Built c300BC, the Pharos was damaged by an earthquake c1000AD but continued to operate in a slightly reduced capacity until totally ruined by a further series of earthquakes c1300AD. However, from images on coins and pottery and from written descriptions, a significant amount is known about what was arguably one of the world’s earliest tourist Mecca’s. Clearly far more than simply a lighthouse, over a dozen unique and highly specific features will be described in detail that go toward defining its hidden secrets and true purpose.

In the simplest terms, the lighthouse was built primarily to produce a supply of fresh water for the new city of Alexandria. The water was extracted from the air by the unique mechanisms of its construction and was delivered to the city by a viaduct. The basic principle of its operation was to amplify the energy differentials within the atmosphere to create the vortex seen in Nature only as the eye and eyewall at the heart of a cyclone, undoubted the most powerful weather phenomena known to Man.

This was acchieved using a series of vortex generators and energy storage mediums for the generated vacuum and for hot and cold water. To understand how all this was achieved it is necessary to understand some of the subtleties and characteristics of ring vortexes as described in 'How the Weather Works'. To top

The Defining Features of the Pharos Lighthouse.

Contemporary works around Alexandria of an equally massive scale can also be shown as entirely relevant parts of the same total project and, with one significant exception (that may yet be detected at the bottom of the harbour), all the essential elements are revealed in various ways in the evidence that remains. Together they provide a blueprint of a technology that artificially enhanced and then used the exact same vortex mechanisms found in Nature in the largest of storms. .To top

1. Location.

The lighthouse was built on the Mediterranean coast c300BC around 50km west of the Nile delta, on the island of Pharos in a shallow lagoon around 1km-2km from the newly established city of Alexandria. Although a lengthy navigable canal was dug to connect to the Nile, there can be little doubt the city would have benefited greatly from a reliable supply of truly clean water

By siting the city on a shallow lagoon and channelling in nominally fresh water from the Nile, Alexander was able to develop his Utopian scheme. Although its full scope is yet to be fully appreciated it certainly challenges anything of an equivalent scale attempted in our modern era. To top

2. Height.

The total height of the lighthouse was defined as 300 cubits. With a cubit at somewhere between 400mm-500mm this gives a the total height of between 117m-150m. However, by today’s standards, even the minimal interpretation (117m) would still rate the structure as by far the tallest dedicated lighthouse in history and certainly the most elaborate.

Logically. It would thus seem entirely probable that its role as a lighthouse was merely a secondary or bonus feature that more easily and specifically caught the public eye and imagination. As easily equivalent to a modern 40 storey building, its extraordinary height is highly evidential in many ways as will be discussed in detail later. To top

3. The Viaduct.

The very existence of the viaduct made it the defining feature in my research as to the true purpose of the building. Although modern science has commonly assumed it to have merely been a supply ramp for bringing fuel to the site, its placement, design and the scale of its construction all clearly indicated otherwise.

Aqueducts

From around 6m above the Lighthouse plaza (~12m AMSL), the 16 massive arches of the viaduct led to a high embankment and on down at a modest gradient all the way to Alexandria. Nowadays, viaducts are sometimes built to carry trains or traffic but in ancient times a viaduct of this type was exclusively built to carry water. Ipso facto, since the viaduct clearly led down and away from the lighthouse, then the lighthouse itself must surely have produced water.

The puzzling question of “How could this be?” has been answered by the recovery a whole library of lost technologies all based on the phenomena of atmospheric vortexes and more specifically on one specific horizontal ring vortex (HRV). Available in either of two orientations, normal and inverted (ie NRVs and IRVs respectively), it is the IRV that takes pride of place at Alexandria. To top

4. The Viaduct's location and detail

. Viaducts require very little gradient and the city of Alexandria was no more than 2km away and generally low-lying, so I began to question why the viaduct was connected to the tower in such an odd manner. Forming a channel at least 2m wide, the viaduct joined the tower at least 5m above the plaza and the plaza itself was a similar height above sea level.

When the plaza itself was clearly high enough to supply the gradient needed to carry water to the city, I had to question why was this so?

Since it was clearly a deliberate and very costly design feature, the evidence of the viaduct became seminal in defining the technology behind its construction. Its somewhat anomalous features are critical indicators of both purpose and the design imperatives behind the construction but the full solution ultimately came in two parts. The first part lay, predictably, in the engineering imperatives of the primary technology. The second, more specifically, in the building’s secondary but potentially immensely profitable role as a tourist Mecca. To top

It is generally accepted that:

(a) the tower was built in 3 distinct sections upon a walled plaza that itself stood around 5m-6m above the encircling sea.

