It served as a guide to sailors for nearly seventeen centuries (from the 3rd century BC to the 14th century). Its construction would have started between 299 and 289 BC (the exact date is unknown) and lasted about fifteen years. Work began under the reign of Ptolemy I, but he died before the end of the project, which was completed under the reign of his son Ptolemy II.

Role of the lighthouse

The lighthouse was built to protect sailors on the coast of Alexandria and also as a work of propaganda. The whole city was overbuilt and the lighthouse was to be its symbol. The result was such that, since then, the word lighthouse (from the Latin pharus, itself derived from the name of the island of Pharos), has been used to commonly designate this type of building. Moreover, although there were other buildings in Alexandria just as famous as the lighthouse (the great library, the tomb of Alexander), it became emblematic of the city and still is today. The lighthouse dominated the coast and allowed sailors to have a point of reference, the coast being relatively flat.

We can read in Strabon that the lighthouse was built in white stone which would in fact be a local limestone (white stone from Mex) which has the particularity of hardening on contact with water. It is also believed that the most critical parts of the lighthouse were made from Aswan granite. Moreover, Fort Qait Bay, built on the site of the lighthouse, was built using the same process.