History of construction in ancient civilizations

History Of Construction of 10 Buildings of Ancient Civilization

Construction of the Ishtar Gate (ca. 575 BC)

The Ishtar Gate is for the most parts of the spectacular finds from earliest Babylonia (Babylon and the Ishtar Gate, 2010). The Ishtar Gate was the eighth gate leading into the inner city of Babylon. It was ordered to be built in about 575 BC by King Nebuchadnezzar II on the north region of the city. Devoted to the Babylonian goddess Ishtar, the gate was built of blue glazed tiles with sporadic rows of dragons and aurochs. According to the dedication plaque, the cover and doors of the gate were made of cedar. Even though the gate ran the Processional Way, the wall was covered in lions on about 120 glazed bricks. Statues of the idols were shown off by way of the gate and down the Processional Way every year as part of the New Year's festivities (Ancient Babylonia - the Ishtar Gate, n.d.).

Initially the gate, being part of the Walls of Babylon, was thought to be one of the Seven Wonders of the World until; it was later substituted with the Lighthouse of Alexandria. A renovation of the Ishtar Gate and Processional Way was constructed at the Pergamon Museum in Berlin out of substance unearthed by Robert Koldewey and completed in the 1930's. It contains the dedication plaque. It stands 47 feet tall and 100 feet across. The excavation took place from 1902-1914. Throughout this time, forty five feet of the base of the gate was exposed. The gate was a twofold gate. The portion that is depicted in the Pergamon Museum nowadays is only the lesser, front part, while the bigger, back portion was thought to be too big to fit into the restraints of the arrangement of the museum (Ancient Babylonia - the Ishtar Gate, n.d.).

Portions of the gate and lions from the Processional Way are in a number of other museums worldwide. Only three museums obtained dragons, while lions went to a number of museums. The Istanbul Archaeology Museum contains lions, dragons, and bulls. The Detroit Institute of Arts has a dragon. The Rohsska Museum in Gothenburg, Sweden, has one dragon and one lion; the Louvre, the State Museum of Egyptian Art in Munich, the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology in Philadelphia, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Oriental Institute in Chicago, the Rhode Island School of Design Museum, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, and the Yale University Art Gallery in New Haven, Connecticut, all contain lions. A lesser replica of the gate was constructed in Iraq under Saddam Hussein as the entry to a museum that has not been finished. Harm to this replica has taken place because of the Iraq war (Ancient Babylonia - the Ishtar Gate, n.d.).

Of the three animals portrayed on the gate, they can all be explained in a non-zoological framework. The lion was a representation of the goddess Ishtar, and unquestionably served as a figurative way of naming the gateway. The difficult Mushhushshu provided a twofold purpose as both a representation of the ruling idol Marduk and also as a defensive spirit, predominantly in combination with the bull. Dedications exist featuring the defensive characters of the dragon and the bull, which might or might not be, connected with the viper as well (the Ishtar Gate, n.d.).

It appears likely that the descriptions of the Mushhushshu or Sirrush on the gates of Babylon were nothing other than a mixture of religious admiration and an invocation of divine defense. In no way was the statue planned to symbolize any sort of real animal. The truth that the lion and the bull were genuine was purely coincidence. Both of those animals were spiritual or shielding symbols, as well (the Ishtar Gate, n.d.). King Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon devoted the great Ishtar Gate to the goddess Ishtar. It was the chief entry way into Babylon. His objective was to redecorate his capital (Ancient Babylonia - the Ishtar Gate, n.d.).

Construction of the Temple Complex of Karnak (ca. 1370 BC)

The Karnak Temple Complex, normally known as Karnak, is made up of a large collection of destroyed temples, chapels, pylons, and other structures, particularly the Great Temple of Amen and an enormous structure started by Pharaoh Ramses II. An ancient holy lake is a piece of the site as well. It is situated near Luxor, some 500 km south of Cairo, in Egypt. The area in the region of Karnak was the ancient Egyptian Ipet-isut and the main site of worship of the eighteenth dynasty Theban Triad with the god Amun as its leader. It is a division of the colossal city of Thebes. The Karnak complex gets its name from the close by and partially bordered, contemporary village of el-Karnak, and some 2.5 km north of Luxor (Ancient Egypt Brought to Life with Virtual Model of Historic Temple Complex, 2009).

