Alexandria Lighthouse - the most interesting things in blogs
Alexandrian lighthouse is rightfully considered one of the seven lights. For a long time it was the tallest man-made structure in the world.
Wonder of the World Lighthouse of Alexandria
Egypt was conquered by Macedon in 332 BC. At the same time, the new capital of Egypt was founded - the city. It was located on the Mediterranean coast, west of the Nile Delta. Very soon the city became important shopping center region. This was largely due to the fact that the city had a port. At that time there were no means of communication or navigation, and every journey by sea was dangerous. Especially near Alexandria, where one could easily run into a reef or run aground. So that ships could safely reach the harbor of Alexandria, it was decided to build a lighthouse, which became a wonder of the world.
His own death, eternal as any death, perpetuates his work. Thus, both the author and the opera are ahead of the absolute. Although Manole is the one who filters all the power and force of sacrifice, the Masons do not even suffer from the idea that they have given the miracles built by their best, including peace and balance of the soul. They discovered their masterpiece with their souls.
Since the ballad ends with the death of all the builders, the significance is not only of complete sacrifice, but also of the revenge of a selfish commander who wants to be the sole founder of such a masterpiece. The benefit leaves the living masters as real and tangible evidence of the truth that great human outbursts will require continuous new and great human sacrifices.
The wonder of the world, the Lighthouse of Alexandria, is believed to have been built on the island of Pharos between 280 and 247 BC. Exact time buildings are unknown. It is known that the construction of the lighthouse was led by the architect Sostrad Knidsky, and it took only 5 years.
The lighthouse was a tower 140 meters high with three tiers. The first tier was 60 meters high with a square section with a side of 30 meters. Inside there were rooms for lighthouse workers and guards. The flat roof of the first tier was the base of the second, which had an octagonal shape and was 40 meters high. On the same tier there were weather vane statues that showed the direction of the wind. Above it was a third tier in the shape of a cylinder, where the fire itself was located.
Lucian Blaga. This magnificent drama, comparable in universal literature to that of Dante and Goethe, is the masterpiece of Lucian Blaga, one of the great interwar playwrights. Ciompeca identifies more than 50 works inspired by myth in poetry alone.
The uniqueness of the Romanian ballad in terms of artistic value is also associated with the improvement of the Christian building - unique in its architecture - the monastery of Certea de Arge. After listing the characters: Vode, Manole, Mira, Bogumil the Elder, Gaman, masonry, a yard boy, children and assistants, land and two spears, three karuts, boyars, monks, women, people and slaves - Lucian Blaga makes the following explanation of place and time drama action: Place of action: on Arga.
Above the platform with the fire, a dome with a statue of Poseidon, the god of the seas, was installed on granite columns. The light from the fire was directed towards the sea using polished bronze mirrors. According to eyewitnesses, the light of the lighthouse at night could be seen at a distance of 100 kilometers. During the daytime, the fire continued to burn, but the signal was not light, but smoke. When there was fog, a special device created a hum that warned sailors about the proximity of the shore.
Law first introduces us to Manol's workroom, in an environment suitable for serious meditation - candles lit on the table, shining in the window. On the table, according to the author, there is a small wooden face of the future church. Ancestor Bogumil, in front of the table, looks straight ahead and blinks rapidly. Haman, the narrator with a long beard woven into a wool coat like an overcoat, sleeps in the corner, moving in a restless sleep. Master Manole at the table, bent over parchments and plans, measured, tormented and fragmented.
These explanations made by the author, as well as those revealed by the following documents, highlight the clarity of poetic discourse in a very established setting. Other pictorial features, movement, and psychological reactions are also of great importance, especially those that contribute to the characterization of the characters, given that the drama was created in a modern style with low decoration, which emphasizes the ideas of the text.
A spiral staircase was used to transport wood for the fire. And in order to lead them from the shore to the lighthouse building, an artificial embankment was made. In addition, the Alexandria Lighthouse was a good fortress. Inside it was a large garrison, ready for a long siege.
Having worked for many centuries, the lighthouse was completely destroyed as a result of several powerful earthquakes. During the time of Arab rule in Egypt, they tried to restore the wonder of the world, the Lighthouse of Alexandria, but this was only partially successful. By then its strategic importance had declined. And in the fourteenth century, its remains were used to build a fortress on the same site.
