թարգմանույթյուն ժարգոնային բառերի

The seven wonders of the world

Pharos was a small island located on the western edge of the Nile Delta. In 332 BC Alexander the Great founded the city of Alexandria on an isthmus opposite Pharos. Alexandria and Pharos were later connected by a mole spanning more than 1,200 metres (0.75 miles), which was called the Heptastadion («seven stadia»—a stadiumwas a Greek unit of length measuring approximately 180 m). The east side of the mole became the Great Harbour, now an open bay; on the west side lay the port of Eunostos, with its inner basin Kibotos now vastly enlarged to form the modern harbour. Today’s city development lying between the present Grand Square and the modern Ras el-Tin quarter is built on the silt which gradually widened and obliterated this mole, and the Ras el-Tin promontory represents all that is left of the island of Pharos, the site of the lighthouse at its eastern point having been weathered away by the sea. Built around 280 B.C., the Lighthouse of Alexandria stood around 400 feet tall, guarding this ancient Egyptian port city. For centuries, it was considered the tallest building in the world. Time and numerous earthquakes took their toll on the structure, which gradually fell into ruin. In 1480, materials from the lighthouse were used to construct the Citadel of Qaitbay, a fortress that still stands on Pharos Island.