Lighthouse of Alexandria

The Lighthouse of Alexandria: a tall lighthouse on the coast of Alexandria, built of finely cut stone. Al-Idrisi reports that its height is about three hundred cubits, that a fire was lit in it night and day to guide ships, and that it was called a lantern ².

Al-Maqrizi says that most people of Alexandria attribute it to Alexander son of Philip the Macedonian. Others say that the queen Dalukah built it, and others that the tenth of the pharaohs of Egypt did ³.

It is related that al-Walid heard from a servant that beneath the lighthouse of Alexandria lay the treasure of the kings of the earth, and that Alexander built a vault underground for it and built the tower above it ⁴.

Al-Maqrizi, quoting Ibn Abd al-Hakam, says that the height of the lighthouse was more than a hundred and fifty cubits, and that there was a mosque at its top where people sought blessing by praying ⁵.

He says that Ahmad ibn Tulun put a wooden dome on top of it, which the winds carried off, and that in the days of al-Zahir Baybars part of its corners collapsed and was rebuilt in 673 AH ⁵.

Ibn Fadl Allah al-Umari reports that nothing remained of it but what is in the state of ruins and faded traces. He reports, on the authority of Ibn Zafir, that Ibn Qalaqis and the notable Ali ibn al-Darwi climbed it. The first described its dome, from which his companions seemed to see stars, and it seemed to him that the sea beneath it was a cloud ⁶.