When Ptolemy Was In Charge Of Egypt, He ...

When Ptolemy was in charge of Egypt, he commissioned a great architect named Sostratus of Cnidius, a skillful architect, to build, what came to be one of the great seven wonders of the ancient world. The Light House of Alexandria was over 400 feet tall and built it with the masonry stones, which is huge. They poured melted lead to hold these stones together.

Sostratus built it with the intention to last for a millennium, and it did. It was not destroyed until 1500 years later, when it was destroyed by an earthquake.

When this architect built it, he had one of the stones at the base in huge letters his name engraved. Then he had it fill in his name with the masonry they would cover with and on top of that, he had in beautiful letters, Ptolemy II, in large metal letters. This building was in the midst of the sea and under the weathering and the rainfall over the course of centuries, the masonry dissolved. And so Ptolemy letters began to fall from the surface of the building. After the masonry was washed away, one could see the name of the architect!

He had it made that over time it will not be a monument for Ptolemy, but a monument for Sostratus! On the outside the glory was for Ptolemy, but on the inside the glory was for the architect!