Exciting find beneath the sea at Alexandria
Egypt, Local, 6/3/2004

A team from the Alexandrian Studies Centre has recently found pieces of rose granite that rep- resent the lower part of the famous statue of Isis found four years ago underwater in the vicinity of the Qaitbay Citadel in Alexandria.

The pieces provide the statue's legs, and ankles.

The team has also found part of a large I granite stele that bears the tax law enforced in the reign of Ptolemy L The bulk of the panel had been lifted from the sea bed a few years ago.

However, the most important of recent finds are huge granite masses, one of which weighs 15 tons, found ten metres underwater.

The pieces proved to be remains of the old Alexandria light- house one of the seven won ders of the world.

The find is so important that it could revive the idea of rebuilding the lighthouse. Zahi Hawass, Secretary- General of the Supreme Council for Antiquities, said that the lighthouse was built by Sostratos in the age of Ptolemy p (285-246 BC).

The king allowed him to inscribe his name on it in recognition of his effort. Dr. Hawass noted that the building cost of the light- house was about 2,000 pounds (Sterling) in modem terms.

It was built of stone cut from the quarries of AL Max and was embellished by marble and bronze. It is said that the stones were not fixed to each other by mortar but by molten lead.

As to the shape of the lighthouse Hawass said that it took the form of eight towers graded from the largest to the smallest.

The ground floor, said Hawass was 60 metres high and had wide ornamented windows and 300 rooms allocated for machines and as a residence for workers.

Hawass went on to say that on top of the lighthouse there was a large room from where a fire pole remained burning all night long and then turned to smoke during the day time.

The lighthouse used to have a huge minor, which according to myth, reflected the whole of the city.

The mirror and the brazier at the top created the large amount of light ever produced by a lighthouse.

As such the lighthouse of Alexandria influenced man's initial thinking about the uses of lenses.

According to Hawass the lighthouse remained functioning until the Arab conquest in 641 AD. In 673 Hajira, King Bebars visited Alexandria and ordered its restoration. He built a mosque on its upper part. In 880 Hajira, Ibn Thlon also ordered its restoration.

However, in 1100 a strong earthquake hit Alexandria and the lighthouse collapsed except for the ground square-shaped part.

The earthquake that occurred later on in the 14th century destroyed the remaining part.

In 1580, Sultan Qaitbay established the citadel named after him at the exact site of the lighthouse.

The light house then disappeared for ever but there remained a miniature of it found at Abu Sir in Mariut and which exists at present at the Graeco- Roman museum.

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