Pharos Lighthouse
placeThe great lighthouse of Alexandria, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, whose fire was visible 50 kilometres at sea and whose name became the word for lighthouse in multiple languages.
The Myth
The Pharos lighthouse was built on the island of Pharos in the harbour of Alexandria, Egypt, during the reign of Ptolemy II Philadelphus around 280 BC. Designed by Sostratus of Cnidus, it stood approximately 100-130 metres tall — one of the tallest structures in the ancient world. The tower had three sections: a square base, an octagonal middle section, and a cylindrical top where the fire burned. A polished bronze or glass mirror reflected and amplified the firelight, making it visible to ships far at sea. The lighthouse served the commercial and military fleet of Ptolemaic Egypt, guiding vessels into the greatest port in the Mediterranean. It survived for over 1,500 years before earthquakes progressively destroyed it between the 10th and 14th centuries AD. Sultan Qaitbay built a fortress on its foundations in 1480 using some of its fallen blocks. Underwater archaeologists have found massive granite blocks from the lighthouse in the harbour.
Parents
Sostratus of Cnidus (architect)
Symbols
Fun Fact
The word for "lighthouse" in French (phare), Italian (faro), Spanish (faro), Portuguese (farol), and Romanian (far) all derive from "Pharos" — the lighthouse was so iconic that its proper name became the common noun for all lighthouses in Romance languages. No other building in history has so completely replaced the generic word for its category. It would be as if every skyscraper in the world were called a "Burj."
Words We Inherited
English words and phrases that trace back to this myth:
Explore Further
Seven Against Thebes (Detail)
conceptThe doomed military expedition of seven champions against the seven gates of Thebes, organised by...
Proteus
godProteus knew all things but only spoke if held through shape-shifts.
Ephesus
placeGreat Ionian city and site of the Temple of Artemis, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
Miletus
placeIonian city where Western philosophy and science began with Thales, Anaximander, and Anaximenes.
Acheron
placeThe Acheron was the River of Woe in the underworld, which the dead had to cross — in some...
Aeaea (Isle of Circe)
placeThe mythical island home of the enchantress Circe, where Odysseus's men were transformed into swine...
Arcadia
placeArcadia was both a real mountainous region in the central Peloponnese and an idealised landscape of...
Argo (Ship)
placeThe Argo was the ship built by Argus for Jason's quest — the first long-voyage ship in Greek myth,...
Athens
placeAthens was the city sacred to Athena, birthplace of democracy, philosophy, drama, and Western...
Cape Sounion
placeThe dramatic headland at the southern tip of Attica crowned by the Temple of Poseidon, where Aegeus...
Clashing Rocks (Planctae)
placeThe Wandering Rocks encountered by Odysseus, blazing cliffs through which only the Argo ever...
Colchis
placeColchis was a kingdom at the eastern edge of the Greek world, on the shore of the Black Sea in...