The Great Pharos Lighthouse

The story of the Pharos starts with the founding of the the city of Alexandria by the Macedonian conqueror Alexander the Great in 332 BC. Alexander started at least 17 cities named Alexandria at different locations in his vast domain. Most of them disappeared, but Alexandria in Egypt thrived for centuries and continues even today.

Alexander died soon after in 323 BC and the city was completed by Ptolemy Soter, the new ruler of Egypt. Under Ptolemy the city became rich and prosperous. However, it needed both a symbol and a mechanism to guide the many trade ships into the busy harbour. Ptolemy authorized the building of the Pharos in 290 BC, and when it was completed some twenty years later, it was the first lighthouse in the world and the tollest building in existence, with the exception of the Great Pyramid.

The lighthouse’s designer was Sostrates of Knidos. The lighthouse was built on the island of {haros and soon the building itself acquired the name. The connection of the name with function became so strong that the word “Pharos”became the root of the word “lighthouse” in the French, Italian, Spanish and Romanian languages.

The lighthouse was apparently a tourist attraction. Food was sold to visitors at the observation platform at the top of the first level. A smaller balcony provided a view from the top of the eight-sided tower for those that wanted to make the additional climb. The view from there must have been impressive at it was probably 91 m above the sea.

There were few places in the ancient world where a person could ascend a man-made tower to get such a perspective. How then did the world’s first lighthouse wind up on the floor of the Mediterrranean Sea? Most accounts indicated that it, like many other ancient buildings, was the victim of earthquakers. It stood for 1,500 years but was damaged by tremors in 365 and 1303 AD. Reports indicate the final collapse came in 1326.