Note 26 — PART SECOND. NOTES ON THE ILLUMINATION OF LIGHTHOUSES, WITH SHORT NOTICES OF THEIR EARLY HISTORY.
Reading edition
The passage from which the above description is drawn will be found in the Oxford edition of Strabo, 1807, page 1123. It is as follows: Ἔστι δε και ἀυτο τὸ τῆς νησίδος ἄχρον πετρα πολυκλύστος, ἔχουσα πῦργον θαυμαστῶς κατεσκευασμένον λευκου λιθου, πολυοροφον, ὁμωνυμον τῇ νὴσῳ· τουτον δε ἄνέθηκε Σωστρατος Κνὶδιος φιλος τῶν βασιλεων, της των πλωϊζομενων σωτηριας χαριν, ὥς φησιν ἥ ἐπιγραφη Επιγραμμα, ΣΩΣΤΡΑΤΟΣ ΚΝΙΔΙΟΣ ΔΕΧΙΦΑΝΟΥΣ, ΘΕΟΙΣ ΣΩΤΗΡΣΙΝ ΥΠΕΡ ΤΩΝ ΠΑΩΙΖΟΜΕΝΩΝ. Ἀλιμένου γαρ ὄυσης και ταπεινῆς της ἕκατέρωθεν παραλίας, ἐχουσης δε και χοιράδας και βράχη τινὰ, ἔδει σημεὶου τινος ὑψηλου και λαμπρου, τοις ἀπὸ του πελάγους προσπλέουσιν, ὥστ’ ἐυστοχειν της ἐισβολης του λιμενος. Strabo’s account of the position of the island of Pharos at once leads to the conclusion of its having formed part of the harbour of Alexandria (as is abundantly testified by Josephus, Pliny, and other writers), and cannot be easily reconciled with that of Homer (fourth Odyssey, l. 354), who describes the island as a day’s sail with a fair wind from the mainland. His words are as follows:—
Νῆσος ἔπειτά τις ἐστὶ πολυκλύστῳ ἐνὶ πόντῳ Αἰγύπτου προπάροιθε (Φάρον δέ ἑ κικλήσkουσι) Τοσσον δ’ ἂνευθ’ ὄσσον τεπανημέριη γλαφυρὴ νηῦς Ἤνυσεν, ᾗ λιγὺς οὖρος ἐπιπνέιῃσιν ὂπισθεν.
Odyssey, iv., l. 354.
Pliny, however, does not scruple to identify the Pharos of Homer’s time with that of his own day. “Pharos,” says he, “quondam diei navigatione distans ab Ægypto, nunc è turri nocturnis ignibus cursum navium regens.” Hist. Nat., v. 31; see also Hist. Nat., ii. 87, and xiii. 21.