Published Dec 10th, 2023, 12/10/23 8:10 pm
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Lighthouse of Alexandria
This is my final and first successful attempt at recreating the famous Lighthouse of Alexandria. One of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, and second tallest structure of the ancient world after the Great Pyramid of Giza. Though lost to us now, this build attempts to recreate the lighthouse, as it existed, as accurately as possible using medieval Arab measurements from when it still stood.
History
The story of the Lighthouse of Alexandria goes back to Homer's Odyssey in which it is said "Amid the very rough sea, there is an island in front of Egypt and a safe have where fresh water can be found and men call it Pharos". The origin of the name 'Pharos' is unknown, though it is often speculated it may be a Greek corruption of 'Pharaoh's Island'.
When Alexander the Great conquered Egypt, he founded a new metropolis with his own name. This new city of Alexandria would quickly become one of the largest cities in the world, and the capital of Egypt under the Greeks and Romans. This increased importance made Alexandria's port one of the largest in the entire ancient world, and a busy thoroughfare of commerce. But while the port was safe, the sea around it was, as Homer put it, very rough. According to legend, under Pharaoh Ptolemy II a man named Sostratus of Cnidus wanted to rectify this, by erecting a massive structure to guide seafarers.
Supposedly the Pharaoh refused to have any other name than his own put on the structure. Sostadtus, in a clever move, made an inscription with his own name on the lighthouse out of stone. He then covered it with a plaster inscription of Ptolemy II, which would gradually chip away, revealing the true inscription of the architect. This inscription, recorded by several ancient sources, reveals the purpose of the lighthouse's construction:
SOSTRATUS SON OF DEXIPHANES OF KNIDOS ON BEHALF OF ALL MARINERS TO THE SAVIOR GODS
It was necessary for all those traversing the open sea, into the port to have a clear sign of navigation towards it. The lighthouse, probably the first of its kind, consisted of three parts. The first was a large rectangular section, followed by a thinner octagonal section and topped by a cylindrical section. On top of the cylinder was a bright flame, which shined brightly at night, and was illuminated with a mirror by day. The tower in all was somewhere between 103 and 118 meters tall, making it the tallest structure in the world at the time after the Great Pyramid.
The lighthouse stood for over 1,000 years in some form, and served the port of Alexandria under the Ptolemies, Romans and Arabs. However a series of earthquakes, floods and tsunamis would gradually chip away at the structure. Finally in 1480, whatever remained of the lighthouse was torn down by the Sultan Qaitbay, who had a fortress built at the site that still stands to this day. The lighthouse may be gone now, but its memory lives on. All modern lighthouses can trace the idea back to the Pharos, and its name lives on as the generic name for 'lighthouse' in many languages.
Bibliography
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