He uses a play of lights that deepens and illuminates the mystery; stage acting is characterized by patterns and meditative breaks. Being a drama of philosophical ideas, the author watches as the viewer reflects on a person in whom he can find himself, living intensely in the drama of a higher, energetic, active life, always opposite contrasting alternatives.
The drama no longer begins as a ballad, with the choice of a site for a monastery, on an old, unique and abandoned wall. The choice of place means in the Good contact with the original spirituality, with symbolic elements: life, death, water, the dead. The intrigue is formed by the first act due to the sacrifice announced by Abbot Bohumil and Haman.
SEVEN WONDERS OF THE WORLD.
We all know about the seven wonders of the world, which have not survived to this day with the exception of the Cheops pyramid. Sung by poets and historians of the past, and the memory of them gave these pearls of history eternal life. It was the great writers of antiquity who left behind stories about the most grandiose and beautiful buildings of Antiquity, which they saw with their own eyes or heard about. Such fame has overcome distances and centuries, which is why they deserve to know more about them. It is difficult for us to imagine what the magnificent structures known as the Seven Wonders of the World looked like. These were creations of the most daring architectural solutions. But why did the peoples and artists of those distant eras feel the need to erect such grandiose structures? And why are the legends so alive that the gods themselves helped them in this?
Bogmil refers to the religious doctrine of origin in Asia Minor known as Bogomilism, after the name of the Bulgarian monk Jeremiah Bogomil. The doctrine views supernatural powers as the expression of two universal principles: good, represented by God, and evil, represented by Satan.
Gaman is also a character who symbolizes the primitive mentality, which in the concept of Blaga is a magical force. Haman sleeps during manifestations of negative spirits. Magic explains that walls grow because they are not opposed by another force. Manole rejects the idea, which would deepen the dramatic conflict, because Haman embodies character in actions.
Gray pyramids Ancient Egypt cause surprise and admiration among everyone who saw them. Like huge mysterious crystals, they clearly stand out against the background of the pale sky and the lifeless endless desert. The most famous are the three large pyramids at Giza (near modern Cairo): Cheops (Khufu), his son Khafre (Khafre) and his grandson Mikerin (Mepkaur). The pyramids symbolize the connection between heaven and earth and were dedicated to Horus, the ancient Egyptian god of the whole world. However, only the Cheops pyramid is on the “list” of the seven wonders of the world and occupies the first place of honor in it. In addition, this is the only miracle that has survived to this day. The only surviving masterpiece! This pyramid was the tallest structure in the world for 4,500 years. Its height is about 147 meters, and the length of the base of each face is 233 meters. The grandiose tomb of the pharaoh with its four sides is precisely oriented to the cardinal points. It is made up of 2,300,000 stone blocks, each of which weighs about 2.5 tons, and some even up to 15 tons. Great pyramid Cheops was often called the Bible in stone. At dawn, when its top is still drowned in fog, the pyramid appears in a pinkish-peach color, in those rare moments when the horizon is covered with clouds, it is grayish-black, and in the cold light of the moon it resembles a snow-capped mountain peak.
The Pyramid of Cheops grandiose building on the ground. Even at the time of the greatest glory and greatness of any of the European monarchs, he did not have a palace that could compare in size with the Cheops pyramid. Smaller than it are Buckingham Palace in London, and Versailles in France, and Winter Palace in St. Petersburg, and even Escorial in Spain.
The construction of the pyramid cost the incredible labor of one hundred thousand slaves over 20 years. Stone blocks were made in this way: first, the boundaries of the future block were marked in the rock, then deep grooves were hollowed out along them, and wedges of dry wood were driven into them, which were watered with water. The tree swelled, increased in volume, the crack expanded, and, finally, the monolith separated from the rock. Then the stone block was hewn and polished on site. One can be amazed at the precision that the ancients achieved: the stones of the pyramid are so fitted that it is impossible to insert even a knife blade between them. To lift huge stone blocks up, the Egyptians made an embankment of sand and rubble at an angle of 15 degrees. As the pyramid grew, the embankment was lengthened, and the blocks were dragged on wooden sleighs, watering the road underneath them.
