Chapter XXI: The Pharos of Alexandria and the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus

PLAY that you are Sostratus of Cnidus, a great architect, and that you live in the city of Alexandria, on the coast of Egypt. Here there is a King called Ptolemy, who desires you to erect a building different from any ever known; he wants something grand, original and unique, an immense structure adapted to an entirely new purpose. You must make it of white stone and do your very best, for you are to have the honor of building the “Pharos of Alexandria,”

=The First Lighthouse Ever Known=

Think what that means: When it is finished the people from other countries will see your Pharos and wonder why it never occurred to them to build a lighthouse, and they will hurry to erect similar structures on their coasts, that sailors on all the seas may have guides in times of danger and not be dependent upon bonfires burning at the entrances of harbors. These chance watch-fires are now the only kind of lighthouses the people have, so get ready your material and make preparations for building, that you may help the poor sailors. Remember, though, that we are living in the third century B.C., and that we are not in the United States but on the island of Pharos.

Select the eastern extremity of the island for

=Your Building Lot=

It happens that your lighthouse will be on an island in the identical Mediterranean Sea in which the Colossus was reared, only not on the same side of the water. The island of Pharos has a neck of land, built by men, which stretches through the water to the city of Alexandria, making it easy to go back and forth for building material. You must have plenty of ground space for your new style of beacon-light, because the foundation is to be very large, about six hundred feet square, and the building will be many stories, growing smaller and smaller in size as the stories extend upward. The lighthouse must be five hundred feet high, that the light may be seen miles out at sea.

Stiff, white paper will answer for the stone.

=Cut the Foundation=

piece like Fig. 315 with a square centre measuring five inches along the dotted lines on each of the four edges. Near two of the edges are long slits (A A). Extending out from the centre square are the four sides of the square, each an inch and a half in depth. On one end of each side there is a flap, C, at the opposite end a slit, B, and two of the sides have an extra extension, or bottom flap, D. Cut all of the heavy lines and carefully crease the dotted lines. The best way to make Fig. 315 is to cut a piece of paper eight inches wide and eleven inches long (Fig. 316). Run a line lengthwise across one inch and a half from the outer edge (Fig. 317); repeat the same on the opposite edge (Fig. 318); then mark a line across each of the ends three inches from the edge (Fig. 319). Make another line midway between this line and the edge at each end, which will bring the division one inch and a half from the edge E, E (Fig. 320). Crease all the lines, bending them inward. Open out the paper after each folding, and when all lines have been creased and opened you will find it very easy to mark and cut the sides and flaps of Fig. 315.

Cut three more papers for

=The Next Three Stories;=

divide them with lines like Figs. 316, 317, 318, 319, 320, and cut them like Figs. 322, 323, 324. The centres of these must each be smaller than the last, measuring respectively four, three and two inches square, but the depth of the sides remains the same. The size of your second-story paper will be ten by seven inches, the third, nine by six inches, and the fourth, having the bottom flaps, measure one instead of one and a half inches, as do the others, requires paper seven by five inches. Figs. 321, 322, 323, 324 are given to show the relative sizes of the four stories when the paper is cut and laid out flat; the diagrams are also intended to explain the cutting of the slits on the centre squares. Notice that in the first story (Fig. 321), as in the additional three stories, neither of the ends of the left-hand slit reaches to the edge of the square, while the right-hand slit (H H, Fig. 321) touches at one edge. In the second story (Fig. 322) the right-hand slit not only runs to the edge of the square, but there turns at right angles and extends through the edge of the paper (G G). The right-hand slit of the third story (Fig. 323) differs from the other two; it runs within a short distance of the edge of the square, where it turns at right angles, making a straight line to the adjoining side of the square, there turning again at a sharp angle; the slit reaches entirely through the edge of the paper H, H (Fig. 323). In the fourth story (Fig. 324) the slits are cut like those in the first story I, I (Fig. 324), being the long slit. Fig. 325 gives the diagram for the fifth story, which is the top one.

=This Room=

has large openings in the four sides to allow the beacon-light to shine out into the dark night. The centre of the diagram (Fig. 325) is one inch square; two of the sides have slits cut near each side edge of the windows; on the other sides of the squares are extending flaps. Cut all the heavy lines, and bend inward and crease all the dotted lines, then put the top story together in proper form by sliding the four side edge flaps through the slits, which will bring the edges of the sides together, forming the four corners of the room. Bend back and crease down the portion of the flaps which extend inside of the room; do this to make the fastenings secure. Use strips of bright-red and orange-colored tissue paper cut into fringe on one edge and twisted together into a bunch, as in Fig. 326, for the

=Pitch-Wood Fire=

which is to gleam out upon the treacherous approaches to the harbor.

