The Lighthouseof Alexandria

Purpose

The purpose of the Lighthouse of

Alexandria is pretty self explanatory.

Ships crashed onto Pharos often and it

was said that the natives there

destroyed the ships. The lighthouse was used to guide ships

into harbor.

Location The Lighthouse of

Alexandria is located in Egypt, Africa. It is at the

most northern point of Egypt on

an island called Pharos. The

coordinate points are 31.2142° N,

29.8850° E.

The Builders

The lighthouse was built by Egyptians. Sostratus of Knidos was a Greek sculptor that built and designed the Lighthouse of Alexandria. Most of the construction was done by Satrap Ptolemy I Soter. He was a “governor” of Egypt at the time. A Lucian

once wrote that Sostratus put his name underneath a plaque that had the king’s name on it so his name was shown when

the plaque fell off.

The Architecture

The Architecture was done by the architect, Sostratus. It took about 33 years to complete. It was built in 3 sections:

The Top: The top was a circular section. In this section, there is a mirror and a fire pit. This is so it reflects the fire light out into the ocean.

The Middle: The middle section was shaped like an octagon. This section had up to 50 rooms.

The Bottom: This section was a large rectangle. This section had a large spiral ramp. The section was 200 ft high and 100 square feet.

Destruction The lighthouse had severe damage

when the first earthquake hit. The next two made the damage even worse. After these earthquakes an Arab traveler reported, Ibn Battut, that he could not even enter the area, because it was so badly damaged.

This picture to the right shows a scuba diver

finding an artifact from the lighthouse in the Mediterranean Sea.

Timeline• 280 to 247 BC - the lighthouse was constructed

• 956 - An earthquake occurred and the lighthouse was

damaged

• 1303 - Another earthquake

• 1323 - An earthquake that left the lighthouse in ruins

• 1480 - Most of the ruins fell into the Mediterranean Sea

• 1978 - An attempt to rebuild the lighthouse but the

plans failed

• 2008 - There was discussion of reconstruction of the

lighthouse

Sources:• http://www.personal.psu.edu/atv5011/group8proj/lighthouse3

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• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lighthouse_of_Alexandria

• http://www.nekhebet.com/w_lighthouse.html

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lighthouse_of_Alexandria

• http://voices.yahoo.com/the-lighthouse-alexandria-6958526.

html

• http://films.louvre.fr/en/the-films/civilization-and-archaeology

/egypt/the-lighthouse-of-alexandria-the-seventh-wonder-of-th

e-world.html

• http

://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2e/Alex

andriaMap1.jpg/250px-AlexandriaMap1.jpg