SOUNDSCAPE; PHAROS

Archaeoacoustics The Archaeology of Sound, The OTS Foundation Conference 2014, Valletta, University of Malta, 19-22 Feb.

The Pharos of Alexandria as a Total Work of Art and a Soundscape

Mairi Gkikaki Esthir Lemi

Greek Ministry of Culture / School of Music, Theatre and Dance, University of Michigan

ABSTRACT

In this paper we are going to exam the Pharos as a Total Work of Art, connected with the soundscape and landscape of Alexandria. Viewing the Pharos through the prism of the contemporary history of art and music, we analyze the characteristics that render it a masterpiece. As a soundscape the Pharos is connected to the environment and the perception of the people who lived in the area in a refined era. In this sense this artwork connects ancient and contemporary thought as well as Oriental and European sensory flair.

Keywords: Soundscape, Total Work of Art, Hellenistic Alexandria, Pharos, Tritons, blackbird, Ancient Greek and Roman Technology.

The Site

The Lighthouse (The Pharos) of Alexandria, one of the seven wonders of the Ancient World, marked the entrance to the city port of Alexandria. The Pharos was constructed in the early 3rd century BC, at the time when the Ptolemaic dynasty had reached the zenith of its power and was soon to become the landmark of AlexandriaIn this paper we are going to exam the Pharos as a Total Work of Art, connected with the soundscape and landscape of Alexandria. Viewing the Pharos through the prism of the contemporary history of art and music, we analyze the characteristics that render it a masterpiece. As a soundscape the Pharos is connected to the environment and the perception of the people who lived in the area in a refined era. In this sense this artwork connects ancient and contemporary thought as well as Oriental and European sensory flair.

Keywords: Soundscape, Total Work of Art, Hellenistic Alexandria, Pharos, Tritons, blackbird, Ancient Greek and Roman Technology.

The Site

The Lighthouse (The Pharos) of Alexandria, one of the seven wonders of the Ancient World, marked the entrance to the city port of Alexandria. The Pharos was constructed in the early 3rd century BC, at the time when the Ptolemaic dynasty had reached the zenith of its power and was soon to become the landmark of Alexandria.

Even before the astounding construction there was, of course, the legendary site, that was sung by Homer as the home of the ever-changing god Proteus. Alexander the Great, who used to sleep with the Odyssey and the Iliad under his pillow, was eager to build an eponymous and unmistakably Greek city on the Nile Delta. The architect had already taken the necessary measurements when the young king dreamt of an old grey-haired man that pointed out the island of Pharos to him. Alexander exclaimed that Homer was, besides other things, the greatest architect and he immediately gave orders to lay down the plan for the lighthouse on this spot (Plut. Al. 26.5-8).

The site was indeed favorable in the sense that the island lay, far enough off the coast of the Canobic mouth of the Nile Delta to form two harbors: the Eunostos Harbor in the west and the so-called Great Harbor in the east. It was in the area of the Great Harbor, where the Palace, the Library, the Mouseion and the Sema, with the tombs of Alexander the Great and the Ptolemaic Dynasty, stood.

Strabo gives an excellent account of the city of the year 24 BC in his 17th book, some two and a half centuries after the construction of the Pharos. He is apparently approaching from the sea and so he writes: “Pharos is an oblong isle, very close to the mainland and forms with it a harbor with two mouths; for the shore of the mainland forms a bay since it thrusts two promontories into the open sea, and between these is situated the island, which closes the bay, for it lies lengthwise parallel to the shore. Of the extremities of the Pharos, the eastern one lies closer to the mainland and to the promontory opposite it, and thus makes the harbor narrow at the mouth; and in addition to the narrowness of the intervening passage there are also rocks, some under the water, and others projecting out of it, which at all hours roughen the waves that strike them from the open sea. And likewise the extremity of the isle is a rock, which is washed all around by the sea and has upon it a tower that is admirably constructed of white marble with many stories and bears the same name as the island” (Str. 17,1,6 transl. H. L. Jones, The Loeb Classical Library (1949), p. 23.25).

On the Pharos a dedicatory inscription was inscribed. The text, preserved by Lucian, author of the 2nd century AD, reads as follows: “Sostratus son of Dexiphanes from Cnidus for the God Saviors for the sake of the mariners” (quo mondo historia conscribenda ist 62). 