It is the biggest temple complex ever constructed by man, and symbolizes the joint accomplishment of many generations of ancient builders. The Temple of Karnak is in fact three main temples, lesser enclosed temples, and numerous outer temples situated about three kilometers north of Luxor, Egypt located on 100 ha (247 acres) of ground. This enormous complex was constructed and distended over a thirteen hundred year era. The three main temples of Mut, Montu and Amun are surrounded by massive brick walls. The Open Air Museum is situated to the north of the first courtyard, crossways from the Sacred Lake. The major complex, the Temple of Amun, is located in the middle of the complete complex. The Temple of Monthu is to the north of the Temple of Amun, and next to it, on the inside of the area wall is the Temple of Ptah, while the Temple of Mut is to the south. There is in addition the small Temple devoted to Khonsu, and next to it, an even lesser Temple of Opet. In fact, there are a variety of lesser temples and chapels spread about Karnak, such as the Temple of Osiris Hek-Djet (Heqadjet), which is really within the area wall of the Temple of Amun (Dunn, 2010).

The Second Pylon of Karnak was constructed by Ramesses II. The Ptolemies did some wide-ranging mending and some new structure on the middle segment. Oddly they left the columns and the front wall of the First Pylon incomplete and left the mud-brick incline where it was at. The rationale for the work left incomplete is not clear. The Hypostyle Hall is established after going through the Second Pylon. The hall is thought to be one of the world's utmost architectural masterpieces. Building started during Ramesses I's reign. He was the king who established the Nineteenth Dynasty and was king for only one year (Karnak, 1996).

The work went on under Seti I. Seti I also constructed the Temple of Abydos and numerous other temples. The hall was finished by Seti's son, Ramesses II. The results that are fashioned inside the hall are a great deal dissimilar than they were initially. The enormous architraves are not on top of the capitals that tower above. Towards to middle of the hall quite a few architraves and windows that have stone latticework still remain. This little area can give one a suggestion of the builders' intention for the lighting results. Some imagination is necessary in order to value what it must have looked like back then. The walls, ceilings and columns are painted with the normal earth tones. The light that was permitted in initially kept the majority of the hall in darkness. The hall ceiling was 82 feet high and was held up by 12 papyrus columns. The columns consist of sandstone and are set in two rows of six. Each row is bordered on either side by 7 rows of columns that are 42 feet high. Each row has 9 columns; though the inner rows have 7 columns. The reliefs all through the hall surround symbolism of Creation. The reliefs in the northern half are from the time era of Seti I and are clearly better done than those done by his son Ramesses II, which are in the southern half. Ramess II's reliefs are cut much deeper than those of Seti's, which gives a much more spectacular light and shadow result (Karnak, 1996).

Construction of the Luxor Temple (ca. 1400 BC)

Luxor Temple is a big Ancient Egyptian temple complex positioned on the east bank of the River Nile in the city today known as Luxor and was established in 1400 B.C.E. It is known in the Egyptian language as ipet resyt, or the southern sanctuary. The temple was devoted to the Theban Triad of Amun, Mut, and Chons and was constructed throughout the New Kingdom, the center of the yearly Opet Festival, in which a cult statue of Amun was displayed down the Nile from close by Karnak Temple (ipet-isut) to stay there for a while, with his consort Mut, in a festivity of fertility (Johnson, 1988).

The earliest divisions of the temple still standing are the barque chapels, just in the rear the first pylon. They were constructed by Hatshepsut, and appropriated by Tuthmosis III. The central division of the temple, the colonnade and the sun court were constructed by Amenhotep III, and a later on addition by Rameses II, who constructed the entry pylon, and the two obelisks connected the Hatshepsut structures with the core temple. To the back of the temple are chapels constructed by Tuthmosis III, and Alexander. During the Roman age, the temple and its environment were a legionary fortress and the residence of the Roman government in the region (Johnson, 1988).

There was a girdle wall constructed around the temple that was made up of self-sufficient massifs of sun-dried brick adjoining at their ends, constructed of courses set on a triple arrangement that ran concave horizontal concave. The gate through which one would go by from the street to the walkway in front of the temple was built following the Dynastic period, for the brick wall in the region of this courtyard is modern with the Roman fort constructed around the temple at the start of the 4th century AD. Considerable remnants of the walls, gates, and pillared stone avenues, can be seen east and west of the temple. Structures used in this alteration and which no longer exists in whole comprise a chapel devoted to Hathor that was put up during the 25th dynasty reign of Taharqa and a colonnade of Shabaka, later taken apart. A modest mud brick temple devoted to Serapis throughout Hadrian's time in power and which still includes a statue of Isis survives at the court's northwest corner (the Temple of Luxor, 2010).

