It must not, however, be imagined, that ancient writings are entirely destitute of allusions to the subject of Beacon Lights for the guidance of the Mariner. The venerable poet, already noticed, in speaking of the shield of Achilles, has beautifully described the flash of a beacon-light in some solitary place, as seen by seamen leaving their friends, in those lines, which contain ample proof of the existence of such a provision for the safety of the mariner in Homer’s time:-- Ὣς δ’ ὅταν ἐκ πόντοιο σέλας ναύτῃσι φανείη Καιομένοιο πυρὸς, τὸ δὲ καίεται ὑψόθ’ ὄρεσφι, Σταθμῷ ἐν οἰοπόλῳ· τοὺς δ’ οὐκ ἐθέλοντας ἄελλαι Πόντον ἐπ’ ἰχθυόεντα φίλων ἀπάνευθε φέρουσιν. _Il._, xix., 375. In the Holy Scriptures the word _Beacon_ occurs but once, and that in Prophecies of Isaiah (xxx. 17.), who lived above 200 years later than Homer; but it is obvious that the original term, which the Septuagint translate by the word ἱστος, merely imports a flagstaff or perch and does not at all imply the knowledge of beacon-lights among the Hebrews, who were not a maritime people. ~Colossus of Rhodes.~ About 300 years before the Christian era, Chares, the disciple of Lysippus, constructed the celebrated brazen statue, called the Colossus of Rhodes. It was of such dimensions as to allow vessels to sail into the harbour between its legs, which spanned the entrance. There is considerable probability in the idea that this figure served the purposes of a lighthouse; but there is no passage in any ancient writer, where this use of the Colossus is expressly mentioned. Many inconsistencies occur in the account of this fabric by early writers, who, in describing the distant objects which could be seen from it, appear to have forgotten the height which they assign to the figure. It was partly demolished by an earthquake, about eighty years after its completion; and so late as the year 672 of our era, the brass of which it was composed was sold by the Saracens to a Jewish merchant of Edessa, for a sum, it is said, equal to L.36,000. ~Pharos of Alexandria.~ Little is known with certainty regarding the Pharos of Alexandria, which was regarded by the ancients as one of the seven wonders of the world. It was built in the reign of Ptolemy Philadelphus, about 300 years before the Christian era; and Strabo relates that Sostratus, a friend of the royal family, was the architect. He describes it as built in a wonderful manner in many stories of white stone, on a rock forming the promontory of the island Pharos (whence the Tower derived its name), and says that the building bore the inscription--“Sostratus of Cnidos, the son of Dexiphanes, to the Gods, the Saviours, for the benefit of seamen.” He concludes his brief notice of it by describing the neighbouring shores as low and encumbered with shoals and snares, and as calling for the establishment of a lofty and bright beacon, a sign to guide sailors arriving from the ocean into the entrance to the haven.[26]