The Time

This inscription has puzzled generations of scholars and was obviously considered puzzling even in antiquity since Pliny and Lucian refer to Sostratus as an architect but the naming of the architect in such a conspicuous place on the monument would be surprising. Far more usual was the inscription of the name of the person who sponsored the money. On the other hand Strabo quoting the dedicatory inscription makes a tantalizing addition: Sostratus was a friend, a “philos”, of the Kings. In fact between 285-270 BC the same Sostratus is mentioned as a recipient of honors in Delphi and in Delos, where he functioned as an ambassador of the Ptolemies. With this state of evidence it would be wise to think of Sostratus as an ingenious architect and engineer who had belonged to the close circle of “the kings’ friends” and had not only put his knowledge but also his money in the service of the Dynasty. 

The erection of the Pharos coincides chronologically with the consolidation and expansion of the Ptolemaic empire on the one hand and of the embellishment of Alexandria with buildings and monuments on the other. Later authors date the Pharos to the year 297 BC (Suidas) and others to 283/282 BC (Eusebius). The fifteen years that stand apart could probably account for the time needed for the completion of the monument. 

During these years the Ptolemaic policy abroad proved more than successful. It was in the year 295/294 BC when Cyprus was incorporated in the Ptolemaic Empire. In the late 80ies the Chremonidean War ended to the interest of the Ptolemies since they succeeded in assuming the protectorate of the Aegean Island League. 

Ptolemy Philadelphus acted as a patron for poets and artists of his time and promoted the arts and sciences. The two great institutions of Alexandria – the Mouseion and the Library – reached their peak during his reign. 

At the time of The Pharos’ completion the establishment of the dynastic cult for the Ptolemies was also taking some sound steps. With the assumption of the throne Ptolemy II Philadelphus inaugurated the cult of his parents as “Theoi Soteres” ˗ “Gods Saviors” ˗ whose cult was in return linked to Alexander’s cult.

The “Savior Gods” in whose name the Pharos was dedicated should be no other than the deified first couple of the Ptolemaic dynasty. The very fact that not far from the Pharos another high- ranking functionary, the admiral Kallikrates of Samos, dedicated a sanctuary to Arsinoe Philadelphos, Ptolemy’s sister-wife, Arsinoe-Aphrodite Zephyritis, and that he was eager to promote the ruler cult in relation to naval policy offers valuable corroborating evidence. 

The Structure

On the basis of depictions on Roman coins The Pharos was a tripartite, tower-like construction with three volumes placed one upon the other from the biggest at the base to the smallest on top. The lower story is a truncated pyramid and was embellished with windows. On the corners of the terrace of this first floor, Tritons are standing with their upper bodies protruding aloft and holding trumpets or conches to their mouths. They surrounded the middle volume of the building that is unequivocally cylindrical and amounting the one third to one fifth of the lower massive story. This cylindrical middle part of the tower is crowned by the statue, probably of Ptolemy I Soter, assimilated to Zeus.

Ibn al-Sayh from Malaga that lived in the late 12th century, a well-known and prolific architect of mosques and wells, measured the building. His account is the most accurate one but was only made accessible to the scientific community in the 1930s when it was first translated and published. According to his writings the tower’s height measured 113 meters in total, the proportions indicated as the following: the first 70 meters took up the massive lower part, 34 meters as the height of the intermediate part, and the top part measuring only 9 meters. The sides of the square base measured 30,60m, the middle part was an octagon and the third part was a lantern with a surrounding colonnade supporting the roof on which the statue of Ptolemy I Soter – Zeus Soter would have stood. 

The extensive research carried out by the Institut Français d’Archéologie Orientale confirmed that nummulithic limestone and granite columns were used for building and proved that considerable material was transported from Heliopolis – among other things, obelisks and sphinxes. The institute also revealed parts of three royal colossi made of red granite, indicating the existence of a royal portrait gallery.

The Function

The function of the pharos was three fold. With a total height of almost 120 meters its main purpose was of course to be seen. From the sea, the flat shores of the Nile Delta were not easy to discern and the narrow way to the harbor was hardened through rocks and reefs. The Pharos towering above the waves marked the way since it could be seen from seemingly infinite distance. This is exactly the image sang by Posidippus in the poem composed upon the Pharos’ inauguration (Anth. Gr. App. 80). During the night the great fire helped the sailors so as not to miss the safe passage to the harbor. Flavius Josephus calculated that the fire was visible from a distance of approximately 300 stadia or else 55 km (De Bello Judaico 4,613).