Looking at the pyramid, we think that it is a structure devoid of any meaning. The pyramid consists of mountains of stone, inside of which there are only a few tunnels and a few small chambers. They are made of colossal blocks of limestone and granite that cannot be moved, but these blocks are carefully processed and fit tightly together. The processing of the walls and other details of the pyramid seems so perfect, as if it was made using the most modern tools. Neither inside nor outside on the pyramids there are any drawings or hieroglyphs, which in large numbers adorn all other monuments built by the ancient Egyptians; they do not look like tombs at all, because they do not provide room for the funeral dowry necessary for the pharaoh's journey to the other world. It is unclear how the pyramids were built, and how the entrance to them was walled up. But the most amazing thing is that modern man, with all the new technologies and achievements of engineering, is not able to build anything like this.
Mira, the woman “brought above the water,” is a symbol of purity, a sacrifice that comprehends the tragedy of Manole’s situation, in his inability to abandon creation. His passion is controlled by an unknown fate, as in a modern tragedy, and in which “the human will is intertwined with fate, man is not dragged by fate, but fate is brought to the human will.”
The second act is significant for the Oath scene, which we will find in all other acts, as we showed above. Manole surprises the artisans when he searches for the ruins of a church: “What is Uncle Mester looking for?” The discussion of Manol, the Masters and the Soil emanating from Vode is also dramatic. Confidence in success is synthesized by the words of Manol to the earth: “You came from the Water from the earth, turn the earth away from us: the church will rise!” After a dramatic confrontation, the artisans demand that they escape from the hidden witch, with the help of which Manole has overcome the "little face of the church" and can no longer be forgotten.
The Pyramid of Cheops is an example of mathematical precision: its top is located exactly above the center of its base, the angles of inclination of the sides and edges are impeccable, each stone block lies strictly in its place and is carefully adjusted to the others. This gigantic monument is a real stone book. The ratio between its height and half the perimeter of the base is equal to the number (pi). The weight of the pyramid, equal to 5.273 billion kg, multiplied by a billion million, is exactly equal to the mass of the Earth. Its outer edges, which seem completely smooth to the eye, actually have a slight convexity, and the curvature of this convexity coincides up to a degree with the curvature earth's surface. Based on these facts, some researchers believe that the Cheops pyramid is a model of the Earth on a scale of 1: 43,200.
Manole, a titan and rebel in the great work, understands that the work cannot be accomplished without the help of the masters. The third act reveals, with the same artistic sophistication, moments of great horror of anticipation, the appearance of the Bride, the sacrifice: “Three days, like three years, we promised each other. it was believed that Nalt could be deceived.” In fact, the pictorial indications of this act are important in characterizing the atmosphere of high tension. The masons are waiting for the first one to come. Their faces are painted, pale, weak, and the death scene is dramatic.
The metaphors used by Blaga in characterizing the Bridegroom decorate the lyricism of the dramatic text: “black deer”, from the mountain - symbols of beauty and purity - she is the only one who can become the “altar”. Manole concludes this act with the words: The game is short. But a long and endless miracle.
The entire complex as a whole reproduces the picture of the starry sky. The location of the three pyramids of Giza exactly coincides with the location of the stars in Orion's belt, located near the celestial equator, accessible to observation throughout the world. Such a close connection between the pyramids and the three brightest stars in Orion's belt.
Some researchers considered the pyramid an observatory, others - a giant scientific laboratory of the ancients. The ancient Egyptians believed that life on earth is an instant, and life after death is eternity. But life after death could continue only if the body was preserved.
The fourth act reveals the fever of construction, the struggle of Manole, which is one of the heights of what has been written so far in our country. Manol rebels, obsessed with the “screams” of the church walls. The meaning of the metaphor is undeniable, the Good gradually becomes eternity thanks to the love of the Bride: “light”, “woman in the middle” and “star” in the eternal play of love, work during construction, death. The fifth act shows a heroic death, in communion with justice and love; self-sacrifice leads to unification again with the World, after popular belief - in afterlife.
The second wonder of the world is the Hanging Gardens of Babylon.
