Massive blocks from the Lighthouse of Alexandria, an ancient wonder, hauled up from the Mediterranean
The workers of the Egyptian port city of Alexandria recovered 22 blocks of massive stone which were used thousands of years ago to build the famous lighthouse of the city, one of the Wonders of the ancient world.
The stone blocks were raised in the floor of the port of Alexandria, on the southeast coast of the Mediterranean Sea, and will now be studied and digitally scanned. The results will be added to digital recordings of more than 100 stones discovered underwater in the past decade, according to a statement From the Dassault Systems Foundation, one of the project sponsors.
Research is led by the French archaeologist and architect Isabelle Hairy And brings together the expertise of historians, archaeologists, architects and engineers to create a virtual 3D model of the old lighthouse, which had already been seriously damaged by earthquakes When it collapsed in the 14th century.
The recently recovered stones include pieces of a huge door that weighed “70 to 80 tonnes”, according to the press release. The workers have also recovered parts of a massive Egyptian style “pylon” or a ceremonial bridge, which could have been a monument.
Old wonder
The lighthouse of Alexandria – also known as Pharos d’Alexandrie, after a small island at the mouth of the port where it was held – was built in 280 BC on the orders of the Egyptian king Ptolemy II Philadelphus (who was born in Macedonia) mainly to guide the ships approaching ships in complete safety.
The city was founded and appointed according to the Macedonian king Alexander the Greatwho seized Egypt from Persian empire In 332 BC, Alexandria then became the Egyptian capital under the Hellenistic Ptolemaic dynasty (Greek) of Pharaohs (the first, known as Ptolemy I Soter, had been one of Alexander’s most reliable generals) and one of the richest cities in the ancient world.
In relation: Was Alexander the big one eaten by sharks? Inside wild theories with regard to the body of the emblematic sovereign.
The Lighthouse of Alexandria was a technological wonder for its time. According to the declaration, it measured more than 328 feet (100 meters) high, which makes it one of the highest structures in the ancient world, with a design on several levels of a square base, an octagonal central section and a cylindrical summit.
Its light was produced by a large fire, probably powered by wood or oil, and it formed a concentrated beam which could be seen up to 30 miles (50 kilometers), according to former writers. The beam of light seems to have been created by reflecting the lighthouse fire with large polished metal surfaces, perhaps in bronze or copper – although they have not survived, and we know little about them.
The Lighthouse of Alexandria was one of the ancient “wonders of the world” – a designation granted by the former Greek writers. He was “very celebrated” at the time of Pliny the Old (experienced 23 to 79 years old. Roman Empirewho wrote on the lighthouse hundreds of years After its construction.
Picture 1 of 2
Digital twin
The ruins of the Lighthouse of Alexandria were discovered underwater in 1994 by the French archaeologist Jean-Yves Emperor, and the last work on the site is the third research project there by academics of France.
Instead of physically reconstructing the collapsed lighthouse, however, the researchers make a virtual reconstruction, or “digital twin”, on the basis of what they can learn from ruins and historical recordings.
The newly recovered stone blocks will be digitally digitized, and the data will be given to the volunteer engineers of the Dassault Systems Foundation, which will try to position them properly in the reconstruction – “as parts of a giant archaeological puzzle”, according to the declaration.
In addition to testing theories on its construction and collapse, the virtual model “will revive the original size of the lighthouse, allowing visitors to explore it as if they were on site,” said the press release.
Ancient Egypt Quiz: Test your intelligences on the pyramids, the hieroglyphs and the King Tut
