The Pharos of Alexandria (circa 280 BC), located on an island in the harborof Alexandria, Egypt, was a famous ancient lighthouse standing more than 134 m (440ft) tall; it was destroyed in the 14th century. The Pharos of Alexandria,in Egypt, was the forerunner of modern lighthouses. The name belonged originallyto an island lying off the coast. When Alexander the Great laid out the city he connectedthe island of Pharos with the mainland by means of a mole, or causeway.
On theeastern point of the island his successors, Ptolemy I and Ptolemy II, erected a greatlighthouse made of white marble. It was this structure, said to have been 400 feethigh, that came to be known as the Pharos of Alexandria.
For more than 1,000years the lighthouse known as Pharos of Alexandria guided Mediterranean ships toharbor. Built for Ptolemy II of Egypt in about 280 BC, the lighthouse was severelydamaged by an earthquake in AD 955 and disappeared completely by 1500.
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