LIGHTHOUSESANDLIGHTSHIPS.BOOK I.ANCIENT HISTORY OF LIGHTHOUSES.CHAPTER I.THE FIRE-TOWERS OF THE MEDITERRANEAN.WWeare apt to look upon the lighthouse as completely a modern invention, but a little reflection would convince us that the early navigators, in their arduous struggle against the ocean, could not have failed to establish some sure indications by which to guide their adventurous course. Undoubtedly, the first rude signal would be no more than a huge fire blazing on the wave-washed promontory, or on the summit of hoary hill or grassy mound nearest to the more dangerous parts of the shore. But it can easily be conceived that the difficulty of keeping thesefires kindled on stormy nights would soon suggest to man’s ingenuity the idea of erecting a suitable structure for their shelter.The value of this kind of coast defences was so apparent, that the ancients felt unable to ascribe them to simple human invention. And thus the Greeks attributed their origin to the demigod Hercules. But there seems some reason to believe that, long before Greece became a maritime nation, light-towers had been built by the Lybians and the Cuthites along the coast-line of Lower Egypt. These towers, we are told,[1]served as landmarks during the day, as beacons during the night. Their purpose was a holy one, and accordingly they were also used as temples, and each was dedicated to a divinity. The mariner, who naturally held them in great veneration, enriched them with his votive offerings. It has been conjectured by some authorities that their walls at first were painted with charts of the Mediterranean coast and of the navigation of the Nile; these charts being afterwards transferred to papyrus. The priests of these singular but valuable institutions taught the sciences of hydrography and pilotage, and the art of steering a vessel’s course by the aid of the constellations. On the summit of each tower a fire was continually burning; the fire being placed in a machine of iron or bronze, composed of three or four branches, each representing a dolphin or some other marine animal, and all bound together by skilful decorative work. The machine was attached to the extremity of a stout pole, and so placed that its radiance was directed seaward.According to the Baron de Zach, in his“Correspondance Astronomique,” the Lybian appellation for these towers wastar, ortor.[2]Asissignifies “fire,” we thus obtain the compoundTor-is, or “fire-tower;” whence the Greeks derived theirτύῤῥις, and the Latins theirturris. In like manner, the Latincolumnacomes, it is said, fromCol-On, the “pillar of the sun.”THE BEACON FIRE.Some authorities boldly carry this etymological diversiona little further. When the fire-towers were situated upon eminences outside the boundaries of cities, and constructed of a circular form, they were calledTith. The mythological Tithonus, so celebrated for his longevity, seems, they assert, to have been one of these edifices dedicated to the sun; and Thetis, the ancient ocean-goddess, simply a fire-tower near the sea, calledThit-is. Nor have ingenious theorists been wanting to maintain that the massacre of the Cyclops, who, according to the old legend, were stricken by Apollo’s arrows, was nothing but a poetical version of the manner in which the fires of the Cyclopean towers, planted on the eastern coasts of Sicily, were extinguished by the rays of the rising sun.[3]The impression which the light-tower produced on the popular imagination is, however, more beautifully, as well as more certainly, described by Homer in a well-known passage of the “Iliad” (bk. xix. 375):—“As to seamen o’er the wave is borneThe watch-fire’s light, which, high among the hills,Some shepherd kindles in his lonely fold.”In our English Bible the wordbeaconoccurs but once—namely in the Prophecies of Isaiah (xxx. 17), who lived about two centuries later than Homer; but in the Septuagint version, the same word is rendered as a “flagstaff” or “perch,” and unquestionably refers to aland-signal rather than to a maritime light.The first pharos which performed its duties in a regular manner seems to have been that which Lesches, the authorof the “Little Iliad” (who flourished about the 9th Olympiad), erected on the promontory of Sigeum, at the entrance of the Hellespont. It is figured in the Iliac Table.Though the most ancient in our records, the honour was not reserved to it of bequeathing its name to its successors, any more than to Columbus the glory of leavinghisname to the New World. This honour was gained by the mighty tower elevated on the island of Pharos, at Alexandria, which served as a model for some of the most celebrated lighthouses erected in later times. Such was the case with the pharos built by the Emperor Claudian at Ostia, which appears to have been the most remarkable of any on the Latin coast. It was situated upon a breakwater, or artificial island, which occupied the mid space between the two huge moles that formed the harbour;[4]and its ruins were extant as late as the fifteenth century, when they were visited by Pope Pius II. Not less stately was the pharos which guided the seamen into the port of Puteoli, the emporium of the foreign trade of Imperial Rome; nor that which Augustus erected at the entrance of his new harbour of Ravenna, and which Pliny describes with so much enthusiasm; nor that, again, which shed its warning light from the mole of Messina over the whirlpool of Charybdis and the rock of Scylla; nor that which blazed in the island of Capreæ, and was destroyed by an earthquake shortly before the death of Tiberius.Dionysius of Byzantium[5]describes a celebrated lighthouseplanted at the mouth of the river Chrysorrhoas, where the latter mingles its waters with those of the Thracian Bosphorus (the modern channel of Constantinople). “On the crest of the hill,” he says, “whose base is washed by the Chrysorrhoas, may be seen the Timean tower, of an extraordinary height; and from its summit the spectator beholds a vast expanse of sea. It has been built for the safety of the navigator, fires being kindled for their guidance; which was all the more necessary because the shores of this sea are without ports, and no anchor can reach its bottom. But the barbarians of the coast lighted other fires on the loftiest points of the coast, to deceive the mariner, and profit by his shipwreck. At present,” adds our author, “the tower is partly ruined, and no lantern is lighted in it.”Strabo refers in exaggerated terms to a superb pharos of stone at Capio, or Apio, near the harbour of Menestheus—the modern Puerto de Santa Maria. It stood on a rocky headland, nearly surrounded by the sea, and served as a guide for vessels through the shallow channels at the mouth of the Guadalquivir.[6]What was the form of the Roman light-towers? This is a question not easily answered, when we remember that Herodian compares them to the catafalques of the emperors. The catafalques were square; but it is certain that quadrangular lighthouses were very seldom constructed. Montfaucon reproduces a medallion, from the famous cabinet of the Maréchal d’Estrées, which represents a Roman lighthouse as a circular tower, built in fourstories of decreasing diameter. Another medal, discovered at Apameia, in Bithynia, and also figured by Montfaucon, likewise depicts a circular building. This medal bore the following inscription:—“Colonia Augusta Apameia, Colonia Julia Concordia decreto decurionum.”A ROMAN PHAROS (FROM A MEDAL IN THE D’ESTREES’ COLLECTION).Murleia, in Bithynia, was founded by a colony from Colophon, but having been captured by Philip of Macedonia, he gave it to Prusias, King of Bithynia, who called it after his wife Apameia. It was situated on the south coast of the Gulf of Cius, and to the north-west of Prusa.The Romans converted it into acolonia, apparently about the time of Julius Cæsar; certainly not later than that of Augustus.[7]And we shall hereafter see that the pharos at Dover, as at Boulogne, was also of this form.ROMAN PHAROS (AFTER A MEDAL OF APAMEIA).