Two red granite obelisks initially stood in front of the first pylon at the rear of the forecourt, but only one, more than 25 meters high, still remains. The other was moved to Paris where it now positions in the center of the Place de la Concorde. These obelisks were not of the same stature, and they were not on the same position, perhaps to make up in viewpoint for this dissimilarity in stature (Andrews, 2010).

Six colossal statues of Ramesses II, two of them seated, bordered the entrance. Today only the two seated ones have endured. The one to the east was identified as Ruler of the Two Lands. Although Amenhotep III constructed the temple proper, it is bordered by a 24 meter high pylon of Ramesses II. The pylon and the courtyard outside, also built by Ramesses II, are strangely out of position with the axis founded by the other pre-existent structures. This non-alignment may have resulted from deliberation for the little shrine built throughout the reigns of Tuthmosis III and Hatshepsut. Some experts also believe that the position may have been made so that the pylon would be on the similar axis as the processional way leading to the Karnak Temple. Reliefs and texts on the exterior of the first pylon tell the story, in sunken reliefs, of the battle of Qadesh against the Hittites. Other later kings, predominantly those of the Nubian Dynasty, also documented their military victories on these walls (Shabaka on the inner pylon walls). The pylon towers once sustained four vast cedar-wood flag poles from which banners flowed (Andrews, 2010).

Construction of the Abu Simbel Temples (1244-1224 BC)

Abu Simbel temples are two enormous rock temples in Nubia, southern Egypt on the western bank of Lake Nasser about 230 km southwest of Aswan. The complex is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site identified as the Nubian Monuments, which run from Abu Simbel downriver to Philae, next to Aswan. The twin temples were initially engraved out of the mountainside throughout the time in power of Pharaoh Ramesses II in the 13th century BC, as a permanent memorial to himself and his queen Nefertari, to honor his supposed conquest at the Battle of Kadesh, and to frighten his Nubian neighbors. Nevertheless, the complex was moved in its whole in the 1960's, on a synthetic hill made from an arched arrangement, high above the Aswan High Dam reservoir (Nubian Monuments from Abu Simbel to Philae, 2010).

The initial Temple was constructed by King Ramses II and is devoted to the God Re-Hor-Akhty, Amon, Ptah, and King Ramses II as a sacred King. Its facade is 35m long and 30m high. The facade has four seated colossi of the King; each one is 20m tall and symbolizes the King seated on his throne wearing the twofold crown, attended by three little figures of his wives, daughters and sons next to his legs. Within the Temple there is a hall, held up by Osirid fashioned pillars which were engraved into the rock, with walls that are highlighted by battle and offering pictures. There are some side quarters leading from the hall, which are also highlighted with various pictures. At the far side of the Temple are the sanctuary, which surrounds four figures; Re-Hor-Akhty, Amon-Re, Ptah and the sacred Ramses II (the Temples of Abu Simbel, 2010).

Inside the temple a sequence of compartments becomes more and more little as the floors of the rooms goes up markedly. This is a fundamental convention of temple design, as one goes into the temple deeper to the refuge which would enclose the primitive mound of formation, rising out of the waters of Nun. The first hall inside the temple has eight large figures of the king as Osiris, four on each side, which also provide as pillars to sustain the roof. The walls are ornamented in relief with pictures depicting the king in battle, comprising the great battle of Kadesh on the north, and Syrian, Libyan and Nubian wars on the south wall, and also showing prisoners to the gods. On the north entrance wall in this Hypostyle hall a picture demonstrating Ramesses in the attendance of Amun, to whom the king petitioned during his battle at Kadesh against the Hittites. At the back the first hall is a second lesser hall with ceremony offering pictures. In one scene both Ramesses and Nefertari are shown prior to the holy barque of Amun, and in an additional, before the holy barque of Ra-Horakhaty. Three doors lead from that point into an entrance hall, and then one goes into the sanctuary. The alignment of the temple is prearranged so that on two days of the year, in February and October, the rising sun shoots its rays all the way through the entrance and halls until it lastly lights up the sanctuary figurines (Parson, 2010).

The cliff face was cut back to look like sloping walls of a pylon. There are six colossal standing figures 33 feet high. Four of Ramesses and two of Nefertari, were carved from the rock face, along with littler figures of the imperial family. Inside, Nefertari's temple has a lone pillared hall, with carved Hathor heads on top of the pillars. On the sides in front of the center of the hypostyle; Ramesses is depicted smiting his opponents and offering before a variety of gods, while Nefertari is depicted, elegant and slim, with hands raised. Three doors lead to an entrance hall with auxiliary rooms at either end. The sanctuary is complete, although two spaces were left on its side walls for doors to rooms, which were never, cut (Parson, 2010).

