Pharos of Alexandria, Egypt - The First Lighthouse

The Story of the Lighthouse

Many, many years ago (thousands of years to be more exact), people lived m a very primitive way--both hunting for and growing their own food (there were no supermarkets in those days, no stores at all!). Eventually they decided to explore the water in a boat to find out what the sea had to offer in the way of food. And, what did they find? They found fish and all kinds of other seafood: clams, mussels, scallops, oysters, lobsters, crabs, etc. During the day they could find their way back to the landing place by looking for a pile of rocks that had been left there.

These daymarks were the first aids to navigation. But how could they find their way home at night? Since much of the shoreline looked very similar, friends had to light a bonfire on a high point to guide them to the right landing area. Still later they used a pole or a tripod to hang a METAl basket containing a fire as a method of signaling (a lever light).

Our first lighthouses were actually given to us by Nature. Sailors sometimes used landmarks such as glowing volcanoes to guide them. In the Ancient World, trading ships were eventually built enabling navigators to sail long distances to buy and sell goods. In the days of wooden ships with sails, the wind and waves could easily push them against the rocks and wreck them. And so, the need for lighthouses as warning signals arose.

One of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World was a lighthouse--the famous Pharos of Alexandria, Egypt. It is the first one that is recorded in history and was built about 280 BC. Those records tell us that it was the tallest one ever built -- 450 ft. (comparable to a 45-story skyscraper) and used an open fire at the top as a source of light. (Can you imagine being the keeper, climbing to the top to light the fire, and then forgetting the matches or whatever was used in those days to start a fire?)

This fantastic structure survived for 1500 years until it was completely destroyed by an earthquake in the 14th Century. Slave labor was used to build it, and it took twenty long years to complete. It was a three-part tower--with a square base, a second story with eight sides and a narrow, taller, round third story. At night they believe its lighted fire could be seen for thirty miles, whereas by day it produced a column of smoke for a daymark. Today we call people who study (or are interested in) lighthouses pharologists. The name comes from that famous lighthouse.

What is a lighthouse?

It is a tower with a bright light at the top, located at an important or dangerous place regarding navigation (travel over water). The two main purposes of a lighthouse are to serve as a navigational aid and to warn boats of dangerous areas. It is like a traffic sign on the sea. What a seeing-eye dog is to a blind person is what a lighthouse is to a seaman.

The first known lighthouse was the Pharos of Alexandria, Egypt. Constructed between 300 and 280 BC by Ptolemy I and his son Ptolemy II, it stood about 450 feet high. This lighthouse was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. It was destroyed in stages by invaders and earthquakes, being completely destroyed in the 1300’s.

Read on:

http://www.uscg.mil/hq/g-cp/history/WEBLIGHTHOUSES/lighthouse_curriculum.html