(b) the viaduct connected to the tower, agan at around 5m-6m above the plaza.

(c) if the building produced water (as by now seemed self-evident), then (c300BC) it must have done so using some form of solar technology that also, logically, must in some way be evident in the tower’s design.

As will be shown, it is inherent in the basic desalination technology involved, that water is produced within the structure in two quite separate ways. The majority is produced on the external surface of (probably metal) heat exchanger panels. These panels are cooled either by the cold water that is run through them or by simply sucking air into the sealed panels through a few tiny holes . In the second instance, it is the extreme and rapid drop in air pressure that provides the majority of the cooling. To top

For both processes, a significant source of vacuum is a near-essential operational ingredient that I will return to. The water condensing on the outside of these cold panels simply runs off and can easily be carried away by the viaduct. This water is potable but might conceivably contain salt particles, picked up from coastal breezes.

However, a small but significant quantity of very cold, very pure water is also produced on the inside of the sealed panels that are held at relatively low pressure by the tower’s internal mechanism. Without an electric pump (obviously not available c300BC) this water cannot be drawn off to take advantage of its quite obvious high commercial tourist potential unless a special provision is built into the building’s design to counteract the low pressure produced within the system. Quite simply, that special provision is vertical separation between the elements of the system or, more simply, height.

Even today, chilled fresh, pure water has obvious and significant commercial potential in a warm climate. However, within the mechanism of a heat exchanger it is actually a physical liability as it may flood the system or even worse, freeze and cause irreparable mechanical damage. The small quantity of cold water produced within the system could simply be dumped back into the sea or, alternatively, the system could in theory be shut down to allow it to be drained off as the pressures equalised. However, if the viaduct is raised a significant height above the plaza, a simple siphon mechanism makes it possible to extract the cold water at the plaza level without interrupting the operation in any way. Then, before it has a chance to warm, that pure, cold water can be sold at a very significant profit. To top

In this final option the operators gain in three quite significant ways, producing a truly win-win-win situation.

i) They obtain a small quantity of very valuable, very cold, pure water.

ii) In removing fresh water, the water remaining in the system becomes increasingly saline. This heavy brine can be returned to the halocline pool making it more saline and thus more efficient as a storage medium, and

iii) Any risk of freeze-ups within the mechanism is totally avoided. Design imperatives demand that the height of the separation between plaza and viaduct be sufficient to prevent air being sucked into the system.

As a minimum, the height separation must be greater than the height water within the system can be drawn upwards from a small reservoir against gravity. Commonly measured in ‘inches of water gauge’, the height separation is thus a strong indicator of the working vacuum within the system. [Depending upon salinity, ~13.6 inches of water gauge = ~1millibar (1mb of mercury, ie barometric pressure).

The absolute maximum practical height separation is shown twice in the Pharos at ~4m or 120 inches. This roughly translates into ~400mb of suction. A practical system would probably operate at around half of this figure, [ie 200mb].

The design features of a solar-powered water extraction plant were based on the above assumptions and upon the application of vortex technologyx, as previously defined. To top

5. Plaza (~5m AMSL)

Surrounded by water, the walled Plaza platform was undoubtedly an essential and highly significant feature in the building’s structural design and purpose. If my analysis is correct the plaza was essentially the roof of a massive water-filled energy reservoir held under a partial vacuum. Some evidence to support this conclusion is found in the Qait Bey, the fort built in the ruins of the original tower. The fort is still partly surrounded by a massive fresh water cistern, apparently used as a reservoir for emergency use should the fort ever be put under siege. Warm water and cold salt water were undoubtedly sucked into separate chambers by vacuum as a form of energy storage for this novel solar-powered technology.

