Tower on Foros, salvation for the Greeks,

Sostrat Deksifanov,

The architect from Knidos, erected,

Oh Lord Proteus!

Posidipp .

Now we'll move to the delta Nile to see the seventh wonder of the world. But to find the seventh wonder of the world is a hopeless business. lighthouse on the island Foros near Alexandria disappeared without a trace for a long time.

The French call the lighthouse " phare ", Spaniards and Italians" faro ", the Greeks" faros ", the British" pharos".

during his conquest of the world, he not only destroyed cities, but also built them. He founded Alexandria near issy, Alexandria of Troas, Alexandria near the Tigris (later Antioch), Alexandria of Bactria, Alexandria of Armenia, Alexandria of the Caucasus, Alexandria" on the edge of the world " and many others. In 332 B.C. he founded Alexandria of Egypt, the capital of the Hellenic world of Egypt. Previously, on the site of this Alexandria, there was an old fishing settlement. Rakotis. This is where he came from Memphis one day in the spring Alexander the Great along with their military leaders, historians, zoologists, botanists and dancers. Among these people arrived here Deinocrates- an architect known to us by Ephesus And Rhodes, he accompanied Alexander from Macedonia. In Ephesus, Deinocrates received his first task - to rebuild. But the “great day” of Deinocrates came only when Alexander conquered Egypt.The king saw near the island of Foros, next to the ancient Egyptian settlement Rakotis natural harbor, on the banks of which there was a wonderful place for port market, around the fertile Egyptian lands and the proximity of the Nile. It was here that the king ordered Deinocrates to build the Egyptian Alexandria, ordered and left, returned here after 10 years and in a golden sarcophagus (the sarcophagus of Alexander, his commander Ptolemy ordered to put in royal palace in Alexandria, in that part of it which was called Sema and where the sarcophagi of all subsequent kings will subsequently stand).
Immediately after Alexander's departure, the city began to be built. After the death of Alexander in Babylonia, Alexandria was chosen as his residence by the Macedonian commander Ptolemy, who captured Egypt (first ruling here on behalf of the unborn son of Alexander, and from 305 BC on his own behalf) and founded the last, no longer Egyptian, dynasty of Egyptian pharaohs. And gradually the city became so famous for its grandeur and beauty that under the king Ptolemy X II and his sister Cleopatra(who treacherously tortured her two brothers, Ptolemy X II And X III to vacate the throne for his son Ptolemy X IV who gave birth to Julius Caesar) the Romans wanted to capture it. Over time, the Romans annexed Alexandria, along with all of Egypt, to Roman Empire.

With the advent of the Macedonian commander Ptolemy to power in Egypt and his substantiation in Alexandria, the capital of the last Egyptian kingdom, as well as the capital of the entire Hellenistic world, the era of ancient culture, which is commonly called Alexandrian, began. The heyday of this culture, which is a synthesis of Greek culture with the culture of the Eastern peoples, falls on the domination of the first three Ptolemies: Ptolemy ISotera(323-285 BC), Ptolemy IIPhiladelphia(285 - 246 BC) and Ptolemy IIIEvergeta(246 - 221 BC) Descendants of a Macedonian courtier Laga gained enormous power over millions of people. They were real pharaohs. Of course, they waged bloody wars with other heirs of the Great Alexander, but they also made a great contribution to the development of Hellenic culture. For example: Ptolemy I was one of those few rulers who understand that science brings the same glory as war, and moreover, it is cheaper and less risky. It was under their rule that two great structures were created.

In 308 BC, under Ptolemy I was opened here Alexandria musseion(“Temple of the Muses”) - one of the main scientific and cultural centers of the ancient world, and with it the no less famous Library of Alexandria, in which there were almost 700 thousand volumes of Greek and Oriental books (most of the books of which were acquired under Ptolemy II Philadelphia). At the musseion, scientists lived and worked, who were supported by the state. Ptolemy I Soter himself was the author "Campaigns of Alexander the Great". The generosity of Ptolemy attracted to Alexandria not only scientists, but also artists, sculptors, and poets. The Ptolemies made Alexandria a world center of learning.

The second magnificent building of the Ptolemies is a lighthouse on the islandFaros. He described it to us Straboin the seventeenth volume"Geography". This skyscraper of the ancient world was built on a rock in the middle of the sea and, in addition to its practical functions, it served as a symbol of the state.

