Frank Goddio, the discoverer of the San Diego treasure (a Spanish ship that sank in the 16th century in the South China Sea), with the assistance of Nicolas Grimai from the Institute of Eastern Archaeology and Egyptian archaeologists, successfully located the Lighthouse of Alexandria, one of the Seven Wonders of the World, at the end of 1994. Thanks to funding from Elf Company, a state-of-the-art device known as “nuclear magnetic resonance magnetometer” was able to detect various types of stones and sediments buried deep beneath the sea, something traditional maritime detection devices could not achieve.
The French Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) near Grenoble organized and decoded the artifacts collected. The lighthouse was built on Pharos Island off the coast of present-day Alexandria, Egypt, in the 3rd century BC and was completed in 280 BC during the reign of King Ptolemy II Philadelphus. This represented advanced engineering for its time. The flame was positioned atop the tower at the base of a statue of the god Poseidon, and it burned continuously day and night.
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King Ptolemy |
The lighthouse remained standing until the 12th century, despite losing part of its original height of 122 meters due to earthquakes and subsequent repairs. However, by that time, Greek civilization had declined. In the 14th century, Sultan Qaitbay (a Muslim ruler) took some of its stones to build a mosque and a fortress against the West, named Ras el Tin (Cape of the Pomegranate).
The exact fate of the remaining structure is unknown; it likely shared the same fate as the region, being submerged under the sea due to earthquakes. Part of Pharos Island sank along with the island of Antirhodos, which housed a temple, and the area known as Regia, described by the historian Strabo, as well as the Timonium Peninsula, which contained many other temples. Many traces such as statues and granite blocks have been identified.
The Lighthouse of Alexandria is one of the seven famous wonders of the world. Besides the pyramids, only traces of the ancient Mausoleum of Halicarnassus remain at the British Museum. The bronze statue of Poseidon (also known as the statue of Helios), standing 32 cm tall, was sold to Arab traders in 653.