Having fuel for the make-believe fire, and white stone, or paper, cut ready for building, your lighthouse may be erected in a few moments. Pierce a small hole in the exact centre of Fig. 324 C, and bend down the sides, allowing the side flap of each to extend around the corner and on the outside of the adjoining side. Slip the end of each flap through the slit which it covers, shown by B, Fig. 315, and bend back the end that comes through on the inside; fit the end of the fire (Fig. 326) tightly into the hole C on the top of Fig. 324 and the work will resemble Fig. 327. Through the two slits on each side of the fire slide the two bottom flaps of the fifth or top story; flatten the ends of the flaps up tight to the under side of the top of the fourth story. Be sure to keep the front side of each succeeding story directly under the front side of the one over it, that the steps may fit in place. Fasten each lower story to the one above in the same way that you attached the fourth to the fifth.

When the Pharos is finished make the three flights of

=White Marble Steps=

leading to the top of the lighthouse. Cut the top flight (Fig. 328) of stiff white paper. Let it measure one-half inch in width and four and one-half inches in length, including the top landing. The side extension K of the landing should be three-quarters of an inch long. Fold the flat, straight strip of paper back and forth many times, in fan fashion and crease firmly to form steps (Fig. 329). Slip the extension K into the slit I on the right-hand side of the top of the fourth story, and slide the bottom of the stairs into the slit H on the left-hand edge of the third story. Make the next flight of steps like the top ones, only longer—five and one-half inches in length before being creased. Place the end of the platform extension over the bottom of the top flight; run it through the slit H which turns at right angles from the edge and fasten the bottom of the steps in the right-hand slit edge (G) of the second story. Attach the third flight of marble steps diagonally across the second story in the same manner. The paper strip for these last should measure when flat seven inches in length.

The real Sostratus of Cnidus had a

=Natural Island=

on which to erect his lighthouse, but you may have the fun of making one for your Pharos. Find a box a little larger than the lighthouse and cover it loosely with any kind of stiff cloth; have the cloth smooth and tight only over the space on which the Pharos is to stand. On all the other portions of the box the covering should be irregularly placed, so that it will jut out in places; fold in others and have as much the appearance of an immense rough rock as possible. If the box is of pasteboard, sew the cover on with a stitch here and there; if of wood, tack the cover on. When ready glue or

=Tack the Island=

on a foundation of wood or one of heavy pasteboard covered with sea-blue cloth or paper to represent the waters of the Mediterranean Sea; give the island a very light coat of varnish or glue, except the central space reserved for the lighthouse. Be careful not to allow the glue to dampen the cloth sufficiently to make it limp. While the glue is moist, sprinkle generously with sand. When dry, glue on the Pharos. Turn inward the down-hanging bottom flaps and glue them down securely to the stone. Draw the statue (Fig. 330) on white paper and cut it out. Then cut a slip up through the centre of its stand, bend the stand at the dotted line, one half of it forward, the other half backward, and paste the statue upright on top of the building.

If you would like to do just as the real architect Sostratus did, write your name in this way:

SOSTRATUS OF CNIDUS TO THE RESCUING GODS, FOR THE BENEFIT OF
SAILORS

on one side of the first story of the Pharos; then paint over it with white paint so that the name cannot be seen. After the paint has dried, write over the white paint, “King Ptolemy.” Sostratus of old carved his name deep on the stone wall of the building, then plastered over it and set the King’s name in the plaster. Instead of the plaster you have used paint.

Now place the Pharos in the bright sunlight; let it stand between you and the light, with the corners of one of the front edges toward you, and see how well it appears, and how closely the colored tissue resembles real fire burning and shining brightly from the top openings. Make tiny paper boats, not over an inch in length, with wee paper sails, and scatter them on the make-believe water. The contrast in size of the Pharos and boats will give a faint idea of the huge proportions of the lighthouse. Call in

=Your Friends=

and let them enjoy the lighthouse with you; tell them they must pretend that the structure is gigantic in size, that the laborers were paid only twenty cents a day, and even with such low wages, the Pharos cost over a million dollars. Explain to them how all lighthouses of the Roman world were named Pharos, after your building, because yours was the first and marks an epoch in the world’s history. Say to the boys and girls that this white building you are showing them is one of the Seven Wonders of the World, and beside being very beautiful, it is one of the most useful of all the “Seven Wonders.” You must make believe that your Pharos was completed in the year 282 B.C., and remained standing sixteen centuries.

=The Mausoleum of Halicarnassus.=

Turn a square or nearly square pasteboard box upside down. On the centre of the top glue a pasteboard cella made like the one in the Temple of Diana, Chapter XXIII. Surround the cella with paper pillars made in the same manner as those in Chapter XXIII, and glue them along the four edges of the box. Cover all with a pasteboard ceiling glued on; then make a pyramid of white pasteboard, similar to the Egyptian pyramid, but let this one have a flat top. Fasten the pyramid on top of the ceiling and paste four paper horses with chariot and driver on a small box on top of the pyramid. Glue the structure on a board and make two small boxes for each ground corner. Fasten these in place and paste a paper horse with rider on top of each box, then your Mausoleum will be finished (Fig. 331). The building should be white. The original was a monument in memory of Mausolos, and was built by his wife Artemisia. It stood in the city of Caria on the southwestern tip of Asia Minor in the year 353 B.C.