Light House of Pharos Tourism Places

The Light House of Pharos in Alexandria World Wonder Tourist Place 

King Ptolemy II of Egypt built a very high light house in 280 BC on the island of Pharos in Alexandria.
It stood 440 feet (130 m) high.  

This light house was considered a technological triumph and an archetype for all modern lighthouses. King Ptolemy II commissioned, Sostratus of Cnidus to build the light house. It was built in three states, all sloping slightly inward. The lowest was a square, the next octagonal and the top cylindrical. A broad spiral ramp led to the beacon at the top, where a fire burned at night. The lighthouse was surmounted on the top by a huge statue of the Sun God Helios representing either Alexander the Great or Ptolemy I soter. The beacon was visible to ships more than 25 miles (45 km) out in the Mediterranean. 

Legend also holds that on the of the lighthouse a huge mirror was fitted. In the mirror, it was possible to see what was happening in Constantinople, which was right across the Eastern Mediterranean. It is also said that the mirror was used to focus the sun rays on enemy ships and burn them up. 

The lighthouse of Pharos continued to light ships to Alexandria for nearly 900 years. The arabs captured the city and dismantled the light house, in search of treasures believed to be buried under it. In 1477 the Mamluk Sultan Qait Bay built a fort from the ruins. 

The ruins of the light house, some great white marble stones still lie in the harbour.  

Goddess Artemis Diana Temple World Wonder Tourist Place 

The most important of the twelve lonian cities of Asia Minor, near the Aegeon Coast (in Modern Turkey) was the ancient greek city of Ephesus.  Ephesus was a centre of worship of the goddess Artemis or Diana, daughter of Zeus. Artemis was the goddess of chastity and hunters. At Ephesus, she was worshipped as the goddess of fertility. ( Her statue was believed to have fallen from heaven). It was built in 350 BC and finished by th end of that century. The roof was supported by great stone columns 60 feet high and inside were some of the finest works of Greek artists, including the sculptors Pheidias and Praxiteles. It was built by Croesus, King of Lydia it was burnt down by a madman Herostratus. 

The rebuilding was carried out by the joint efforts of all the Ionian cities of the Asia Minor. Ladies sold their jewellery and paid for the rebuilding.  The new temple was completed in 323 BC. It was 341 feet (104 metres) by 164 feet (50 metres), and had 127 marble columns more than 60 feet (18 metres high).

The temple of Artemis

had many great admirers. One writer put it at the top of the list of the world's wonders: "I have seen the hanging gardens of old Babylon, the statue of Olympian Jove (Zeus), the Colossus of Rhodes, the great labour of the lofty pyramids, and the ancient tombs of Mausolus, but when I beheld the temple
at Ephesus, towering to the clouds, all these other marvels were eclipsed". 

Another writer wrote, "The temple surpasses every structure raised by human hands".  

Alexander the Great, the temple's greatest admirer offered to pay for the entire cost of rebuilding the temple. The Ephesians refused, saying that it was not right for one God to pay for another God. The painting of Alexander on his horse was commissioned from the artist Apelles and hung in the temple. Legend holds that Alexander was not happy with the painting but was satisfied when his horse neighed at the painting, obviously recognising the rider. 

The great admirers of Artemis, from many countries, gave rich treasures as offerings to the temple. The temple  became so rich that it was called, "a common treasury for all Asia".  

This magnificent temple was ran sacked and destroyed by the goths in 262 AD. The site of the temple was buried by the changing course of a river. All that is left are a few fragments of its
columns in the British Museum.