From Strabo’s account it becomes clear that the Pharos served the needs of safe sea navigation, but the Pharos was also an important watchtower in a land without hills and mounds. It could also be used as an observation post to send or receive signals in case of emergency even for the defense of the city in case of war or threat. 

In addition, the Triton statues decorated each corner of the first floor; the imagery of the mythological deity in the form of a merman relayed the ability to communicate with the four winds. Known as the trumpeters of the sea, they produced a sound via the great shell that they were holding. That blow of the shell throughout the sea was used to manipulate the waves according to mythology and could have enhanced Pharos function as a lighthouse.

In the romantic poet̕ s William Wordsworth words: 

-Great God! I would rather be 

A pagan suckled in a creed of outworn;

So might I, standing on this pleasant lea,

Have glimpses that will make me less forlorn; 

Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea;

Or hear old Triton blow his wreathed horn.   

Although no ancient written source mentions explicitly the function of the sculptures as musical instruments, modern researchers based their theory on the highly sophisticated level of Alexandrian engineering and the information that Heron of Alexandria had constructed a toy in the form of Triton that blew a trumpet. This was a so-called “automaton” and the art of automata or else “automatopoietike” was well established in Alexandria. Heron of Alexandreia was a mechanikos, an engineer of the 1rst century AD. In his writings sounding works of art are mentioned with clangs imitating bird’s singing and basing their power on steam: In the text concerning the toy triton among other “automated” objects we read: “when the sound of the voice tube penetrates the water, then the twitter of the blackbird is brought about” (Pneum. 2, 35). 

In this effect we seem to have very little knowledge concerning the sound that was actually produced since the information regarding the blackbird’s song is not so decisive as far as the compositional structure of the music produced is concerned. Nor can we talk about music but more likely about a noise added to the general soundscape that is closer to the modern definition of immersive soundscape, since in the eternal sound of the sea that differentiates through the weather conditions (and is still the same) is added the artificial sound created by probably the hydraulic machinery. The sound from the Triton’s horns functioned as a siren and should be a siren-like one, according to the aesthetics of their time and their musical sense that made possible to distinguish this sound as an easily recognized warning noise. This ecological approach of the sound is astonishing for its aesthetical concept resonates with the contemporary thought in what concerns the relationship between sound of the living beings and their environment, adapting and re-creating an artificial environment so gentle and intelligent. For the sailors should trust their ears as well as their eyes. 

Most probably this sound was a signal so that the ship navigators could estimate their course in relation to the shore and therefore calculate their moves in order to enter the harbor. It should also be noted that, the perception of sound of the people of that age was certainly quite different than ours, and even the way we perceive the bird sound might be different altogether. The most important element, however, in this case study is the fact that the Pharos functioned as a total work of art, as it combined all arts, while at the same time was representing a structure in perfect harmony with its surroundings. 

The technology of the singing constructions based on the power of water and air derives from and follows various routes: the first one is hydraulis, an early type of pipe organ that it is attributed to Ctesibius of Alexandria, an engineer of the 3rd century BC. Hydraulis is the predecessor of the modern church organ. Ctesibius's hydraulis may have been a SIGNAL ORGAN rather than a musical instrument, but by Vitruvius's time, the hydraulis was capable of producing “melodies of infinite variety”. The popular and somewhat raucous instrument was to be found at the imperial court, theaters, and arenas, and was the subject of music contests. 

On the other hand, Heron specialized also in the construction of water clocks, that operated like Ctesibius̕ hydraulis, in a function which preceded that of the cuckoo clock of Schwarzwald. The anonymous writer of the Latin poem “Aetna” (293), sometimes ascribed to Vergil, describes such a water clock with Tritons who sounded on the hour. In the 1st century AD the Roman Emperor Claudius had a silver Triton placed in the middle of lake Fucinus. The Triton gave the signal for the sea fight that the emperor held to entertain his guests (Sueton, Claudius 21).