The Hanging Gardens are a true work of engineering art. According to the descriptions of ancient authors, they were colossal artificial terraces in the form of a multi-level amphitheater. According to descriptions that have reached us, plants brought from distant countries. In ancient times, vegetation was the personification of prosperity, so gardens were also given symbolic meaning. The Hanging Gardens testified to the power of man to create a beautiful oasis in the middle of a featureless desert landscape. The Gardens of Babylon are considered the pinnacle of garden art. These are the ancient gardens of Babylon, the capital of Mesopotamia.
According to legend, the king of Babylon Shamshiadat V fell in love with the Assyrian Amazon queen Semiramis. In her honor, he built a huge structure consisting of an arcade - a series of arches stacked on top of each other. On each floor of such an arcade, earth was poured, and a garden with many rare trees was laid out. Fountains gurgled among the amazingly beautiful plants and bright birds sang. The Gardens of Babylon were cross-cutting and multi-story. This gave them lightness and a fabulous look. Tradition says that the Assyrian queen Semiramis, who lived in the 9th century BC, loved to surround herself with fresh roses, and could admire them in Babylonian gardens any day.
The Gardens of Babylon were located in what is now the Arab Republic of Iraq. Near the southern part of Baghdad, archaeological excavations. The Fertility Temple, gates and stone lion were found. As a result of excavations, archaeologist Robert Koldewey discovered city fortifications in 1899-1917, royal palace, temple complex god Marduk, a number of other temples and a residential area. There were also " hanging gardens» Babylon with its terraced engineering structures above the arches and artificial irrigation installations. Only the basements of this structure have been preserved, which was an irregular quadrangle in plan, the walls of which bore the weight of " hanging gardens", located at the height of the walls of the palace. The ground part of the building, apparently, consisted of a number of powerful pillars or walls covered with vaults, judging by the preserved underground part, which consisted of fourteen vaulted internal chambers. The garden was irrigated using a water-lifting wheel.
The late poster explains the creative power of man for the benefit of the community. Thanks to creativity, thanks to its perfection, creation enters eternity, and with it the love of life and art. At first glance, the result is the result of an external factor: water, accompanied by boyars and monks, comes to a “miracle”, and the reactions are contradictory. The governor is glad that at one time the eternal place was abandoned. Others, boyars and especially monks, accuse Manol of murder and demand his punishment. Manole doesn't touch him anymore.
This is not a definite suicide, but a merging of the creator with the operatic and his union beyond the ephemeral existence with Mira. The life of Manole and the artist Manole is a church, his goal is fulfilled and, without making any more sacrifices, he enters not only the unknown, but also into the collective memory, into the legend.
The third wonder of the world is the temple of Artemis, the goddess of the hunt - the sister of Apollo. This huge temple was built in the 6th century BC. residents ancient Greek city Ephesus (Türkiye). The way of building the temple is unique. It was erected on marshy soil to protect the building from destruction during an earthquake. And in order to prevent it from settling, the pits under it were filled with a mixture of charcoal and wool. Today, only a few foundation blocks and one restored column remain from the temple at Ephesus. According to the descriptions left by Pliny the Elder, the Temple of Artemis was surrounded by a double colonnade 20 meters high, and along the façade the columns stood in three rows. In total, there were more than 100 columns in the temple with carved capitals of rare beauty, and in some cases the carvings also decorated the lower part of the columns. The temple, built of Anatolian marble, rested on a rectangular platform measuring 120 x 75 meters, which was surrounded by a wide marble staircase. The entire structure was crowned with a gable roof covered with tiles. According to some researchers, the central room of the temple did not have a roof, as was customary in the cult of the goddess.
The entire complex was decorated with marble friezes depicting mythological scenes, as well as processions, sports games and feasts dedicated to the goddess. Many sculptures depicted fabulous Amazons. On the pediment of the temple, decorated with bas-reliefs, there was a window through which the image of the goddess could “reveal her face.” As legend has it, the temple was so majestic and beautiful that the goddess Artemis herself came down from heaven to install huge stone beams on the columns (during the construction of the temple).
The temple was the center of the Greek city, where there was always activity. All public ceremonies took place here.