The construction of a canal and a new double harbour indicate that separate halocline pools were quite deliberately established in the new inner and outer harbours to store reserves of both hot and cold water, again as a form of energy storage. Halocline (saline) pools can store water at 5^oC-10^oC above or below the norm. It therefore seems likely that in normal operation, warm water from the depths of the shallow saline reservoir of the inner harbour was drawn into the low-pressure plenum beneath the plaza. The low pressure would allow for a significant increase in surface evaporation. Heated by the sun, the water would be flushed in and out on a regular basis to maximise its value as a natural source of heat energy. To top

Water from the second (colder) halocline pool in the outer harbour was drawn into a separate chamber. Extracted from the deeper water of the open sea, it was pumped to the top of the tower, either by a number of suction pumps operated in series by the stored vacuum. Sequentially, each pump would automatically raise the water between 2m-4m. Alternatively, and using less energy, the same effect could be achieved by circulating the cold water through a secondary siphon system and a series of heat exchangers

This cold water was used to chill and so generate condensate on the outer surfaces of heat exchanger panels, in much the same way as water forms on the outside of a cold bottle of beer or soda taken from the fridge. The precise detail of how the system operated is of no greater importance as there are clearly many possibilities given differing initial circumstances. What is significant is that all would rely upon the availability of a significant source of vacuum. Tests suggest a 10% (100mb) reduction in surface pressure (to ~910mb) is easily attainable with a relatively small and simple vortex generator and significantly more would seem entirely achievable. Indeed, there are two defined clearances

(a) between the viaduct and the plaza (~4m-5m), and

(b) between the internal plaza roof and the Mean Sea Level below (also ~4m-5m) respectively,

Both possibilities suggest a pressure differential of at least 20%-30% (a 200mb-300mb. (ie a drop in atmospheric pressure to ~ 810mb or lower). This is entirely in line with projections from the tests carried out so far. To top

Commercial Incentives

It would seem clear the primary goal of this whole complex was to amplify ambient temperature and pressure differentials in order to condense off the water naturally held as vapour in the atmosphere.

The noted features of the design can all be shown as serving to enhance these effects. With the exception of the area immediately surrounding the tower and walled plaza (that would be fed with cool, dry waste air from the heat exchangers), the operation of this technology would significantly raise the humidity around the lighthouse, to a radius of at least 300m. An air-conditioned plaza on a hot day at the heart of this region of humidity would have been a singularly unique attraction for wealthy patrons. To top

6. Plaza Sealing and design imperatives

The lighthouse was built in stone and massively constructed and in places the plaza and tower were both sealed with what is described as a lead mortar.

The discovery of lead, especially as a mortar, is another clear indicator of both the role and the design purpose of the building and proves also that lead was available for other plumbing roles. However, I suspect that the lead was not an original design feature as a mortar but was poured in molten form, into deep cracks in the structure that developed, probably as a result of an earthquake. [As a construction medium, lead makes little sense, however as the repair medium for a massive vacuum chamber built of stone, it is totally brilliant.] To top

Storing Vacuum, Cold and Heat

Within my reconstruction, the plaza acted as a reservoir of water and air held at low pressure. A vortex generator high in the tower provided a vacuum to supply a series of heat exchangers in the accommodation rooms. The reservoirs and the heat exchangers were otherwise only open to the waters of halocline (saline) pools deliberately developed in the deeper sections of the inner and outer harbour.

Separate halocline pools would be kept as a source of a temperature differential above and below the mean ambient conditions. One pool would be relatively warm, the other cold.

By drawing cold water from deeper out in the sea, cold water storage in a halocline can be developed at anything down to ~4^oC . Most commonly, it would be 10^oC-20^oC below the ambient norm, depending on the time of day. Warm water storage however, is limited by the surface temperauture and the water's salinity. A heavy brine layer developed beneath fresh water can kept at a maximum of around 5^oC-10^oC above the temperature of the surface water. At night the surface water could quite conceivably be warmer than the surrounding air, conditions ideal for the release of vapour. The warm halocline pool would maintain this vapour release for far longer than would occur without the release of this stored energy. To top

7. Tower–1st Stage.(~90m-100m AMSL)

Encompassing well over half the tower’s total height, at around 100m, the square main tower section was by far the largest and visually impressive part of this complex. According to a number of sources, the square tower had a (sealed?) hollow circular core surrounded by a spiral staircase with 50 rooms or suites of visitor accommodation.

The engineering imperatives of the structure as a water producing mechanism define the hollow core as the 1st-stage plenum of the vacuum system that caused air to be drawn down through the octagonal vortex generator in the second section of the tower. [This 1st-stage, initial vacuum was created by convection in a ring of pyramids (or similar structures) surrounding the lighthouse at a radius of ~200m].

Heat exchanger panels in every room of the accommodation section would have been fed with cold water by suction pumps powered from the vacuum system. In operation, the panels produced a constant supply of cool, fresh air and water that also no doubt, was readily available to wealthy guests. To top

8. Tower–2nd Stage. (~110m+ AMSL)

On top of the square accommodation section, the Pharos Lighthouse is especially noted for the highly distinctive, octagonal middle section of the tower. The engineering imperatives plus a simple test clearly define this section as a Vortex Generator and/or Amplifier.