Based on Carra de Vaux’s documentation who spread the description of ancient machines and later Wilhelm Schmidt`s collection of Heron`s mechanic creations, we can follow the thread between ancient machinery related with automata, the wonderful structure of the Tritons on the Pharos and the later development in Byzantine times up until modern times. Donald Hill presents in his research the relationship between the automata of the Hellenistic times and that of the Arabs. The term reference to an automaton is set in Homer’s Iliad three times but the most significant for our research is the description of Hephaestus workshop (18,376). Hephaestus’ auto-mobile tripods had “golden wheels” and “could automatically enter the assembly of the gods and again return to their residence”. 

The function of an automatization adapts its archetypical form from nature and parallels living beings, such as an amoeba. But this is not the only connection to nature: The blackbird sound is a further adaptation that makes the whole structure function as an element of a natural habitat. At the beginning of historical times to understand and imitate nature was a matter of survival. By closely imitating the principles of nature the artwork becomes a part of it and is elevated to a total work of art. 

It is well known that musical creation began as an imitation of natural phenomena, and the birdsong is the closest to melody perfection. Thomas Busby in his introduction to his History of music (1819) describes: “The fact that man received his first musical tuition from birds, derives no little corroboration from the fact, that most of the winged tribes are distinguished by their own specific and exclusive specimens of song. The melody of the blackbird is not only composed of certain elements of one of our two modern scales, but of the very notes of that scale, which, in combination, form its fundamental harmony”.

Birds were connected to the theme of a world of happiness and perfection. In this effect, we ought to pay the architects of Alexandria a tribute for their magnificent innovative work that combines artistic-and engineering values. The illusionistic effect of the sea creatures performing like living beings would have been unique at the time of the Pharos' inauguration and yet would have met the aesthetics of the Ηellenistic Αge. The choice of the Tritons as sound source derives from the belief that they were sea gods in the company of Poseidon and that with the summoning power of their shell conches they could bring peace to the rattling waves. Their sonic signals and especially the echo produced obviously helped the sea men estimate their distance for the shore and even determine their position in relation to the shoreline. Crowned by the sea creatures the Pharos bridged the sea and the landscape becoming a part of it. This approximation occurred not only visually but also ideologically since the memory of the site as Proteus’ home was alive and was meaningfully sung by Posidippus on the occasion of the inauguration. Nowadays, even with the building no longer present, the soundscape confirms its dominance since landscape and soundscape are eternal.

In Conclusion the Pharos was foremost a demonstration of extravagance and lavishness. Pliny the Elder records the cost of 800 Talents (HN 36,18) that amounts to 480.000 drachms, an extraordinary sum of money that no other ancient economy could afford except the Ptolemaic. It took 15 years to complete and it measured well over 100 meters in height. Various artistic aspects and technological innovations were ingeniously mixed: architecture, sculpture and engineering. It was sponsored by one of the closest associates of the King and probably the best scientists of the time were involved in its construction. By aspiring to all categories of arts and engineering and by closely imitating nature the Pharos is a total artwork that fused with its habitat and defined its own eternal soundscape.

Mairi Gkikaki studied History and Classical Archaeology at the Universities of Athens, Berlin and Heidelberg. 

mairi.gkikaki@gmail.com

Esthir Lemi studied musicology at the Department of Music Studies, School of Philosophy, University of Athens. 

lemi@esthir.info 

Fig. 1. Map of Alexandria with its two harbors and the island of Pharos. Source: E. Breccia, Alexandrea ad Aegyptum: guide de la ville ancienne et moderne du Musée gréco-romain (1914).

Fig. 2. The triton’s sound signals (reconstruction by Esthir Lemi)..

Even before the astounding construction there was, of course, the legendary site, that was sung by Homer as the home of the ever-changing god Proteus. Alexander the Great, who used to sleep with the Odyssey and the Iliad under his pillow, was eager to build an eponymous and unmistakably Greek city on the Nile Delta. The architect had already taken the necessary measurements when the young king dreamt of an old grey-haired man that pointed out the island of Pharos to him. Alexander exclaimed that Homer was, besides other things, the greatest architect and he immediately gave orders to lay down the plan for the lighthouse on this spot (Plut. Al. 26.5-8).

The site was indeed favorable in the sense that the island lay, far enough off the coast of the Canobic mouth of the Nile Delta to form two harbors: the Eunostos Harbor in the west and the so-called Great Harbor in the east. It was in the area of the Great Harbor, where the Palace, the Library, the Mouseion and the Sema, with the tombs of Alexander the Great and the Ptolemaic Dynasty, stood.