As Strabo writes, he built it Sostratus from Knida, son Dexifana and “friend of kings” (of the first two Ptolemies). Before the lighthouse, Sostratus had already built a "hanging boulevard" on the island of Knida (a similar hanging structure). It is also known that Sostratus was an experienced diplomat.
Alexandrian lighthouse stood for about 1500 years, helping to navigate the Mediterranean "cybernetos", the ancient Greeks called the helmsmen. Under the Byzantines, in the 4th century, it was damaged by an earthquake and the fire went out forever. In the 7th century, under the Arabs, this structure served as a daylighthouse. At the end of the 10th century, the lighthouse survived another earthquake and a quarter of it remained. And already at the beginning of the 14th century, the population began to dismantle it for building materials, like the Roman Colosseum at one time.And the destruction of the lighthouse was completed by an earthquake in 1326. Today, the island of Pharos has completely connected with the mainland, besides, its outlines have completely changed and therefore the place where the lighthouse stood today has not yet been identified.The lighthouse on the island of Foros, the highest lighthouse in the world, has disappeared without a trace.

Note! The copyright for this article belongs to its author. Any reprinting of an article without the permission of the author is a violation of his copyright and is punishable by law, when using blog materials, a link to the blog is required.

After the conquest of Egypt in 332 BC. Alexander the Great founded a city in the Nile Delta, named after him - Alexandria. In the reign of Ptolemy I, the city achieved wealth and prosperity, and the Alexandrian harbor became a bustling center of maritime trade. With the development of shipping, the helmsmen who brought ships with cargoes to Alexandria felt more and more acutely the need for a lighthouse that would indicate to ships a safe path through the shoals. And in the III century. BC. on the eastern tip of the island of Pharos, which lies in the sea at a distance of 7 stadia (1290 m) from Alexandria, the architect Sostratus, the son of Dexifan of Cnidus, built the famous lighthouse, which became one of the seven wonders of the Ancient World.
For the transport of building materials, the island was connected to the mainland by a dam. The work took only six years - from 285 to 279 BC. Seeing this tower suddenly grown on a deserted island, contemporaries were shocked. From the list of seven wonders of the world, "miracle No. 2" - the walls of Babylon, was immediately crossed out, and the Pharos lighthouse immediately took its place.
The hundred was completed in the late summer of 1997. In October 1998, this project received the prestigious Project of the Year award, given annually by the International Concrete Institute.

The Alexandrian poet Posidippus (c. 270 BC) in one of his epigrams sang this amazing structure:
The tower on Pharos, the salvation of the Greeks, Sostratus Deksifanov, the Architect of Cnidus, erected, O lord Proteus!
There are no island watchmen on the cliffs in Egypt, But a pier has been drawn from the Earth for anchorage of ships,
And high, cutting through the ether, the tower rises, Everywhere, for many miles, it is visible to the traveler during the day, At night, from afar, they see the sea floating all the time, The light from the great fire at the very top of the lighthouse. Per. L. Blumenau
This lighthouse remained in the days of Roman rule. According to Pliny the Elder, he shone "like a star in the darkness of night." This monumental structure had a height of at least 120 m, and its light was visible at a distance of up to 48 km.
According to Strabo, the lighthouse was built from local limestone and lined with white marble. Decorative friezes and ornaments are made of marble and bronze, columns - of granite and marble. The lighthouse, as it were, grew out of the center of a spacious courtyard, surrounded by a powerful fence, at the corners of which powerful bastions rose, reminiscent of the pylons of ancient Egyptian temples. D them, as well as along the entire wall, numerous loopholes were cut.
The lighthouse itself consisted of three tiers. The first, square in plan (30.5 × 30.5 m), oriented to the cardinal points and lined with squares of white marble, had a height of 60 m. Monumental statues depicting tritons were installed in its corners. Inside the first tier, rooms for workers and guards were located at different levels. There were also pantries where fuel and food were stored. On one of the side facades one could read the Greek inscription: “To the Savior Gods - to save the sailors”, where the gods meant the king of Egypt Ptolemy I and his wife Berenice.

The smaller octagonal middle tier was also lined with marble slabs. Eight of its faces were deployed in the directions of the prevailing winds in these places. At the top around the perimeter were numerous bronze statues; some of them could serve as weathercocks indicating the direction of the wind. A legend has been preserved that one of the figures followed the movement of the sun with an outstretched hand and lowered its hand only after it had set.
The upper tier had the shape of a cylinder and served as a lantern. It was surrounded by eight polished granite columns and crowned with a cone-shaped dome crowned with a 7-meter bronze statue of Isis-Faria, the patroness of seafarers. However, some researchers believe that there was a statue of the sea god Poseidon.
Light signaling was carried out using a powerful lamp placed at the focus of concave metal mirrors. It is believed that the fuel was delivered to the top by lifting mechanisms installed inside the tower - in the middle of the lighthouse there was a shaft leading from the lower rooms up to the lighting system. According to another version, fuel was brought along a spiral ramp on carts pulled by horses or mules.

