The lighthouse was severely damaged by three earthquakes between 956 and 1303 AD and became an abandoned ruin. It was the third-longest surviving ancient wonder, after theMausoleum at Halicarnassus and the extantGreat Pyramid of Giza, surviving in part until 1480, when the last of its remnant stones were used to build theCitadel of Qaitbay on the site.
In 1994, a team of French archaeologists dived in the water of Alexandria's Eastern Harbour and discovered some remains of the lighthouse on the sea floor.[4] In 2016, theMinistry of State of Antiquities in Egypt had plans to turn submerged ruins of ancient Alexandria, including those of the Pharos, into an underwatermuseum.[5]
In 2025, portions of the lighthouse's entrance, threshold stones, and foundation paving stones were resurfaced to aid in a digital reconstruction effort.[6]
Pharos was a small island located on the western edge of theNile Delta. In 332 BC,Alexander the Great founded the city ofAlexandria on anisthmus opposite Pharos. Alexandria and Pharos were later connected by amole[7] spanning more than 1,200 metres (0.75 miles), which was called theHeptastadion ("seven stadia"—astadion was a Greekunit 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 between the present Grand Square and the modern Ras el-Tin quarter is built on the silt which gradually widened and obliterated this mole. The Ras el-Tin promontory, whereRas el-Tin Palace was built in the 19th century, represents all that is left of the island of Pharos,[8] the site of the lighthouse at its eastern point having been weathered away by the sea.
From the 1572Octo Mundi Miracula, the earliest known representation of the lighthouse in modern times.
The lighthouse was constructed in the third century BC. AfterAlexander the Great died, Ptolemy the First (Ptolemy I Soter) declared himself king in 305 BC and commissioned its construction shortly thereafter. The building was finished during the reign of his son,Ptolemy II Philadelphus, and took twelve years to complete at a total cost of 800 talents of silver.[9] The light was produced by a furnace at the top, and the tower was said to have been built mostly with solid blocks oflimestone andgranite.[10]
In his encyclopedic manuscriptGeographica,Strabo, who visited Alexandria in the late first century BC, reported thatSostratus of Cnidus had a dedication to the "Saviour Gods" inscribed in metal letters on the lighthouse. Writing in the first century AD,Pliny the Elder stated in hisNatural History that Sostratus was the architect, although this conclusion is disputed.[11] In his second century AD educational treatiseHow to Write History,Lucian claimed that Sostratus hid his name under plaster which bore the name of Ptolemy, so that when the plaster eventually fell off, Sostratus's name would be visible in the stone.[12][13]
The blocks of sandstone and limestone used in the construction of the lighthouse have been scientifically analysed to discover where they originated, with mineralogical and chemical analysis pointing to theWadi Hammamat quarries, in the desert to the east of Alexandria.[14]
A size comparison between a 1909 (inner shape) and a 2006 study (outer shape) of the building
Arab descriptions of the lighthouse are consistent despite it undergoing several repairs after earthquake damage. Given heights vary only fifteen percent from 103 to 118 m (338 to 387 ft), on a 30 by 30 m (98 by 98 ft) square base.[1]
The Arab authors indicate that the lighthouse was constructed from large blocks of light-colouredstone. 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.[15]Al-Masudi wrote in the 10th century that the seaward side featured an inscription dedicated to Zeus.[16] GeographerAl-Idrisi visited the lighthouse in 1154 and noted openings in the walls throughout the rectangular shaft withlead used as a filling agent in between the masonry blocks at the base. He reckoned the total height of the lighthouse to be 300 dhira rashashl (162 m).[17]
At its apex was 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 ofTriton was positioned on each of the building's four corners, and a statue ofPoseidon orZeus stood on top.[18]
The fullest description of the lighthouse comes from Arab traveller Abou Haggag Youssef Ibn Mohammed el-Balawi el-Andaloussi, who visited Alexandria in 1166.[19] Balawi provided a description and measurement of the interior of the lighthouse's rectangular shaft. The inner ramp was described as roofed with masonry at 7 shibr (189 cm, 6.2 ft), noted as to allow two horsemen to pass at once. In clockwise rotation, the ramp held four storeys with eighteen, fourteen, and seventeen rooms on the second, third, and fourth floors, respectively.[17]
