First lighthouse

The history of lighthouses is steeped in conjecture, around both what sets a lighthouse apart from a beacon and which civilization was the first to use such lights as maritime navigational aids. The earliest undisputed purpose-built lighthouse is the Pharos of Alexandria, located in the Nile Delta off Egypt's Mediterranean port city of Alexandria, completed c. 280 BCE during the reign of Ptolemy II Philadelphus. Frequently chronicled as one of the "Seven Wonders of the Ancient World", the tapered structure is said to have consisted of several storeys, reaching up to 450 ft (137 m), and was topped with a fire. The lantern section was damaged in 796 CE after an earthquake but the tower survived for the most part until 8 August 1303 when a particularly severe earthquake razed it to the ground.

Although it's not known for certain, the design and construction of the Pharos of Alexandria is generally thought to have been overseen by architect Sostratus of Cnidus.

The base of the tower was square, the central section octagonal and the uppermost part that bore the lantern was cylindrical.

There are claims of earlier navigational beacons such as the Sigeum Pillar, near Troy (then Ilium), dating as far back as 1300 BCE but these are contested as it is difficult to verify whether stone pillars near the coast were used as navigational lights for those at sea with recent theories suggesting such obelisks may have been markers for significant temple or tomb sites. Some have also suggested that lighthouses are mentioned in epic poems by Homer such as The Iliad, dating to the8th century BCE but translations from the original text are open to interpretation and may be conflating fires being lit by people onshore for other purposes with intentional navigational lights.