In the underground part of the lighthouse there was a storage of drinking water for the military garrison located on the island: both under the Ptolemies and under the Romans, the lighthouse simultaneously served as a fortress that prevented enemy ships from entering the main port of Alexandria.
It is believed that the upper part of the lighthouse (cylindrical, with a dome and a statue) collapsed in the 2nd century, but as early as 641 the lighthouse was in operation. In the XIV century. earthquake finally destroyed this masterpiece ancient architecture and construction equipment. A hundred years later, the Egyptian Sultan Kait Bey ordered to build a fort on the remains of the foundation of the lighthouse, named after its creator. Today, we can judge the external appearance of the lighthouse only by its images on the coins of the Roman period and a few fragments of granite and marble columns.
In 1996, underwater archaeologists led by the famous French scientist Jean-Yves Emperer, founder of the Center for the Study of Alexandria, managed to find seabed remains of lighthouse structures that collapsed into the sea as a result of an earthquake. This generated a lot of interest all over the world. In 2001, the Belgian government even took the initiative to recreate the Faros lighthouse on the same spot where it was built 2200 years ago. However, now the walls of the Qait Bay fortress still rise here, and the Egyptian government is in no hurry to agree to its demolition.

The history of the seventh Wonder of the World - the Lighthouse of Alexandria - is associated with the foundation in 332 BC. Alexandria, a city that was named after the great Roman general Alexander the Great. It should be noted that during his career the conqueror founded about 17 cities with similar names, but only the Egyptian project managed to survive to this day.

Alexandrian lighthouse

Foundation of the city to the glory of the great commander

Macedonian selected the site for the founding of Egyptian Alexandria very carefully. He did not like the idea of ​​a location in the Nile Delta, and so the decision was made to set up the first construction sites 20 miles south, near the swampy Lake Mareotis. Alexandria was supposed to have two large harbors - one was intended for merchant ships coming from mediterranean sea, and the second - for ships sailing along the Nile.

After the death of Alexander the Great in 332 BC. the city came under the rule of Ptolemy I Soter, the new ruler of Egypt. During this period, Alexandria developed into a prosperous Trading port. In 290 BC. Ptolemy ordered the construction of a huge lighthouse on the island of Pharos, which would light the way for ships going to the harbor of the city at night and in bad weather.

Construction of a lighthouse on the island of Pharos

The construction of the Lighthouse of Alexandria dates back to the 4th century BC, but the system of signal lights itself appeared only in the 1st century BC. The creator of this masterpiece of engineering and architectural art is Sostratus, a resident of Cnidia. The work continued for a little over 20 years, and as a result, the Lighthouse of Alexandria became the world's first building of this type and the tallest building in the ancient world, not counting, of course, the Giza pyramids.

The height of the Lighthouse of Alexandria was approximately 450-600 feet. At the same time, the building was absolutely unlike any of the architectural monuments available at that time. The building was a three-tiered tower, the walls of which were made of marble slabs fastened with lead mortar. Most Full description The Lighthouse of Alexandria was compiled by Abu el-Andalussi - the famous Arab traveler - in 1166. He noted that in addition to performing purely practical functions, the lighthouse served as a very noticeable attraction.

The fate of the great lighthouse

The Pharos Lighthouse has been illuminating the way for sailors for over 1500 years. But strong tremors in 365, 956 and 1303 A.D. the building was badly damaged, and the most powerful earthquake of 1326 finally destroyed one of the greatest architectural structures in the world. In 1994, the remains of the Lighthouse of Alexandria were discovered by archaeologists, and subsequently the image of the structure was more or less successfully restored using computer modeling.

The seventh wonder of the world is located in Egypt on the coast of the Faros Gulf - the famous Lighthouse of Alexandria counts its history from the formation of the city of Alexandria, which was built in 332 BC. the Roman commander Macedonian: during his military career, the conqueror named about 17 cities in his honor, but only Alexandria in Egypt has retained its sights to this day.

Construction

1. The Pharos lighthouse was erected in the Nile Delta - the commander carefully chose a place for the new city of Alexandria, and it was here that the first construction sites were deployed near Lake Mareotis. Macedonian assumed that the lighthouse, grandiose in height, should stand on the banks of two large harbors. One of them was planned as a port for merchant ships that came from the Mediterranean countries, and the second harbor served ships going along the Nile.