Construction of the Temple of Edfu (237-57 BC)

The Temple of Edfu is an ancient Egyptian temple positioned on the west bank of the Nile in the city of Edfu which was recognized in Greco-Roman times as Apollonopolis Magna, after the chief god Horus-Apollo. It is the second biggest temple in Egypt after Karnak and one of the greatest preserved. The temple, devoted to the falcon god Horus, was constructed in the Ptolemaic period between 237 and 57 BCE. The dedications on its walls supply significant knowledge on language, myth and religion throughout the Greco-Roman era in ancient Egypt. In particular, the Temple's inscribed structure texts supply particulars both of its building, and also protect knowledge concerning the mythical understanding of this and all other temples as the Island of Creation. There are also significant pictures and dedications of the Sacred Drama which connected the age-old disagreement between Horus and Seth (the Temple of Edfu, 2010).

The main structure was the immense Temple of Horus Behedti. It was started on August 23, 237 BCE, by Ptolemy III. In 206 BCE, work was stopped by an uprising, throughout which two chiefs from the Theban area affirmed themselves self-governing of Ptolemaic rule, which was history replicating itself. The temple was officially devoted in 142 BCE by Ptolemy VIII Euergetes II and his wife Cleopatra II. Nearer to the eastern tower of the temple pylon, the remnants of another pylon have been uncovered dating to the Ramesside era. This may have fashioned part of one of the precursors of the existing temple. The temple area consisted of the temple itself, within its own enclosure wall, and other supplementary temples, small chapels, workshops, storehouses, and dwellings. Most of these, together with the holy lake and slaughterhouse, have now either been damaged or lay under the homes of the current town. South of the temple are the remains of the mammisi, or birth-house, a temple in which the birth of the god Harsomntus was celebrated. The insufficient architectural remains to the east in all probability belong to the temple of the sacred falcon (Parson, 2010).

The twin towers of the great entry pylon of the temple were designed as ideal mirror images of each other, both in their building and in the somewhat peculiarly provided pictures engraved on their exterior. Two figurines of Horus as a falcon flank the entry gate, and at the back of the pylon, at the bottom of the walls on either side of the entry are pictures showing the Feast of the Beautiful Meeting, in which Horus was joined with Hathor of Dendera. The external hypostyle hall is made up of twelve columns inside and is the highest of the entire temple. In the eastern component the library was put in a small hall and two catalogs inscribed on the walls list the titles of every book within. A number of these scroll-books contained the book for performing the ceremony for the defense of the city, of the houses, of the White Crown, of the year, the roll book of temple guards, and knowledge about the normal emergence of the sun and moon and the periodical revisit of the other stars (Parson, 2010).

Over time, the temple became covered to a depth of 12 meters underneath drifting desert sand and deposits of river silt put down by the Nile. Local residents constructed houses directly over the previous temple grounds. Only the upper reaches of the temple pylons were observable by 1798, when the temple was recognized by a French expedition. In 1860 Auguste Mariette, a French Egyptologist, started the work of freeing Edfu temple from the sands. The Temple of Edfu is almost unbroken and a very good instance of an antique Egyptian temple. The Temple of Edfu's archaeological implication and high state of conservation has made it a center for tourism in Egypt and a recurrent stop for the numerous riverboats that cruise the Nile (the Temple of Horus at Edfu (Idfu), 2010).

Construction of the Temple of Hephaestus (449-415 BC)

The Temple of Hephaestus, known as the Hephaisteion or previous as the Theseion, is the best-preserved antique Greek temple. It remains standing mostly as built. It is a Doric peripteral temple; it is positioned at the north-west side of the Agora of Athens, on top of the Agoraios Kolonos hill. From the 7th century until 1834, it provided for the Greek Orthodox church of St. George Akamates. Following the battle of Plataea, the Greeks vowed never to reconstruct their asylum, ruined by the Persians throughout their assault of Greece, but to depart them in ruins, as a continuous reminder of barbarian viciousness. The Athenians directed their resources towards reconstructing their financial system and strengthening their power in the Delian League. When Pericles came to authority, he imagines an impressive arrangement for changing Athens into the center of Greek authority and customs. Construction began in 449 BC, and some experts think the building not to have been finished for some three decades, money and workers having being redirected towards the Parthenon. The western frieze was finished between 445-440 BC, while the eastern frieze, the western pediment and a number of modifications in the structures inside are dated by these experts to 435-430 BC, mainly on stylistic basis. It was only throughout the Peace of Nicias that the roof was finished and the cult descriptions were put in. The temple was formally inducted in 416-415 BC (the Temple of Hephaestus -- Thission, n.d.).

