DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5625#0276
The Civilization of the Hellenistic Age 245
Ptolemies built an astronomical observatory at Alexandria, and
although it was, of course, without telescopes, important obser-
Vations and discoveries were made. An astronomer of little
^lG- 95. The Lighthouse of the Harbor of Alexandria
in the Hellenistic Age. (After Thiersch)
The harbor of Alexandria (see map in corner above) was protected by
atl island called Pharos, which was connected with the city by a cause-
WaY of stone. On the island, and bearing its name (Pharos), was built
|after 300 B.C.) a vast stone lighthouse, some three hundred and seventy
|eet high (that is, over thirty stories, like those of a modern skyscraper).
il shows how vast were the commerce and wealth of Alexandria only a
feneration after it was founded by Alexander the Great, when it became
tfte New York or Liverpool of the ancient .world, the greatest port on
'he Mediterranean (§ 465). The Pharos tower, the first of its kind, was
'nfluenced in design by oriental architecture, and in its turn it furnished
'he model for'the earliest church spires, and also for the minarets of the
Mohammedan mosques (see Ancietit Times, Fig. 272). It stood for
about sixteen hundred years, the greatest lighthouse in the world, and
did not fall until A.D. 1326
fame named Aristarchus, who lived on the island of Samos,
even discovered that the planets revolve around the sun, though
people would believe him and his discovery was forgotten.
Ptolemies built an astronomical observatory at Alexandria, and
although it was, of course, without telescopes, important obser-
Vations and discoveries were made. An astronomer of little
^lG- 95. The Lighthouse of the Harbor of Alexandria
in the Hellenistic Age. (After Thiersch)
The harbor of Alexandria (see map in corner above) was protected by
atl island called Pharos, which was connected with the city by a cause-
WaY of stone. On the island, and bearing its name (Pharos), was built
|after 300 B.C.) a vast stone lighthouse, some three hundred and seventy
|eet high (that is, over thirty stories, like those of a modern skyscraper).
il shows how vast were the commerce and wealth of Alexandria only a
feneration after it was founded by Alexander the Great, when it became
tfte New York or Liverpool of the ancient .world, the greatest port on
'he Mediterranean (§ 465). The Pharos tower, the first of its kind, was
'nfluenced in design by oriental architecture, and in its turn it furnished
'he model for'the earliest church spires, and also for the minarets of the
Mohammedan mosques (see Ancietit Times, Fig. 272). It stood for
about sixteen hundred years, the greatest lighthouse in the world, and
did not fall until A.D. 1326
fame named Aristarchus, who lived on the island of Samos,
even discovered that the planets revolve around the sun, though
people would believe him and his discovery was forgotten.