A guide to the places of ancient Alexandria in 1 CE: the Pharos, the Heptastadion, the Museum and Library, the Serapeum, Cleopatra’s Needles and more.
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Alexandria in the year 1 CE: what each place on the game map was for, and the story behind it. Tap a place to jump to it.
In the games you meet Kleon, keeper of the Pharos light
A lighthouse at the eastern tip of the island of Pharos, guiding ships into Alexandria’s Great Harbour. A fire burned at the top, and its light could be seen far out at sea.
It was built around 280 BCE under King Ptolemy II, designed by the architect Sostratus of Cnidus, and stood well over 100 metres high, in three stages. It was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, and its name became the word for “lighthouse” in Greek, Latin, French (phare), Spanish (faro) and Italian.
In 1 CE it had been shining for nearly three hundred years. Earthquakes damaged it in the Middle Ages, and in 1480 the Fort of Qaitbay was built on its ruins, partly with its stones. Divers have found its blocks on the seabed.
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