The Very First Lighthouse

This is a picture of the very first lighthouse (Pharos) that I found information on. This picture was drawn by a German archaeologist Prof. H. Thiersch. The information given is the tower stood 377 - 492 ft. tall and the light had a range of 35 miles. I love lighthouses and the ocean. If they could only speak imagine the stories they would tell us.

According to a documentary on PBS the very first light house was just a bonfire built on the hillsides to guide the ships. The bonfire light was at the old world city of Alexandria in 285 B.C. The first American light was built in Boston Harbor in 1716 on

I began researching further and found information on the Alexandria lighthouse. The lighthouse was built on a small island off the coast of Alexandria, because the Egyptian Coast line was very flat and there were no protruding landmark's it was deemed necessary to put some sort of marker at mouth of the harbor. How the light functioned was by fire and mirrors at the top. It is thought that this lighthouse is dated around the 1st century AD, during the Roman period. Prior to this time the lighthouse served solely as a landmark and day beacon.

In the 3rd century B.C. (around 285 B. C.) there was a new lighthouse built on the Pharos Island. This lighthouse was severally damaged by three earthquakes, one in 956 again in 1303 and 1323. An Arab traveler describes the lighthouse in 1166 as the building being square and rising at the end of the island. This Arab discribes an image that appears to be a enscription, he discribes the letter A and M and their measurements. He also told of there being 16 arches leading to the doorway.

As it turned out there was an inscription put on the lighthouse. It read "Sostratu of Dexiphanes the Cnidian to Savior Gods for the seafarers." The inscription was hid under a layer of plaster and on top of it was chiseled another inscription honoring Ptolemy.

The earthquakes of 1303 and 1323 damaged the lighthouse so bad that another Arab traveler reported you were no longer able to enter the ruins. In 1480 even the small remnants disappeared when the Sultan of Egypt built a medieval fort over it. Some of the remnants and fallen stones were used in the construction of this fort. This fort was called Fort Qaitbey and was very visible because of it excessive size.

Divers found remains of the Pharos lighthouse found on the sea floor of Alexandria's East Harbor in 1994. A Nova program showed the underwater discovery of the Pharos lighthouse.

The origin of the word lighthouse in Greek is Pharos.

The other picture is of Fort Qaitbey, it was built on the Pharos site in the 15th Century using some of the debre from the Pharos. Thank You to Wikipedia for the use of the picture.

Thanks to Wikipedia, and Britanica for the information I learned today. This was a fun research project.