LIGHTHOUSESANDLIGHTSHIPS.

BOOK I.ANCIENT HISTORY OF LIGHTHOUSES.

Weare apt to look upon the lighthouse as completely a modern invention, but a little reflection would convince us that the early navigators, in their arduous struggle against the ocean, could not have failed to establish some sure indications by which to guide their adventurous course. Undoubtedly, the first rude signal would be no more than a huge fire blazing on the wave-washed promontory, or on the summit of hoary hill or grassy mound nearest to the more dangerous parts of the shore. But it can easily be conceived that the difficulty of keeping thesefires kindled on stormy nights would soon suggest to man’s ingenuity the idea of erecting a suitable structure for their shelter.

The value of this kind of coast defences was so apparent, that the ancients felt unable to ascribe them to simple human invention. And thus the Greeks attributed their origin to the demigod Hercules. But there seems some reason to believe that, long before Greece became a maritime nation, light-towers had been built by the Lybians and the Cuthites along the coast-line of Lower Egypt. These towers, we are told,[1]served as landmarks during the day, as beacons during the night. Their purpose was a holy one, and accordingly they were also used as temples, and each was dedicated to a divinity. The mariner, who naturally held them in great veneration, enriched them with his votive offerings. It has been conjectured by some authorities that their walls at first were painted with charts of the Mediterranean coast and of the navigation of the Nile; these charts being afterwards transferred to papyrus. The priests of these singular but valuable institutions taught the sciences of hydrography and pilotage, and the art of steering a vessel’s course by the aid of the constellations. On the summit of each tower a fire was continually burning; the fire being placed in a machine of iron or bronze, composed of three or four branches, each representing a dolphin or some other marine animal, and all bound together by skilful decorative work. The machine was attached to the extremity of a stout pole, and so placed that its radiance was directed seaward.

According to the Baron de Zach, in his“Correspondance Astronomique,” the Lybian appellation for these towers wastar, ortor.[2]Asissignifies “fire,” we thus obtain the compoundTor-is, or “fire-tower;” whence the Greeks derived theirτύῤῥις, and the Latins theirturris. In like manner, the Latincolumnacomes, it is said, fromCol-On, the “pillar of the sun.”

THE BEACON FIRE.

