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Alex Clark

Final of Wikipedia Article

* Some of the existing wikipedia sections are included for context, new section have *asterisks around*

Construction
The lighthouse was constructed in the 3rd century BC. After Alexander the Great died, the first Ptolemy (Ptolemy I Soter) announced himself king in 305 BC, and commissioned its construction shortly thereafter. The building was finished during the reign of his son, Ptolemy II Philadelphus, and took twelve years to complete at a total cost of 800 talents of silver.[7] The light was produced by a furnace at the top, and the tower was said to have been built mostly with solid blocks of limestone. *Blocks of sandstone and limestone used in construction are analyzed to be from the Wadi Hammamat quarries in the desert east of the city.*

Destruction
* The lighthouse was partially cracked and damaged by earthquakes in 796 and 951 followed by structural collapse in the earthquake of 956, and then again in 1303 and 1323.Damaging earthquakes propagate from two well known tectonic boundaries, the African-Arabian and Red-Sea rift zones, respectively 350 and 520 km from the lighthouses location. Documentation shows the 956 earthquake to be the first to cause structural collapse of the top 20+ meters of the construction. Document repairs after the 956 earthquake include the installment of a Islamic style dome after the collapse of the statue that previously topped the monument. The most destructive earthquake in 1303 was an estimated intensity of 8+ originating from Crete Island Greece (280-350 km from Alexandria). * Finally the stubby remnant disappeared in 1480, when the then-Sultan of Egypt, Qaitbay, built a medieval fort on the larger platform of the lighthouse site using some of the fallen stone.

Archaeological research and rediscovery
French archaeologists led by Jean-Yves Empereur re-discovered the physical remains of the lighthouse in late 1994 on the floor of Alexandria's Eastern Harbour. Some of these remains were brought up and were lying at the harbour on public view at the end of 1995. [3] *He worked with cinematographer Asma el-Bakri who with a 35 ml camera made the first film exposures underwater of the scattered remains of collapsed columns and statues. Jean-Yves Empereur Notable findings consists of blocks of granite 49-60 tonnes in mass often broken into multiple pieces, 30 sphinxes, 5 obelisks and Columns with carvings dating back Ramses II (1279–1213 BC). The total cataloging by photography and mapping of over 3,300 pieces where done by Empereur and his team at the end of 1995. 36 pieces of Jean-Yves Empereur granite blocks and discoveries have been, restored and are currently on display in Alexandria museums. *

* Franck Goddio in early 1990’s begun research work on the opposite side of the harbor Jean-Yves’s team worked. Subsequent satellite and sonar imaging has revealed further remains of warfes, houses and temples all fallen into the ocean from the effects of earthquakes and natural disasters. * It is possible to go diving and see the ruins. The secretariat of the UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage are currently working with the Government of Egypt on an initiative to add the Bay of Alexandria (to include remains of the lighthouse) on a World Heritage List of submerged cultural sites.[18]

Height and description
* Balawi provided description and measurement of the interior of the lighthouses rectangular shaft. The inner ramp was described as roofed with masonry an 7 shibr (189 cm, 6.2ft) noted as to allow two horsemen to pass at once. In clockwise rotation the ramp held four stories with respectively having eighteen, fourteen and seventeen rooms on the second third and fourth floors. Balawai account the base of the lighthouse to be 45 ba (30 m, 100 ft) long on each side with connecting ramp 600 dhira (300 m, 984 ft) long by 20 dhira (10 m, 32 ft) wide. Continuing the octangle section is accounted at 24 ba (16.4 m, 54 ft) in width with the diameter of the cylindrical section 12.73 ba (8.7 m, 28.5 ft). The apex of the lighthouses oratory was measured with diameter 6.4 ba (4.3 m 20.9 ft). *

The Arab authors indicate that the lighthouse was constructed from large blocks of light-coloured stone, the tower was made up of three tapering tiers: a lower square section with a central core, a middle octagonal section, and, at the top, a circular section. At its apex was positioned a mirror which reflected sunlight during the day; a fire was lit at night. Extant Roman coins struck by the Alexandrian mint show that a statue of Triton was positioned on each of the building's four corners. A statue of Poseidon or Zeus stood atop the lighthouse.[13] The Pharos's masonry blocks were interlocked, sealed together using molten lead, to withstand the pounding of the waves. [14]

* Ancient accounts from geographer Al-Idrisi accounts admiration from his viewing of the lighthouse in 1154. Al-Idrisi accounts the construction, openings in the walls throughout the rectangular shaft with lead used as a filling agent in between the masonry blocks at the base. Al-Idrisi accounted the total height of the lighthouse to be 300 dhira rashashl (162 m equivalence). *

Al-Masudi writes that the seaward-facing eastern side featured an inscription dedicated to Zeus.[15]

* Late account of the lighthouse after the destruction of the 1303 earthquake include Ibn Battuta, a Moroccan scholar and explorers passage through Alexandria in 1326 and 1349. Battuta notes the wrecked condition of the lighthouse being only noticeable now by the rectangle tower and entrance ramp. Battuta's account measured each side of the tower to be 140 shibr (30.8 m, 101 ft) on either side. Battuta detailed plans of Sultan An-Nasir Muhammad to build a new lighthouse near the currently collapsed one but the plans were never fulfilled after the sultans death in 1341. *