The remaining masons remain alive as a sign of the constant desire to "embrace beauty", each of whom may be a different Master of the Master. Metaphors, comparisons, personifications, antithesis and language, which Blaga enriches with proverbs and sayings, expressions, folk expressions that give originality to the drama, are related to the artistic load. In addition, many of the answers are words of love, life, death, passion for good and beautiful achievements of gnomic value. The myth of myths, a masterpiece of Roman literature, as well as the entire creation of Lucian Blaga, the drama "Mester Manole" brings, as well as "I do not strike the wonderful crown of the world", proof of skill, talent of the writer, philosophical concept, artistic and Romanian language, to an intellectual sophistication limited in universality, along with creations such as Eslil, Dante, Goethe, in the representation of Romanian spirituality and literature by Lucian Blaga and architectural masterpiece which can be seen: Monastery of Querte Arges.
The fourth wonder of the world is the statue of Zeus, the patron saint of the Olympic Games. Zeus in Greek mythology ruler of gods and men, god of sky and thunder. According to surviving descriptions, the statue of Zeus, located in the temple dedicated to him at Olympia, looked huge relative to the building itself. Its colossal size was intended to create among pilgrims a feeling of the unsurpassed greatness of the divine figure. Zeus was depicted sitting on a throne made of cedar, overlaid with ivory, gold, ebony and precious stones. In his left hand he held a scepter, crowned with the figure of an eagle - a symbol of divinity, and in his right hand - a winged female figure of human height, symbolizing victory. The entire statue was entirely covered with gold and ivory, and the throne was decorated with ebony and semi-precious stones. It was decorated on all sides with sculpted allegorical figures. The god's robe, sandals, hair and beard were gold, and the naked parts of his body were made of ivory. The Temple of Zeus was richly decorated with statues and bas-reliefs. This statue emphasized respect for Zeus, the ruler of Olympus and the most powerful god.
Manole Mester is a drama of expressionist ideas, inspired by the famous myth of the sacrifice of creation. The drama of drama is the fate of the creator mocking the passion of creation. in light of the Expressionist movement, Manole cannot release his “vital impulse” except by fulfilling his mission as Deputy. Drama is a type of dramatic genre written in prose or verse and mirroring. in strong conflict, contradictory reality data. Drama is dramatic. and the characters are highly individualized. "Manole Mester", Lucian Blaga, falls into the species mentioned by several characteristics.
The statue was the work of the Athenian sculptor Phidias and was built inside the Parthenon, a large temple overlooking the city. The seated figure occupied the entire width of the wing of the temple that was built around it. According to sources of those times, its height was 12 meters. It was located on a pedestal measuring 6x10 meters. “It seemed that if Zeus had to stand up, he would destroy the roof of the temple.”
The structure characteristic of a dramatic text, consisting of actions and scenes. The dominant type of influence is dialogue. Each act is preceded by pictorial testimony, epic episodes in which the “voice” of the author is heard. There is intrigue and acute dramatic conflict. Its specificity lies in the fact that, in addition to the conflict between Wbda-Manole, Watermasons and Masons-Manole, there is a much stronger contradiction: the struggle of the Mester against the “pantheon” of the “boarding house”, which refuses the church. This gives rise to an internal conflict that gives the work the character of a drama of ideas.
“If we endlessly admired the other six wonders, then we kneel before her...” The statue of Zeus gained such fame that during the reign of the Roman Emperor Caligula, on his orders, they intended to transport the statue to Rome. But, according to Suetonius, a biographer of the Roman Caesars, “the statue suddenly burst into such a roar of laughter that the cars shook and the workers ran away.” Despite the fact that the statue of Zeus in Olympia, and with it the cult of this god, ceased to exist a very long time ago, the very fact that Olympic Games are still very popular, making Zeus truly immortal.
In his workroom, among burning candles, Mester stood at the table, “bent over scrolls and plans,” rearranging, tormented, some calculations had been made long ago. There are two people with him: old Bogumil and Gaman, a strange narrator who sleeps in the corner on the floor. Scorned because "the judgments are good, but the walls are still wearing thin", Manol asks for his mistress's help. Each of these two belongs to a different religion, so they cannot find a common solution; Although Bogumil already spoke about sacrifice, this advice is “first of all” to Manola, which cannot be applied.