Balawi reported the base of the lighthouse to be 45 ba (30 m, 100 ft) long on each side with connecting ramp 600 dhira (300 m, 984 ft) long by 20 dhira (10 m, 32 ft) wide. The octagonal section was 24 ba (16.4 m, 54 ft) in width, and the diameter of the cylindrical section 12.73 ba (8.7 m, 28.5 ft). The apex of the lighthouse's oratory was measured with diameter 6.4 ba (4.3 m 20.9 ft).[17]
Later accounts of the lighthouse after the destruction by the1303 Crete earthquake includeIbn Battuta, a Moroccan scholar and explorer, who passed through Alexandria in 1326 and 1349. Battuta noted that the wrecked condition of the lighthouse was then only noticeable by the rectangle tower and entrance ramp. He stated the tower to be 140 shibr (30.8 m, 101 ft) on each side. Battuta detailed SultanAn-Nasir Muhammad's plan to build a new lighthouse near the site of the collapsed one, but these went unfulfilled after the Sultan's death in 1341.[17]
The lighthouse on coins minted inAlexandria in the second century AD (1: reverse of a coin ofAntoninus Pius, and 2: reverse of a coin ofCommodus)
A 3D reconstruction of the Lighthouse of Alexandria
The lighthouse was partially cracked and damaged by earthquakes in 796 and 951, followed by structural collapse in the earthquake of 956, and then again in 1303. Earthquakes propagate from two well known tectonic boundaries, theAfrican–Arabian andRed Sea Rift zones, respectively 350 and 520 km from the lighthouse's location. Documentation shows the 956 earthquake to be the first to cause structural collapse of the top 20 metres of the construction.[20]
Documented repairs after the 956 earthquake include the installation of an Islamic-style dome after the collapse of the statue that previously topped the structure. The most destructive earthquake in 1303 had an estimated intensity ofVIII+ originating fromCrete (280–350 km from Alexandria).[21] The stubby remnant disappeared in 1480, when thesultan of Egypt,Qaitbay, built amedieval fort on the larger platform of the lighthouse site using the fallen stone.
The 10th-century Arab writeral-Mas'udi reports a legendary tale of the lighthouse's destruction, according to which, in the time of CaliphAbd al-Malik ibn Marwan (r. 705–715), theByzantines sent aeunuch agent, who adoptedIslam, 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.[22]
Gaston Jondet made the first detailed description of the submerged ruins of the old port of Alexandria in 1916. He was followed byRaymond Weill in the same year, and by SirLeopold Halliday Savile in 1940.[23][24]
In 1968, the lighthouse was rediscovered.UNESCO sponsored an expedition to send a team of marinearchaeologists, led byHonor Frost, to the site. She confirmed the existence of ruins representing part of the lighthouse. Due to the lack of specialised archaeologists and the area becoming a military zone, exploration was put on hold.[25]
A team of French archaeologists led byJean-Yves Empereur re-discovered the physical remains of the lighthouse in late 1994 on the floor of Alexandria's Eastern Harbour. He worked with cinematographerAsma el-Bakri who used a 35 mm camera to take the first underwater pictures of the scattered remains of collapsed columns and statues. Empereur's most significant findings consisted of blocks of granite 49–60 tonnes in mass often broken into multiple pieces, 30sphinxes, 5obelisks and columns with carvings dating back toRamses II (1279–1213 BC).[26]
The cataloguing of over 3,300 pieces was completed by Empereur and his team at the end of 1995 using a combination of photography and mapping. Thirty-six pieces of Empereur's granite blocks and other discoveries have been restored and are on display in Alexandria museums.[26] Satellite imaging has revealed further remains. In the early 1990s, the underwater archaeologistFranck Goddio began exploration at the opposite side of the harbour from where Empereur's team had worked.[27]
Satellite and sonar imaging has revealed the additional remains of wharves, houses and temples[27] which had all fallen into the Mediterranean as a result of earthquakes and other natural disasters.[28] It is possible to go diving and see the ruins. In 2012 the secretariat of theUNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage was working with theGovernment of Egypt on an initiative to add the Bay of Alexandria (including the remains of the lighthouse) to aWorld Heritage List of submerged cultural sites.[29]
A mosaic depicting the Pharos of Alexandria (labelled "Ο ΦΑΡΟϹ"), fromOlbia, Libya,c. 4th century AD
Legend has it that the people of the island of Pharos werewreckers; hence,Ptolemy I Soter had the lighthouse built to help guide ships into port at night.[30]
Since 1978 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 ofAlexandria Port.[31]
The lighthouse remains a civic symbol of the city ofAlexandria and of theAlexandria 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 ofAlexandria University.
