Pharos of Portus

• The Pharos of Portus was a Roman Lighthouse created in imitation of the Pharos of Alexandria.
• Portus was the Harbour of Rome.

History

• An artificial island was built between the Moles of the Harbour in c.46 CE, under Claudius (41-54 CE).
• It was was created by sinking one of the huge vessels that brought an Obelisk from Egypt to sit on the Spina of the Circus of Nero.
• The Pharos of Portus was constructed on the artificial island between the moles.

Sources

• Suetonius ‘The Twelve Caesars’
  • Book V, Claudius Chapter XX’
  • He recounts that the Pharos of Portus was built in imitation of the Pharos of Alexandria.

Portus