[26] The passage from which the above description is drawn will be found in the Oxford edition of Strabo, 1807, page 1123. It is as follows: Ἔστι δε και ἀυτο τὸ τῆς νησίδος ἄχρον πετρα πολυκλύστος, ἔχουσα πῦργον θαυμαστῶς κατεσκευασμένον λευκου λιθου, πολυοροφον, ὁμωνυμον τῇ νὴσῳ· τουτον δε ἄνέθηκε Σωστρατος Κνὶδιος φιλος τῶν βασιλεων, της των πλωϊζομενων σωτηριας χαριν, ὥς φησιν ἥ ἐπιγραφη Επιγραμμα, ΣΩΣΤΡΑΤΟΣ ΚΝΙΔΙΟΣ ΔΕΧΙΦΑΝΟΥΣ, ΘΕΟΙΣ ΣΩΤΗΡΣΙΝ ΥΠΕΡ ΤΩΝ ΠΑΩΙΖΟΜΕΝΩΝ. Ἀλιμένου γαρ ὄυσης και ταπεινῆς της ἕκατέρωθεν παραλίας, ἐχουσης δε και χοιράδας και βράχη τινὰ, ἔδει σημεὶου τινος ὑψηλου και λαμπρου, τοις ἀπὸ του πελάγους προσπλέουσιν, ὥστ’ ἐυστοχειν της ἐισβολης του λιμενος. Strabo’s account of the position of the island of Pharos at once leads to the conclusion of its having formed part of the harbour of Alexandria (as is abundantly testified by Josephus, Pliny, and other writers), and cannot be easily reconciled with that of Homer (fourth Odyssey, l. 354), who describes the island as a day’s sail with a fair wind from the mainland. His words are as follows:-- Νῆσος ἔπειτά τις ἐστὶ πολυκλύστῳ ἐνὶ πόντῳ Αἰγύπτου προπάροιθε (Φάρον δέ ἑ κικλήσkουσι) Τοσσον δ’ ἂνευθ’ ὄσσον τεπανημέριη γλαφυρὴ νηῦς Ἤνυσεν, ᾗ λιγὺς οὖρος ἐπιπνέιῃσιν ὂπισθεν. _Odyssey_, iv., l. 354. Pliny, however, does not scruple to identify the Pharos of Homer’s time with that of his own day. “Pharos,” says he, “quondam diei navigatione distans ab Ægypto, nunc è turri nocturnis ignibus cursum navium regens.” Hist. Nat., v. 31; see also Hist. Nat., ii. 87, and xiii. 21. The accounts which have come down to us of the dimensions of this remarkable edifice are exceedingly various; and the statements of the distance at which it could be seen are clearly fabulous. That of Josephus (who likens it to the second of Herod’s three Towers at Jerusalem, called Phasael, in honour of his brother) is the least removed from probability; yet even he informs us, that the fire which burnt on the top to enable seamen to anchor in sight of it, before coming near the shore, and so to avoid the difficulty of the navigation by night, was visible at a distance equal to about thirty-four English miles. Such a range for a lighthouse on the low shores of Egypt, would require a tower about 550 feet in height![27] Ammianus Marcellinus[28] and Pliny[29] are both very circumstantial in their notices of the Pharos as a beacon-light to guide seamen in approaching the coast of Egypt and port of Alexandria. The latter adds the interesting fact, that the cost of the Tower was reckoned at a sum equal to about L.390,000 of our money;[30] and both of them agree in stating that a light was shewn from it at night. Ammianus Marcellinus differs from all the other writers, in attributing the erection of the Tower to Queen Cleopatra. Pliny mentions in passing, that there were also lighthouses at Ostia and Ravenna.