Helios on the Pharos

Abstract

A half-century of research and discussion has advanced our knowledge of the Pharos of Alexandria without, however, eliminating all the uncertainties that enshroud its architecture, ornament, and technical character. In his monumental study of 1909 Hermann Thiersch worthily prepared the ground, by collecting into a single volume nearly all the evidence then available; but his architectural conclusions must now be read in conjunction with Don Miguel de Asin's essay of 1933 based on an Islamic source which Thiersch had overlooked. More recently, in 1952, Professor Charles Picard has published some important observations which refer particularly to the summit of the Pharos, with its projecting Tritons and crowning statue.