II · The Great Collection · c. 280s BCE

The Pharos completed

Known · Attested

The tower of white stone on the tip of Pharos island is finished, dedicated by Sostratus of Cnidus "for the safety of sailors". It becomes the city's emblem.

Who and what

Told stories

Legend: told story

The name under the plaster

Lucian tells that the architect of the Pharos carved his own name in the stone, covered it with plaster and wrote the king's name on the plaster, so that when it fell away his name would stand for ever.

Told by Lucian, c. 160–170 CE, some four and a half centuries after the tower

What the evidence supports

Strabo and Posidippus say Sostratus of Cnidus dedicated the tower. The trick with the plaster is Lucian's anecdote, told to make a point about writing history.

Sources (2)
  • Lucian, How to Write History 62
  • Strabo, Geography 17.1.6
The Hall of Told Stories
Legend: told story

The mirror on the Pharos

Medieval Arabic writers tell of a great mirror at the top of the Pharos that showed ships far out at sea, and in some tellings set them on fire.

Told by Medieval Arabic writers, 10th–13th century CE, more than a thousand years after the tower was built

What the evidence supports

The tower carried a fire seen far off, Josephus says. No ancient source mentions a mirror.

Sources (2)
  • Josephus, Jewish War 4.613
  • J.-Y. Empereur, Alexandria Rediscovered (London: British Museum Press, 1998)
The Hall of Told Stories
Legend: told story

"A wonder of the world"

Late antique lists of the seven wonders, Gregory of Tours's among them, set the Pharos in the place the walls of Babylon had held.

Told by Late antique lists of the seven wonders, 6th century CE, some eight centuries after the tower

What the evidence supports

The tower was real and famous: Strabo, Pliny and Posidippus describe it. The canon of seven wonders was a literary list that changed over time, and the Pharos joined it late.

Sources (2)
  • Pliny, Natural History 36.83
  • J.-Y. Empereur, Alexandria Rediscovered (London: British Museum Press, 1998)
The Hall of Told Stories

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Sources (4)
  • Strabo, Geography 17.1.6
  • Pliny, Natural History 36.83
  • Posidippus, Epigrams 115 Austin–Bastianini
  • J.-Y. Empereur, Alexandria Rediscovered (London: British Museum Press, 1998)