The forerunners to the lighthouse were beacon fires kindled on hilltops, the earliest references to which are contained in the Iliad and the Odyssey (c. 8th century BC). The first authenticated man-made lighthouse was the Pharos of Alexandria, which stood some 350 feet (about 100 m) high. The Romans erected many lighthouse towers in the course of expanding their empire, and by AD 400 there were some thirty in service from the Black Sea to the Atlantic. These included lighthouses at Boulogne, France and Dover, England. A fragment of the original Roman lighthouse at Dover still survives.
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Fact File: Until the beginning of the 19th century the light at the top of a lighthouse was created by tallow candles, coal fires, or oil lamps. Electricity was used for the first time at South Foreland Lighthouse, England, in 1858. |
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