2. Ptolemy became the new ruler of Egypt: by that time, Macedon had died, leaving behind a flourishing and promising seaport. The new government decided to continue the work of the conqueror and install a lighthouse, which later became the seventh wonder of the world. At night and in inclement weather, a 120-meter powerful lighthouse illuminated the sea routes for trade and passenger ships heading to the harbor.

3. During the construction of the Lighthouse of Alexandria, a photo of the remains of the foundation of which can be seen on the net, a system of signal lights was used. Sostratus, an engineer from Cnidia, is considered a real architect, who did a lot for the appearance of this large-scale signal structure in Alexandria and actually supervised the construction. It took more than 20 years to build the Faros lighthouse, which went down in history as the most high building ancient world. To provide the work site with building materials, a dam was built.

4. Inside the lighthouse, the architects placed as many as three separate tiers. On the first one, which has a square shape, statues of marine inhabitants - tritons were installed in the corners. This room housed the guards and workers serving the lighthouse. Also there were pantries with fuel and products.

On the middle tier, the building had an octagonal shape, while the builders managed to orient the faces according to local wind directions. At the top of the building were statues and original weathervanes.

The upper tier had a strictly cylindrical shape and was decorated with columns, and a source of illumination was arranged under the cone-shaped reflecting dome. At the top of the lighthouse was a statue of Isis, who was considered the patroness of merchants and sailors. The craftsmen managed to project powerful light through a complex system of mirrors - these were concave metal sheets that perfectly reflected the fire burning at the very top of the tower.

5. Scientists are still arguing about the method of delivering fuel to the Pharos lighthouse. According to one version, firewood was brought by teams of mules along reliable spiral staircases. The second legend says that the fuel was lifted on an ancient elevator along a shaft located vertically inside the structure. The light that the lighthouse gave from the high tower was clearly visible even at a distance of 48 kilometers from the harbor.

6. In the underground part there were serious supplies of food and water for the garrison guard, since the structure served as a fortress protecting the bays and sea approaches to the city. The photo of the Alexandria lighthouse foundation preserved the outlines of the fence, through the loopholes of which the arrows guarded the harbor.

The fate of the building

In the 16th century, the seventh wonder of the world was almost completely destroyed by an earthquake. The lighthouse was captured on old-style coins minted in Rome. Modern scientists can judge the scale of the construction only by the ruins and preserved ancient documents.

Sultan Kait Bey, a century after the destruction of the tower, built a military fort on that site. In the mid-90s of the last century, scientists discovered the remains of the legendary lighthouse at the bottom of the Alexandria harbor. Once upon a time, initiative groups planned to reconstruct the lighthouse, but the Egyptian authorities refused to finance these dubious projects. Now on the island of Pharos, only the ancient fortress of Kait Bay guards the ruins of an ancient tower.

Tourists and travelers from all over the world can not only see picturesque photo Lighthouse of Alexandria, but also visit the remains of the foundation on the shores of the bay in Egypt. The ruins of the tower still attract lovers historical sites and ancient architecture. By purchasing tours to Egypt at quite affordable prices from specialists from the travel agency site, tourists get a unique opportunity to visit different countries and even look at famous sights.

Daria Nessel| Oct 10, 2017

Alexandrian lighthouse, built on Pharos, is a skyscraper of antiquity, the equal of which could only be created after 16 centuries. For its unprecedented height of more than 100 m, it is considered one of.

Lighthouse of Alexandria - observation outpost

In 332 B.C. At the mouth of the Nile River, on a spit that flows into the Mediterranean Sea, Alexander the Great founded the capital of his empire in Egypt and named it Alexandria. The prudent conqueror chose a place that was a convenient harbor at the crossroads of waterways, invulnerable from land and not lacking water in the arid African climate.

The desert stretching a thousand miles to the south, the lake and one of the branches of the Nile Delta were suitable for the beginning of the construction of the city.

The seventh wonder of the world - the Faros lighthouse.

The death of Alexander the Great after 9 years prevented the implementation of this project during his lifetime. Diadochus (military leader) Ptolemy I, as a result of the division of a gigantic power, strengthened himself in Egypt and realized his plan of Macedon.

The founder of a family that ruled in Egypt for about 300 years, a descendant of a Greek aristocrat, an ally of the famous commander, a smart and careful ruler, managed to bury Alexander in his place, thereby putting his kingdom in a special position compared to other parts of the collapsed empire.

The last representative of this dynasty, Cleopatra, committed suicide in Alexandria after the news of the death of Mark Antony and the defeat of the Egyptian troops by the Roman legionnaires.

Having invested a lot of money, he turned this settlement into Cultural Center civilizations where outstanding philosophers, poets, mathematicians, sculptors lived and worked, such as Euclid, Heron, Konstantinos Kafavis.