Strabo gives an excellent account of the city of the year 24 BC in his 17th book, some two and a half centuries after the construction of the Pharos. He is apparently approaching from the sea and so he writes: “Pharos is an oblong isle, very close to the mainland and forms with it a harbor with two mouths; for the shore of the mainland forms a bay since it thrusts two promontories into the open sea, and between these is situated the island, which closes the bay, for it lies lengthwise parallel to the shore. Of the extremities of the Pharos, the eastern one lies closer to the mainland and to the promontory opposite it, and thus makes the harbor narrow at the mouth; and in addition to the narrowness of the intervening passage there are also rocks, some under the water, and others projecting out of it, which at all hours roughen the waves that strike them from the open sea. And likewise the extremity of the isle is a rock, which is washed all around by the sea and has upon it a tower that is admirably constructed of white marble with many stories and bears the same name as the island” (Str. 17,1,6 transl. H. L. Jones, The Loeb Classical Library (1949), p. 23.25).

On the Pharos a dedicatory inscription was inscribed. The text, preserved by Lucian, author of the 2nd century AD, reads as follows: “Sostratus son of Dexiphanes from Cnidus for the God Saviors for the sake of the mariners” (quo mondo historia conscribenda ist 62). 

The Time

This inscription has puzzled generations of scholars and was obviously considered puzzling even in antiquity since Pliny and Lucian refer to Sostratus as an architect but the naming of the architect in such a conspicuous place on the monument would be surprising. Far more usual was the inscription of the name of the person who sponsored the money. On the other hand Strabo quoting the dedicatory inscription makes a tantalizing addition: Sostratus was a friend, a “philos”, of the Kings. In fact between 285-270 BC the same Sostratus is mentioned as a recipient of honors in Delphi and in Delos, where he functioned as an ambassador of the Ptolemies. With this state of evidence it would be wise to think of Sostratus as an ingenious architect and engineer who had belonged to the close circle of “the kings’ friends” and had not only put his knowledge but also his money in the service of the Dynasty. 

The erection of the Pharos coincides chronologically with the consolidation and expansion of the Ptolemaic empire on the one hand and of the embellishment of Alexandria with buildings and monuments on the other. Later authors date the Pharos to the year 297 BC (Suidas) and others to 283/282 BC (Eusebius). The fifteen years that stand apart could probably account for the time needed for the completion of the monument. 

During these years the Ptolemaic policy abroad proved more than successful. It was in the year 295/294 BC when Cyprus was incorporated in the Ptolemaic Empire. In the late 80ies the Chremonidean War ended to the interest of the Ptolemies since they succeeded in assuming the protectorate of the Aegean Island League. 

Ptolemy Philadelphus acted as a patron for poets and artists of his time and promoted the arts and sciences. The two great institutions of Alexandria – the Mouseion and the Library – reached their peak during his reign. 

At the time of The Pharos’ completion the establishment of the dynastic cult for the Ptolemies was also taking some sound steps. With the assumption of the throne Ptolemy II Philadelphus inaugurated the cult of his parents as “Theoi Soteres” ˗ “Gods Saviors” ˗ whose cult was in return linked to Alexander’s cult.

The “Savior Gods” in whose name the Pharos was dedicated should be no other than the deified first couple of the Ptolemaic dynasty. The very fact that not far from the Pharos another high- ranking functionary, the admiral Kallikrates of Samos, dedicated a sanctuary to Arsinoe Philadelphos, Ptolemy’s sister-wife, Arsinoe-Aphrodite Zephyritis, and that he was eager to promote the ruler cult in relation to naval policy offers valuable corroborating evidence. 

The Structure

On the basis of depictions on Roman coins The Pharos was a tripartite, tower-like construction with three volumes placed one upon the other from the biggest at the base to the smallest on top. The lower story is a truncated pyramid and was embellished with windows. On the corners of the terrace of this first floor, Tritons are standing with their upper bodies protruding aloft and holding trumpets or conches to their mouths. They surrounded the middle volume of the building that is unequivocally cylindrical and amounting the one third to one fifth of the lower massive story. This cylindrical middle part of the tower is crowned by the statue, probably of Ptolemy I Soter, assimilated to Zeus.

