebuilt Pharos.
In contemporary arts
- "Lighthouse 0f Alexandria" The New Media Digital Artwork by Bohdan Rodyuk Chekan.
In 2018 the eminent Spanish artist Bohdan Rodyuk Chekan of Carpathian Ruthenia origin created an algorithmic art fractal picture of the same name based on the philosophical principles of Pythagoras and Golden ratio in the style of the conceptual art surrealism replacing in its title the letter "o" with a secret sign on the Age of Enlightenment "0", using for digital Chromogenic print of his painting on paper the reverse side Planck (spacecraft) Satellite image of Infant Universe . Inspired by the Lighthouse of Alexandria, whose disappearance from the horizon was seen as mystical at a time unless explained by ? Pythagoras formula and, in turn - also inspired - by The golden verses of Pythagoras attributed to the mathematician. The visual mood of the author of the artwork Lighthouse of Alexandria during its creation was similar to the feeling experienced by Samuel Coleridge while writing the poem Kubla Khan .
In video games
- The lighthouse was one of the Wonders of the World that could be built in the 1991 computer game Civilization by Sid Meier, giving a bonus to ship movement. It would appear again in all the latter installments of the series.
- It can be built as a monument in the city building strategy games Pharaoh: Cleopatra (2000) and Children of the Nile (2004/2005).
- The lighthouse is featured as a wonder in the 2013 strategy game, Total War: Rome II, where it gives a minor boost to the faction occupying Alexandria.
- The lighthouse was featured in the action-adventure video game Assassins Creed Origins released on October 27, 2017. It is set in Ancient Egypt during the Ptolemaic period (48 BC). Ubisoft Montreal's research on Ancient Egypt was done with the help of French archaeologist and Egyptologist Jean-Claude Golvin.
References
Bibliography
Further reading
- Harris, William V., and Giovanni Ruffini. 2004. Ancient Alexandria Between Egypt and Greece. Leiden: Brill.
- Jordan, Paul. 2002. The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Harlow: Longman.
- Polyz?id?s, Apostolos. 2014. Alexandria: City of Gifts and Sorrows: From Hellenistic Civilization to Multiethnic Metropolis. Chicago: Sussex Academic Press, 2014.
- Thompson, Alice. 2002. Pharos. London: Virago.
- Tkaczow, Barbara, and Iwona Zych. 1993. The Topography of Ancient Alexandria: An Archaeological Map. Warszawa: Zaklad Archeologii ?ródziemnomorskiej, Polskiej Akadmii Nauk.
External links
- Pharos of Alexandria
- Description of Alexandria and the Pharos in the Zhu fan zhi
- A frightening vision: on plans to rebuild the Alexandria Lighthouse
- PBS Nova program about the recovery of artifacts from the site
Source of article : Wikipedia
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