Pharus

• An island near Alexandria, in Egypt, where King Ptolemy Philadelphus built a famous light-house, hence called pharus, now Faro, Mel. 2, 7, 6; Auct. B. Alex. 19.—
• • B Transf., of the lighthouse in the island of Pharos: Pharus est in insulā turris, magnā altitudine, mirificis operibus exstructa, quae nomen ab insulā accepit, Caes. B. C. 3, 112: superposuit turrem in exemplum Alexandrini Phari, Suet. Claud. 20; Juv. 6, 83; of other light-houses: pharon subiit, Val. Fl. 7, 84: turris phari terrae motu Capreis concidit, Suet. Tib. 74: Tyrrhena, Juv. 12, 76.—
  • C Transf., poet., Egypt: regina Phari, Stat. S. 3, 2, 102: petimus Pharon arvaque Lagi, Luc. 8, 433.— Hence,
  • • 1 Phărĭăcus, a, um, adj., of or belonging to Pharus, Pharian, Egyptian (post-class.): sistra, Ap. Met. 2, 28, 13.—
    • 2 Phărĭus, a, um, adj., = Φάριος, of or belonging to Pharus, Pharian; of the lighthouse: flammae, Luc. 9, 1004.—Poet., transf., Egyptian: Pharia juvenca, i. e. Io, Ov. F. 5, 619; but Isis, Mart. 10, 48, 1; nence, turba, the priests of Isis, Tib. 1, 3, 32: conjux, i.e. Cleopatra, Mart. 4, 11, 4: dolores, the lamentations of the Egyptian women at the festival of Isis for the lost Osiris, Stat. S. 5, 3, 244: piscis, i.e. the crocodile, Ov. A. A. 3, 270: acetum, Juv. 13, 85.—As subst.: Phărĭa, ae, f., Isis: SACRVM PHARIAE, Vet. Kalend. ap. Grut. 138.—
    • 3 Phărītae, ārum, m., the inhabitants of Pharos, Auct. B. Alex. 19.—
• II A small island on the coast of Dalmatia, formerly called Paros (Parus), now Lesina, Mel. 2, 7, 13.

(Φάρος), the helmsman of Menelaus, from whom the island of Pharos, at the mouth of the Nile, was believed to have derived its name. (Steph. Byz. s. v. Φάρος..) [L.S]

(Φάρος). (1) A small island off the coast of Egypt. When Alexander the Great planned the city of Alexandria, on the coast opposite to Pharus, he caused the island to be united to the coast by a mole seven stadia in length, thus forming the two harbours of the city. (See Alexandria.) The island was chiefly famous for the lofty tower built upon it by Ptolemy II. for a light-house, whence the name of pharus was applied to all similar structures.

(2) An island of the Adriatic, off the coast of Dalmatia, east of Issa.

(φάρος). The light-house on the eastern summit of the small island of the same name in front of the harbour of Alexandria. It was a tower of white marble, built for Ptolemy Philadelphus by Sostratus of Cnidus, in B.C. 270, at a cost of 800 silver talents ($940,000), and accounted by the ancients one of the wonders of the world. It rose pyramidally in a number of decreasing stories of different forms (the lowest square, the next octagonal, the third circular). It was adorned with galleries and pillars to a considerable height. It was still standing, in great part, about A.D. 1300 ( B. C. iii. 112; Pliny , Pliny H. N. xxxvi. 83). In later times all the light-houses were called after it, and large numbers of these were built by the Romans round Italy, and on all the coasts of the Empire, the best known being those at Brundisium, Capreae, Centum Cellae (Cività Vecchia), Ostia, and Ravenna. A Roman light-house still remains in England, and is now within the limits of Dover Castle. It is represented in the first figure given below. The tower at Ravenna approached the Alexandrian in magnificence. Light-ships were also used by the ancients.