A well-preserved ancient tomb in the town ofAbusir, 48 kilometres (30 mi) southwest of Alexandria, is thought to be a scaled-down model of the Alexandria Pharos. Known colloquially under various names – thePharos of Abusir, theAbusir funerary monument andBurg 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 ofPtolemy II (285–246 BC), and is therefore likely to have been built at about the same time as the Alexandria Pharos.
The design ofminarets in many early EgyptianIslamicmosques followed a three-stage design similar to that of the Pharos, attesting to the building's broader architectural influence.[32]
A fictionalized version of the structure – known as the "Pharos Lighthouse" – serves as the park icon, centerpiece, and identifier ofUniversal Islands of Adventure theme park, opened in 1999 at theUniversal Orlando Resort. The real, functioning lighthouse resides in the park's Port of Entry area.[citation needed]
Julius Caesar, in hisCivil 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.[34]
— Caesar, .civ.; or Anon.,.Alex
The Romano-Jewish historianJosephus (37 – c. 100 AD) describes it in his bookThe Jewish War (4.10.5) when he gives a geographical overview of Egypt.
Ibn Battuta visited the lighthouse in 1326, finding "one of its faces in ruins," yet he could enter and noted a place for the guardian of the lighthouse to sit and many other chambers. When he returned in 1349, he "found that it had fallen into so ruinous a condition that it was impossible to enter it or to climb up to the doorway".[36]
In classical antiquity, an annual Jewish festival was held on the island of Pharos to honour thetranslation of theJewish Scriptures into Greek, traditionally believed to have been completed there underPtolemy II. On this occasion, a large Jewish crowd, along with some non-Jewish visitors, would gather on the beach for a grand picnic. Jewish philosopherPhilo of Alexandria (c. 20 BCE – c. 50 CE) shed light on the site's symbolism, writing that the Jews honoured "the place where the light of that translation first shone out," expressing gratitude to God for this gift.[37]
Flag of the Alexandria Governorate, featuring the lighthouse
The lighthouse as depicted in theBook of Wonders, a late 14th-century Arabic text
The Pharos ofAbusir, an ancient funerary monument thought to be modelled after the Pharos at Alexandria, with which it is approximately contemporaneous
^Over twenty-three tons of silver. "This was an enormous sum, a tenth of the treasury when Ptolemy I assumed the throne. (In comparison, theParthenon is estimated to have cost at least 469 talents of silver.)"[1]
After he [Sostratus] had built the work he wrote his name on the masonry inside, covered it with gypsum, and having hidden it inscribed the name of the reigning king. He knew, as actually happened, that in a very short time the letters would fall away with the plaster and there would be revealed: 'Sostratus of Cnidos, the son of Dexiphanes, to the Divine Saviours, for the sake of them that sail at sea.' Thus, not even he had regard for the immediate moment or his own brief lifetime: he looked to our day and eternity, as long as the tower shall stand and his skill abide. History then should be written in that spirit, with truthfulness and an eye to future expectations rather than with adulation and a view to the pleasure of present praise.
^Abdelnaby, Adel E.; Elnashai, Amr S. (October 2013). "Integrity assessment of the Pharos of Alexandria during the 1303 CE earthquake".Engineering Failure Analysis.33:119–138.doi:10.1016/j.engfailanal.2013.04.013.
^Abdelnaby, Adel E.; Elnashai, Amr S. (October 2013). "Integrity assessment of the Pharos of Alexandria during the 1303 CE earthquake".Engineering Failure Analysis.33:119–138.doi:10.1016/j.engfailanal.2013.04.013.
^Frost, H. (2000). From Byblos to Pharos: some archaeological considerations. In N. Grimal, M. H. Mostafa, & D. Nakashima (Authors), Underwater archaeology and coastal management: Focus on Alexandria (pp. 64–68). Paris: UNESCO.
^"*Ferris, Gary W.Presidential Places: A Guide to the Historic Sites of U.S. Presidents. Winston-Salem, N.C.: J.F. Blair, 1999. p.21"
^It was common for Caesar in his writings to refer to himself in the third person.
^Needham, Joseph (1986).Science and Civilization in China: Volume 5, Physics and Physical Technology, Part 3: Civil Engineering and Nautics. Taipei: Caves Books, Ltd. p. 662.
^Battutah, Ibn (2002).The Travels of Ibn Battutah. London: Picador. pp. 6–7.ISBN9780330418799.
^Barclay, John M. G. (1998).Jews in the Mediterranean Diaspora: from Alexander to Trajan (323 BCE–117 CE). Edinburgh: T&T Clark. p. 424.ISBN978-0-567-08651-8.
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