The temple is situated about 500m north-west of the Acropolis and about 1km due west of the contemporary center of Athens, Syntagma Square. It was constructed in about 449 BC on what was then the western border of the city of Athens, in a region which controlled many foundries and metalwork shops. It was consequently devoted to Hephaestos, the god of blacksmiths and metallurgy. It was designed by Ictinus, one of the architects who worked on the Parthenon. It stands on a small rise and in early times provided a fine view of the Agora.

Constructed of marble from Mount Pentelus, in the Doric style, the temple is hexastyle. It has six columns under the pedimented ends, and has thirteen columns on each side, counting the corner columns twice. The temple is peripteral, with columns entirely surrounding the central enclosed cella. In the entablature there is the basic frieze that is likely with the sober Doric mode, but above it in the spaces between the triglyphs, which are like decoratively ridged beam-ends pegged into place, the labors of Heracles are shown in bas-relief (Hephaestus Temple of Athens (Thisio), n.d.).

The Temple of Hephaestus is constructed in Doric style almost certainly from the Architect of Parthenon Iktinos in 450 BC. It has six columns in each close and thirteen on each side. The pediment statues probably represent a battle of Theseus and the Lapiths against the Centaurs in Mount Pelion. On the east side of the Temple, towards to the Ancient Agora on the frieze are statues depicting the labors of Hercules. On the western side statue is reproduced the fall of Troy while in an additional eastern frieze portrays a battle picture (Temple of Hephaestus, 2007).

The temple was separated in three parts. The ante temple is the main temple and a back way with 6 x 13 Doric pillars. The temple within most likely had an interior ditone colonnade, copying the Parthenon and worshipping figurines of Hephaestus and Athena Ergani created by sculptor Alkamenes. The metopes, the interior frieze and the front sides presented the attainments of the two great idols, Theseus and Hercules. An extraordinary stress was given to the accomplishments of Theseus and that is why there was later perplexity for the identity of the monument (the Temple of Hephaestus -- Thission, n.d.).

Construction of the Erechtheum (421-407 BC)

The Erechtheum is an ancient Greek temple on the north side of the Acropolis of Athens in Greece. The temple as viewed today was constructed between 421 and 407 BC. Its architect may have been Mnesicles, and its resulting name from a shrine devoted to the famous Greek hero Erichthonius. The sculptor and mason of the construction was Phidias, who was working for Pericles to construct both the Erechtheum and the Parthenon. Many have recommended that it may have been constructed in honor of the renowned king Erechtheus, who is thought to be buried, close by. Erechtheus was talked about in Homer's Iliad as a great king and ruler of Athens throughout the Archaic Period, and Erechtheus and the hero Erichthonius were frequently syncretized. It is thought to have been a substitute for the Peisistratid temple of Athena Polias ruined by the Persians in 480 BC (the Erechtheum, 1999).

The need to protect numerous neighboring holy grounds likely clarifies the complex design. The main arrangement is made up of up to four sections, the principal being the east cella, with an Ionic portico on its east side. Other present thinking would have the complete inside at the lower level and the East porch used for entrance to the enormous altar of Athena Polias via a balcony and stair and also as a community viewing stage. The whole temple is on an incline, so the west and north sides are about 3 m lower than the south and east sides. It was constructed completely of marble from Mount Pentelikon, with friezes of black limestone from Eleusis which bore statues executed in relief in white marble. It had ornately engraved doorways and windows, and its columns were elaborately ornamented; they were tinted, gilded and decorated with gilt bronze and multi-colored inset glass beads. The structure is known for early instances of egg-and-dart, and guilloche ornamental moldings (Erechtheum, 2010).