The Library of Alexandria and the Museum appeared during the reign of the Ptolemies (Ptolemy I was co-ruler by his son).

Commercial ships from three continents dropped their anchors in the waters of Alexandria. The Egyptian fleet was dominant in the Mediterranean. A reliable port was required, which was what the capital was supposed to be.

Sea routes to Alexandria passed close to dangerous reefs, so the construction of a lighthouse was a necessity. In addition, to protect against attack from the sea, it was necessary observation outpost, since the flat nature of the terrain did not allow to see the enemy from afar.

Alexandrian lighthouse.

Construction of the Lighthouse of Alexandria

The lighthouse of Alexandria was erected in a short time, in just 5 years (approximately 285 - 280 BC) and stood for almost ten centuries.

Such a short schedule is explained by the favorable circumstances that prevailed during this period: sufficient financial and labor resources and non-aggression pacts concluded by Ptolemy with his enemies.

According to the testimony of the ancient Greek historian Pliny the Elder, 800 talents were spent on the Faros lighthouse.

The coast on which Alexandria was founded had no natural shelter, so a dam and a pier were built to create an artificial bay.

The dam had three functions:

• divided the water area into sea and river,
• prevented the silting of the bottom,
• it was supplied during the further maintenance of the Lighthouse of Alexandria.

The pier protected the port complex from storms and hurricanes.

On the eastern rocky coast of Pharos, on a massive granite base with sides of 180 by 130 meters, a three-tiered fortress was erected with a total height, according to various estimates, from 110 to 180 meters, surrounded by a fortress wall.

The material for construction was granite and limestone, lined with marble.

• The first tier was a structure, about 20 stories high, with a square base, which had a perimeter of 120 meters, oriented to the cardinal points.

On its flat roof there were four towers and statues of Tritons (mythical half-people, half-fish, pacifying or raising waves with the movement of their tail).

Inside the first floor was placed the garrison guarding the lighthouse of Alexandria, and the attendants, as well as the necessary equipment and supplies of food and water in case of a siege.

• The second, forty-meter tier was an octagonal prism oriented in the direction of the winds. Inside this floor, according to the assumption, there was a ramp along which fuel was lifted to the upper tier.

According to legend, there were unusual statues on the second tier: one always pointed to the sun with her hand and lowered it when it set; the other is the direction of the wind; the third is the time of day.

• The last tier of 8 ten-meter columns, covered with a dome, formed a lantern, inside of which a fire burned at night, and during the day smoke poured.

On the roof of the Faroese lighthouse, a seven-meter bronze statue of Poseidon, the ancient Greek god of the seas and oceans, towered facing the sea.

The flame of a giant fire was maintained by tarred firewood around the clock, warning sailors about shallows, reefs and showing the way to the harbor. In fog and rain, with poor visibility, the sound of the trumpet informed the approaching ships of the proximity of a reliable pier.

Faros lighthouse.

In the lighthouse of Alexandria, for the first time, a system of mirrors (made of polished metal plates) was used to enhance the glow of the fire and create a directional beam visible from hundreds of kilometers away. It was so bright that in the darkness it looked like the glow of a star and sometimes knocked sailors off course, making their way, guided by the starry sky. The genius of the local engineers remained in the name of a modern optical device: a headlight.

Upon completion of the work, this grandiose creation was immediately attributed to the wonders of the world.

The lighthouse of Alexandria was designed and built by the architect and builder Sostratus from Cnidia. Pride in his offspring made him engrave his own name on the foundation stones in order to preserve it for future generations. The inscription said that he, Sostratus of Cnidus, dedicates the lighthouse to the gods - saviors for the glory of sailors.

But the monarch demanded that he be immortalized. The resourceful architect smeared the message he had drawn with mortar and wrote “Ptolemy I Soter” on top. Years passed, the plaster fell off, revealing to everyone the real creator of the miracle.

Fall of the Lighthouse of Alexandria

The lighthouse of Pharos was the symbol of Alexandria. He was admired, minted on money, decorated vases and jugs, made as souvenirs.

By the XII century. the structure fell into disrepair, ships no longer entered here due to silting and shifting trade routes. The details were melted down into small banknotes.

In the XIV century. new tremors finally destroyed the masterpiece of culture and architecture. Sultan Kait Bey built a bastion on its ruins, which has survived to this day.

Now this fortification is a naval base.

Divers found the remains of masonry, partially flooded after seismic activity. This was the occasion for a small sensation picked up by the press.

Since 2015, the Cairo administration has been considering the possibility of reconstructing the Lighthouse of Alexandria.