Ibn al-Sayh from Malaga that lived in the late 12th century, a well-known and prolific architect of mosques and wells, measured the building. His account is the most accurate one but was only made accessible to the scientific community in the 1930s when it was first translated and published. According to his writings the tower’s height measured 113 meters in total, the proportions indicated as the following: the first 70 meters took up the massive lower part, 34 meters as the height of the intermediate part, and the top part measuring only 9 meters. The sides of the square base measured 30,60m, the middle part was an octagon and the third part was a lantern with a surrounding colonnade supporting the roof on which the statue of Ptolemy I Soter – Zeus Soter would have stood. 

The extensive research carried out by the Institut Français d’Archéologie Orientale confirmed that nummulithic limestone and granite columns were used for building and proved that considerable material was transported from Heliopolis – among other things, obelisks and sphinxes. The institute also revealed parts of three royal colossi made of red granite, indicating the existence of a royal portrait gallery.

The Function

The function of the pharos was three fold. With a total height of almost 120 meters its main purpose was of course to be seen. From the sea, the flat shores of the Nile Delta were not easy to discern and the narrow way to the harbor was hardened through rocks and reefs. The Pharos towering above the waves marked the way since it could be seen from seemingly infinite distance. This is exactly the image sang by Posidippus in the poem composed upon the Pharos’ inauguration (Anth. Gr. App. 80). During the night the great fire helped the sailors so as not to miss the safe passage to the harbor. Flavius Josephus calculated that the fire was visible from a distance of approximately 300 stadia or else 55 km (De Bello Judaico 4,613).

From Strabo’s account it becomes clear that the Pharos served the needs of safe sea navigation, but the Pharos was also an important watchtower in a land without hills and mounds. It could also be used as an observation post to send or receive signals in case of emergency even for the defense of the city in case of war or threat. 

In addition, the Triton statues decorated each corner of the first floor; the imagery of the mythological deity in the form of a merman relayed the ability to communicate with the four winds. Known as the trumpeters of the sea, they produced a sound via the great shell that they were holding. That blow of the shell throughout the sea was used to manipulate the waves according to mythology and could have enhanced Pharos function as a lighthouse.

In the romantic poet̕ s William Wordsworth words: 

-Great God! I would rather be 

A pagan suckled in a creed of outworn;

So might I, standing on this pleasant lea,

Have glimpses that will make me less forlorn; 

Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea;

Or hear old Triton blow his wreathed horn.   

Although no ancient written source mentions explicitly the function of the sculptures as musical instruments, modern researchers based their theory on the highly sophisticated level of Alexandrian engineering and the information that Heron of Alexandria had constructed a toy in the form of Triton that blew a trumpet. This was a so-called “automaton” and the art of automata or else “automatopoietike” was well established in Alexandria. Heron of Alexandreia was a mechanikos, an engineer of the 1rst century AD. In his writings sounding works of art are mentioned with clangs imitating bird’s singing and basing their power on steam: In the text concerning the toy triton among other “automated” objects we read: “when the sound of the voice tube penetrates the water, then the twitter of the blackbird is brought about” (Pneum. 2, 35). 

In this effect we seem to have very little knowledge concerning the sound that was actually produced since the information regarding the blackbird’s song is not so decisive as far as the compositional structure of the music produced is concerned. Nor can we talk about music but more likely about a noise added to the general soundscape that is closer to the modern definition of immersive soundscape, since in the eternal sound of the sea that differentiates through the weather conditions (and is still the same) is added the artificial sound created by probably the hydraulic machinery. The sound from the Triton’s horns functioned as a siren and should be a siren-like one, according to the aesthetics of their time and their musical sense that made possible to distinguish this sound as an easily recognized warning noise. This ecological approach of the sound is astonishing for its aesthetical concept resonates with the contemporary thought in what concerns the relationship between sound of the living beings and their environment, adapting and re-creating an artificial environment so gentle and intelligent. For the sailors should trust their ears as well as their eyes. 

Most probably this sound was a signal so that the ship navigators could estimate their course in relation to the shore and therefore calculate their moves in order to enter the harbor. It should also be noted that, the perception of sound of the people of that age was certainly quite different than ours, and even the way we perceive the bird sound might be different altogether. The most important element, however, in this case study is the fact that the Pharos functioned as a total work of art, as it combined all arts, while at the same time was representing a structure in perfect harmony with its surroundings. 