The building as finished made up a temple of the normal kind, opening by a door and two windows to the east side, before which stood a portico of six Ionic columns. This division was the temple of Athena Polias. Neighboring it on the west was the inner chamber, on a lower level; this compartment was alienated by a partition, initially of wood and later of marble, from the western section of the temple, which was of strange building. The west end was shaped by a wall, on which stood four columns between antae; but the main entry to this western section was through a large and very elaborate entrance on the north; and a large Ionic entrance, consisting of four columns in the front, and one in the return on each side, was located in front of this door. At the south end of the western section was a smaller door, with steps leading up to the higher height, within a projecting space together with this by a low wall and enclosed with a foretelling porch carried by six maidens or caryatides. The structure of the building at this southwestern corner demonstrates that there was some holy entity that had to be bridged over by a huge block of marble; this is known from dedications to have been the Cecropeum or tomb of Cecrops. In the north entrance a square gap in the floor, with a matching hole in the roof above it, must have given admission to an additional holy thing, the mark of Poseidon's trident in the rock. The holy olive tree possibly stood just outside the temple to the west in the Pandroseion. The Ionic order, as utilized in this temple, is of the most elaborate Attic type. The basis of the columns is either reeded or decorated with a plait-pattern; the capital has the extensive channel between the volutes subdivided by a carefully-profiled opening; and the top of the shafts is decorated by a wide band of palmette or honeysuckle pattern. A comparable band of decoration runs round the top of the walls on the exterior, and at their foundation is a reeded torus. The frieze consisted of white marble figures in relief, attached to a background of black Eleusinian stone (Erechtheum, 2006).

Construction of the Lighthouse of Alexandria (280-247 BC)

The Lighthouse of Alexandria, known as the Pharos of Alexandria, was a tower constructed between 280 and 247 BC on the island of Pharos at Alexandria, Egypt to guide sailors into the harbor at night. With a height variously predictable at between 120 -- 140 m, it was for various centuries in the middle of the tallest man-made buildings, and was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World (the Great Lighthouse at Alexandria, 1998).

Built from huge blocks of light-colored stone, the tower was made up of three phases: a lower square part with a central nucleus, a middle octagonal part, and, at the top, a circular part. At its peak was located a mirror which reproduced sunlight throughout the day and a fire was lit at night. Extant Roman coins, struck by the Alexandrian mint, demonstrate that a figurine of a triton was located on each of the structures four corners. A figurine of Poseidon stood on top the tower throughout the Roman period. The Pharos' masonry blocks were linked, preserved together using molten lead, to endure the thumping of the waves (the Lighthouse of Alexandria, n.d.).

Pharos Lighthouse is again and again shown and documented as being a colossal construction with three tiers, made up of a lesser quadrangular one, overcome by an octagonal layer and topped by a cylindrical segment. The approach to its entry was by way of a long slope with arched arcades. Inside, an apparently huge spiral ramp led to some fifty service rooms and also permitted pack animals to bring firewood up to the third tier to feed the fire that acted as the light resource. According to the Moorish travelers, the structure was 300 cubits high. Since the cubit dimension varied from place to place, this is thought to mean that the Pharos stood anywhere from 450 to 600 feet in height, even though the lower figure is more likely. Some contemporary understandings of these dimensions offer that the lowest square, measured about 55.9 m high with a cylindrical center; the middle octagonal with a side length of 18.30 m and a height of 27.45 m; and the third circular 7.30 m high. The total elevation of the structure including the foundation base was about 117 m, equal to a 40-story contemporary building (Dunn, 2010).

Allegedly, the light from the tower could be seen from almost 100 miles out to sea, although this appears a little unbelievable. Even Thiersch's work is suspect, with a hot fire blazing underneath a copula sustained on columns. One must speculate how the stonework would not break under the heat of an unvarying fire. However, in more than a few texts a figurine is mentioned that triumphs the lighthouse and from a poet named Poseidippos of Pella, who lived in Alexandria throughout the third century BC. This statue almost surely portrayed Zeus the Savior, though he may have been escorted by Poseidon, the lord of the waves. On the other hand, others have recommended that two figurines portrayed the Dioscuri, who were the twin sons of Zeus and Leda and guards of seafarers. In fact, a gem which has lately been looked at suggests that in fact the signal on the lighthouse may have been open and the figurine, or possibly a number of figurines may not have overcome the building but stood on a lower stage (Dunn, 2010).

Regardless of the beacon and figurines, many experts now think that the lighthouse did not take on a merely a Greek style, as it has so often been depicted. The Ptolemies mixed their own civilization with that of the Egyptians, and in structure the lighthouse, it is now supposed that they almost certainly borrowed from the pharaonic custom, using Egyptian stone, though the stone may have been enclosed in white marble. It must have been a very solid structure, for it survived for almost two millennia, making the better of aggressive storms and even big titles waves, such as one that exaggerated the eastern Mediterranean in 365 AD (Dunn, 2010).