The fifth wonder of the world is the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus (now Bodrum, Turkey), 352 BC. The mausoleum stood almost untouched for 18 centuries until the 15th century, when it was dismantled by the crusaders. It was there, in 1857, that the English archaeologist Newton discovered relief slabs of the statue of Mausolus and his wife and a chariot. These finds are kept in a museum in London and an archaeological museum in Istanbul.
Manole cannot accept this idea, killing a man who is forbidden by one of the Ten Commandments: “He was dug in stone: do not kill, and since then no lightning has strayed from another.” Bogmil is a follower of the Christian heresy in the doctrine of divine-demonic dualism, of the eternal cohabitation of the “good God” with the “cry of Satan.” in this light, if the soul belongs to the divine, and the body belongs to sin, the sacrifice is set free: The soul comes from the body pursued by whites and worms, and enters into the conqueror in the body of the church, deprived of eternity: for the soul is a conquest, Manole, to cross its wide cross and drop the melted wax on your heart: only a great sacrifice can help! As in the ballad, the place Vodya chose was bad, with those around them saying that the walls would collapse “because they are shaking their shit unsettled.”
The mausoleum in Halicarnassus was built by the will of Artemisia, the sister and wife of King Mausolus, the ruler of Caria. When in 353 BC. Mausol died, the widowed queen wished to erect a monument to her beloved husband that would preserve his memory in future generations. But Artemisia’s grief did not subside. Life without Mavsol was not a joy for her, and two years later she also died.
Today, on the site of the once majestic mausoleum, you can only see the remains of the foundation, fragments of columns and bas-reliefs. And ancient authors left a description of the fifth wonder of the world. This tomb was of such impressive size that the word “mausoleum” came from it, meaning any magnificent tombstone structure.
According to records, the Mausoleum rose 50 meters (135 feet) in height, three steps, surrounded by 36 columns 12 meters high on each step, topped by a stepped pyramidal roof about 7 meters high. The roof consisted of 24 steps. Along the edge of the pyramidal roof, along its entire perimeter, there were marble lions. The upper platform of this pyramid was crowned with a marble quadriga - a chariot drawn by four horses, 6.5 meters high. The quadriga on top of the mausoleum was ruled by a male figure - presumably one of the images of Mausolus.
The mausoleum was designed by the Greek architects Satyr and Pytheas, and four famous Greek sculptor added an ornamental frieze (decorative strip) around the building. The mausoleum was decorated with sculptures and bas-reliefs depicting scenes of battles, hunting and chariot races. Rows of statues were placed on the pedestal and between the columns. The building stood on a marble pedestal at the intersection of two main streets of the city of Halicarnassus. The mausoleum stood until 1522.
The sixth wonder of the world - the Colossus of Rhodes - at the entrance to the harbor on a white marble hill stood a giant bronze figure of the Sun God (patron of Rhodes), 32 meters high. The Colossus of Rhodes has welcomed sailors approaching the island for many centuries.
In ancient times, when the island of Rhodes was sunk to the bottom, Helios raised it to the surface and asked the gods for himself. Here in the port stood a gigantic statue of the god Helios, the protector and patron of the island. Helios gave light and warmth to the whole world, and with his all-seeing eye, from which nothing could escape, he noticed everything that was happening in the world of gods and in the world of people. He was depicted as a young man with his head surrounded by a golden radiant crown.
The giant bronze statue stood 32 meters (110 ft) high. The Colossus in Rhodes was built by its citizens in honor of the sun god Helios, who, according to legend, helped the inhabitants of Rhodes repel the attacks of Demetrius I. Designed by the engineer Chares, a native of Rhodes, the Colossus was completed in 280 BC. after 12 years of painstaking work. Ships passed between his legs at the port. At that time, the colossus resembled the modern Statue of Liberty. It was great danger– build a statue so that its legs can support incredible weight.
Antigonus (382-301 BC), one of Alexander's two successors, thought he should control Rhodes, so he sent his son Demetrius (famous for his siege in 337-283 BC) with an army exceeding the population of Rhodes. The inhabitants of the island of Rhodes were resourceful and lucky. They flooded the squares outside the walls of the island's capital (also Rhodes) and kept the invaders driven into the bay for a year until Ptolemy's ships came to their aid from Egypt. The invaders then retreated, abandoning much of their military equipment.
