[original URL was https://greekreporter.com/2025/07/01/lighthouse-alexandria-g... - see https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44598029]
In addition to not paying artists for interpretations, they also apparently do not pay editors to proofread.
Or even an artist who has prior experience creating accurate renderings from archeological data.
If you care.
Especially when there are actual digital recreations, available for free use under Creative Commons, based on historical information and modern surveys: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:PHAROS2013-3000x2250...
Your comment implies that (some) article images are somehow the result of LLMs. I don't think that is the case at all based on the articles' source attributions.
Words are fuzzy concepts meant to convey ideas. Etymologically, I imagine the pyramids are "buildings" in that they're things that are built, like you're describing, but in my internal idea of what a building is, pyramids are too close to just being a carefully shaped mountain. There's also the issue of the fact that they weren't designed for _any_ living person to stay or visit, pushing it closer to a "monument" or "memorial" or something than a "building" in my mind.
Interestingly, if there were more internal space or if they were actively used by people (at any point in history) instead of just being left to the dead in the sands of time then it'd be a lot less clear-cut for me.
I'm not totally sure how other people use that word, but a (obviously biased) survey of the top 10 people I knew would care and respond quickly unanimously called the pyramids of giza "not buildings," the most common alternative description being a "monument."
Some of the criteria are questionable to me. For example, some monuments or memorials are still buildings, such as a mausoleum. Would your survey respondents deny a mausoleum is a building?
I could also ask myself, would I consider the Statue of Liberty a building? It is in active use; it has some usable interior volume; it is free-standing above the surface. And yet I hesitate to call it a building more than I hesitate to agree a lighthouse is a building.
At the upper bound, it was (almost) taller than the great pyramid (146m originally).
Edit: Oh! I see, the article URL was changed after you made your comment and before I made mine.
> The Lighthouse, or Pharos of Alexandria... stood more than 100 meters tall above the island of Pharos, guiding ships safely through Alexandria’s treacherous coastal waters
Note that making navigation safer would also benefit trade. Given the choice of landing in a port that was difficult to find and one that had such a lighthouse as a guide...
If you know your location you can do a much better job of avoiding known hazards.
I just realized that if there's 3 of them, it'd constitute an ancient GPS isn't it. Or even only two?
You might be interested in "lead marks" which are two signs visible from a distance. They "lead" ships by providing a straight path through difficult passages when the two signs line up. Very simple and effective.
Note that modern lighthouse lights either rotate or blink, the flash frequency is unique and marked on charts to further help identify location at night.
Monument lighthouses have an extra purpose: they project power and wealth. Merchants know this place is Important. Like modern day monuments, whether people need a giant expensive building/statue/obelisk to learn this or it’s just a vanity project for the ruler is a matter of opinion. People aren’t really all that different over the last 2000 years.
I could be misremembering but I’m pretty sure the lighthouse is one of the wonders you can build in the game.
Check it out if you’ve never given it a go. Built by a tonne of volunteers who aim for historically accurate soldiers and buildings in this Age of Empires like RTS game.
dang•6mo ago