Some authorities boldly carry this etymological diversiona little further. When the fire-towers were situated upon eminences outside the boundaries of cities, and constructed of a circular form, they were calledTith. The mythological Tithonus, so celebrated for his longevity, seems, they assert, to have been one of these edifices dedicated to the sun; and Thetis, the ancient ocean-goddess, simply a fire-tower near the sea, calledThit-is. Nor have ingenious theorists been wanting to maintain that the massacre of the Cyclops, who, according to the old legend, were stricken by Apollo’s arrows, was nothing but a poetical version of the manner in which the fires of the Cyclopean towers, planted on the eastern coasts of Sicily, were extinguished by the rays of the rising sun.[3]

The impression which the light-tower produced on the popular imagination is, however, more beautifully, as well as more certainly, described by Homer in a well-known passage of the “Iliad” (bk. xix. 375):—

“As to seamen o’er the wave is borneThe watch-fire’s light, which, high among the hills,Some shepherd kindles in his lonely fold.”

In our English Bible the wordbeaconoccurs but once—namely in the Prophecies of Isaiah (xxx. 17), who lived about two centuries later than Homer; but in the Septuagint version, the same word is rendered as a “flagstaff” or “perch,” and unquestionably refers to aland-signal rather than to a maritime light.

The first pharos which performed its duties in a regular manner seems to have been that which Lesches, the authorof the “Little Iliad” (who flourished about the 9th Olympiad), erected on the promontory of Sigeum, at the entrance of the Hellespont. It is figured in the Iliac Table.

Though the most ancient in our records, the honour was not reserved to it of bequeathing its name to its successors, any more than to Columbus the glory of leavinghisname to the New World. This honour was gained by the mighty tower elevated on the island of Pharos, at Alexandria, which served as a model for some of the most celebrated lighthouses erected in later times. Such was the case with the pharos built by the Emperor Claudian at Ostia, which appears to have been the most remarkable of any on the Latin coast. It was situated upon a breakwater, or artificial island, which occupied the mid space between the two huge moles that formed the harbour;[4]and its ruins were extant as late as the fifteenth century, when they were visited by Pope Pius II. Not less stately was the pharos which guided the seamen into the port of Puteoli, the emporium of the foreign trade of Imperial Rome; nor that which Augustus erected at the entrance of his new harbour of Ravenna, and which Pliny describes with so much enthusiasm; nor that, again, which shed its warning light from the mole of Messina over the whirlpool of Charybdis and the rock of Scylla; nor that which blazed in the island of Capreæ, and was destroyed by an earthquake shortly before the death of Tiberius.

Dionysius of Byzantium[5]describes a celebrated lighthouseplanted at the mouth of the river Chrysorrhoas, where the latter mingles its waters with those of the Thracian Bosphorus (the modern channel of Constantinople). “On the crest of the hill,” he says, “whose base is washed by the Chrysorrhoas, may be seen the Timean tower, of an extraordinary height; and from its summit the spectator beholds a vast expanse of sea. It has been built for the safety of the navigator, fires being kindled for their guidance; which was all the more necessary because the shores of this sea are without ports, and no anchor can reach its bottom. But the barbarians of the coast lighted other fires on the loftiest points of the coast, to deceive the mariner, and profit by his shipwreck. At present,” adds our author, “the tower is partly ruined, and no lantern is lighted in it.”

Strabo refers in exaggerated terms to a superb pharos of stone at Capio, or Apio, near the harbour of Menestheus—the modern Puerto de Santa Maria. It stood on a rocky headland, nearly surrounded by the sea, and served as a guide for vessels through the shallow channels at the mouth of the Guadalquivir.[6]

What was the form of the Roman light-towers? This is a question not easily answered, when we remember that Herodian compares them to the catafalques of the emperors. The catafalques were square; but it is certain that quadrangular lighthouses were very seldom constructed. Montfaucon reproduces a medallion, from the famous cabinet of the Maréchal d’Estrées, which represents a Roman lighthouse as a circular tower, built in fourstories of decreasing diameter. Another medal, discovered at Apameia, in Bithynia, and also figured by Montfaucon, likewise depicts a circular building. This medal bore the following inscription:—“Colonia Augusta Apameia, Colonia Julia Concordia decreto decurionum.”

A ROMAN PHAROS (FROM A MEDAL IN THE D’ESTREES’ COLLECTION).

Murleia, in Bithynia, was founded by a colony from Colophon, but having been captured by Philip of Macedonia, he gave it to Prusias, King of Bithynia, who called it after his wife Apameia. It was situated on the south coast of the Gulf of Cius, and to the north-west of Prusa.The Romans converted it into acolonia, apparently about the time of Julius Cæsar; certainly not later than that of Augustus.[7]And we shall hereafter see that the pharos at Dover, as at Boulogne, was also of this form.

ROMAN PHAROS (AFTER A MEDAL OF APAMEIA).

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