To pay for the project of the Colossus statue, the inhabitants of Rhodes sold all the siege equipment that Demetrius had left in front of their city during the retreat. Ancient records indicate that the statue was built around several stone columns, standing on a 15-meter (50-foot) white marble pedestal near the entrance to the bay. Iron beams were laid over stone towers, and bronze plates were connected to the rods to create the appearance. Most of the building material was smelted from the various weapons abandoned by Demetrius's army. The upper parts of the statue were built using a huge platform. The statue depicted the god Helios with his legs spread, each of which rested on one of the two piers that bordered the entrance to the harbor.
The gigantic sun god was so large that ships entered and left the anchorage right under the Colossus, between the legs of the statue, which probably also served as a lighthouse. The head of the god was decorated with a radiant crown, probably very similar to the one that crowns the head of the Statue of Liberty in New York. Unfortunately, around 224 BC. The earthquake caused cracks in the Colossus's knees and it fell apart. Even the destroyed statue was loved so much that its huge fragments lay there for almost 900 years. Even in ruins on the ground, it was so impressive that many people came to see it. Pliny the Elder noted that few could wrap their hands around the thumb of the destroyed statue, and the remaining fingers were much larger than the fingers of most statues.
After the Colossus of Rhodes was erected, the custom of building giant statues at the entrance to the harbors, among many examples we can name, in particular, the port of Ostia near Rome, Caesarea in Palestine and Patras in the Peloponnese.
The seventh wonder of the world - the Lighthouse of Alexandria - was erected around 280 BC. on the island of Foros. On the base, 120 meters high, stood an octagonal marble tower, the dome of which was crowned with a bronze statue of the king of the seas, Poseidon. A system of mirrors was installed inside the lighthouse, allowing one to see the light of the lighthouse 60 km away. In the 14th century, a strong earthquake destroyed this grandiose structure.
The Lighthouse of Alexandria remained the second tallest structure in the world after the Pyramid of Cheops until the era of the Gothic cathedrals. It was a real architectural monument, moreover, equipped with a lighting mechanism that was technically far ahead of its time. Some researchers believe that the lighthouse's lighting mechanism operated on the basis of large concave bronze plates, probably movable and polished to a mirror finish. According to some stories, the lighthouse's mirror mechanism was so powerful that it could ignite enemy ships by directing the rays of the sun at them. In addition, it also performed a defensive function. Apparently, his interior spaces served as barracks to house soldiers. In stories about the war of 47 BC. it was said that when the troops of Julius Caesar captured Alexandria, not a single ship could enter the port without the permission of the security garrison of Pharos.
Built to guide ships through the labyrinth of sandbanks dangerous to merchant ships attempting to reach the port of Alexandria in Egypt, the Lighthouse of Alexandria, or Pharos, was the only one of the ancient wonders that served a practical purpose. The lighthouse tower was located on the island of Faros at the entrance to Alexandria Bay; the name of the island gave the name to the lighthouse itself. The tower stood almost in its original form until a series of earthquakes in the 14th century and gradually collapsed from natural phenomena, which led to its disappearance to the ground. Some of her remains were found at the bottom of the Alexandria East Bay in 1994, and most of them were discovered by satellite. Constructed from blocks of light stone, the tower was constructed in three stages: a lower square with a central frame, a middle octagonal section, and an upper circular section. The top of the tower was originally crowned with a statue of Zeus, but later it was replaced by a statue of the god Helios. There is also evidence that a statue of Poseidon, the god of the seas, stood at the top of the tower during the Roman period.
A lot of ancient evidence has come down to us about the appearance Alexandria lighthouse, since his image was often minted on coins of the time, it is also found on ancient sarcophagi and mosaics.
In the distant past, brilliant engineers and great artists created seven magnificent structures, unsurpassed in originality and beauty. These structures, often of gigantic size, made the entire ancient world talk about themselves. Their glory has survived centuries and has reached our days without fading at all from time. It's a pity that they can only be seen in photographs.