The technology of the singing constructions based on the power of water and air derives from and follows various routes: the first one is hydraulis, an early type of pipe organ that it is attributed to Ctesibius of Alexandria, an engineer of the 3rd century BC. Hydraulis is the predecessor of the modern church organ. Ctesibius's hydraulis may have been a SIGNAL ORGAN rather than a musical instrument, but by Vitruvius's time, the hydraulis was capable of producing “melodies of infinite variety”. The popular and somewhat raucous instrument was to be found at the imperial court, theaters, and arenas, and was the subject of music contests. 

On the other hand, Heron specialized also in the construction of water clocks, that operated like Ctesibius̕ hydraulis, in a function which preceded that of the cuckoo clock of Schwarzwald. The anonymous writer of the Latin poem “Aetna” (293), sometimes ascribed to Vergil, describes such a water clock with Tritons who sounded on the hour. In the 1st century AD the Roman Emperor Claudius had a silver Triton placed in the middle of lake Fucinus. The Triton gave the signal for the sea fight that the emperor held to entertain his guests (Sueton, Claudius 21).

Based on Carra de Vaux’s documentation who spread the description of ancient machines and later Wilhelm Schmidt`s collection of Heron`s mechanic creations, we can follow the thread between ancient machinery related with automata, the wonderful structure of the Tritons on the Pharos and the later development in Byzantine times up until modern times. Donald Hill presents in his research the relationship between the automata of the Hellenistic times and that of the Arabs. The term reference to an automaton is set in Homer’s Iliad three times but the most significant for our research is the description of Hephaestus workshop (18,376). Hephaestus’ auto-mobile tripods had “golden wheels” and “could automatically enter the assembly of the gods and again return to their residence”. 

The function of an automatization adapts its archetypical form from nature and parallels living beings, such as an amoeba. But this is not the only connection to nature: The blackbird sound is a further adaptation that makes the whole structure function as an element of a natural habitat. At the beginning of historical times to understand and imitate nature was a matter of survival. By closely imitating the principles of nature the artwork becomes a part of it and is elevated to a total work of art. 

It is well known that musical creation began as an imitation of natural phenomena, and the birdsong is the closest to melody perfection. Thomas Busby in his introduction to his History of music (1819) describes: “The fact that man received his first musical tuition from birds, derives no little corroboration from the fact, that most of the winged tribes are distinguished by their own specific and exclusive specimens of song. The melody of the blackbird is not only composed of certain elements of one of our two modern scales, but of the very notes of that scale, which, in combination, form its fundamental harmony”.

Birds were connected to the theme of a world of happiness and perfection. In this effect, we ought to pay the architects of Alexandria a tribute for their magnificent innovative work that combines artistic-and engineering values. The illusionistic effect of the sea creatures performing like living beings would have been unique at the time of the Pharos' inauguration and yet would have met the aesthetics of the Ηellenistic Αge. The choice of the Tritons as sound source derives from the belief that they were sea gods in the company of Poseidon and that with the summoning power of their shell conches they could bring peace to the rattling waves. Their sonic signals and especially the echo produced obviously helped the sea men estimate their distance for the shore and even determine their position in relation to the shoreline. Crowned by the sea creatures the Pharos bridged the sea and the landscape becoming a part of it. This approximation occurred not only visually but also ideologically since the memory of the site as Proteus’ home was alive and was meaningfully sung by Posidippus on the occasion of the inauguration. Nowadays, even with the building no longer present, the soundscape confirms its dominance since landscape and soundscape are eternal.

In Conclusion the Pharos was foremost a demonstration of extravagance and lavishness. Pliny the Elder records the cost of 800 Talents (HN 36,18) that amounts to 480.000 drachms, an extraordinary sum of money that no other ancient economy could afford except the Ptolemaic. It took 15 years to complete and it measured well over 100 meters in height. Various artistic aspects and technological innovations were ingeniously mixed: architecture, sculpture and engineering. It was sponsored by one of the closest associates of the King and probably the best scientists of the time were involved in its construction. By aspiring to all categories of arts and engineering and by closely imitating nature the Pharos is a total artwork that fused with its habitat and defined its own eternal soundscape.

Fig. 1. Map of Alexandria with its two harbors and the island of Pharos. Source: E. Breccia, Alexandrea ad Aegyptum: guide de la ville ancienne et moderne du Musée gréco-romain (1914).

Fig. 2. The triton’s sound signals (reconstruction by Esthir Lemi).