A modern electric vacuum cleaner can easily provide an initial suction of 100” w/g (250mb) but in Alexandria (c300BC), the 1st-stage suction to drive the whole system can only have been produced by warm, vapour-filled air, rising by convection. Even enhanced within a ring of 1st-stage vortex generators, this initial Stage-1 suction would probably be limited to 5”-10” w/g, at most. However, when this initial, Stage 1 su.ction was applied to the main vortex generator the results became highly significant and easily enough to drive an 'Alternative Technology in many ways simpler and more powerful than anything developed in our modern era. To top

The basic, limiting factors of what Nature could provide have served to guide my research and ultmately define the primary drive mechanism.

My tests with a vortex generator of identical, octagon design have shown that, even without additional enhancements (some of which were clearly available, even c300BC), this type of vortex generator can multiply a basic (Stage 1) vacuum source by a factor as high as 8:1. Thus, from an initial vacuum source of a relatively low 5 inches w/g, the small (200mm high) octagonal test rig on my model has generated over 42inches w/g (~100mb). In the Pharos, this octagonal section was closer to 20m high and the advantages of scale would most certainly have applied to some degree. The higher (Stage 2) vacuum would have been applied sequentially to lift cold, salty water in order to produce fresh water condensate on the special heat exchange panels. Any condensate forming within the vacuum systems would have been drawn off by a separate siphon system as previously discussed.

A simple vortex generator was the primary mechanism needed to amplify the partial vacuum essential to the workings of the whole machine. A multi-facetted (ie octagonal) tower is about ideal in shape for this purpose, able to create a far stronger vacuum from a more modest source of suction. To top

9. Tower–3rd Stage.(~117m AMSL)

Descriptions vary somewhat but clearly this final, top section of the tower had a basically round cross-section. According to contemporary reports, it was also apparently capped with a pergola where the (nominal) lighthouse signal fire was produced.

It is thought that as the pressure within the system reached its operational level, additional air was progressively allowed in through the top of this final, top section to allow the mechanism to access cooler, drier air from higher in the atmosphere. In the process, it created what was essentially an inverted tornado funnel. More significantly, cooling from this inverted linear vortex (ILV) helped anchor, trigger and sustain the primary IRV circulation in the air surrounding the tower.

Once an Atmospheric Cyclone Effect (ACE) vortex was established around the tower, by its reaction with the surface of the sea, it developed the characteristic horizontal core of an inverted ring vortex (IRV). Unrestrained in any way, the vortex core would form in the air over the lagoon approximately level with the top of the lower tower (ie ~100m AMSL, see diagram). To top

Once fully established, the ACE became self-sustained in precisely the same manner as occurs within the eye of a natural cyclone in similar circumstance. As a direct consequence, the atmospheric pressure in and around the tower would be significantly reduced. Controls within the tower would maintain some control of these effects but the encircling ACE vortex was now essentially limited in its expansion only by the close proximity of dry land. [The one essential ingredient for vortex expansion is a stable source of vapour. Producing little to no vapour, the proximity of the dry land was a natural limiting force to the size of the ACE phenomena.]

The physical design indicators given by the Pharos tower indicate a working pressure drop well in excess of 100mb and potentially as high (?low) as 200mb-400mb. This is far in excess of my initial goal in developing this technology, which was to approximately replicate the pressure drop demonstrated in a major (Category 5) storm that rarely exceeds 100mb (ie 910mb barometric pressure).[The record barometric reading in Nature, of 871mb, (a drop of ~140mb) was recorded in 1979 Pacific cyclone Tip).

Whilst no immediate clues have yet been identified that prove the existence of the final pieces of the puzzle, (ie the source of the initial vacuum), the design imperatives and the author’s prior research nevertheless provide a ready answer. More on this shortly. To top

10. Fifty rooms of Visitor Accommodation.

The lighthouse was recorded as an instant social success and was arguably the first major tourist attraction in the world. Whilst 50 rooms or suites of accommodation might initially seem a lot, the claim is associated with the main tower, recorded as possibly 100m tall (ie In modern terms100m high equates to ~40 storey’s ).

How much of the tower was used for accommodation and how much for producing water? It seems logical to assume the two roles were integrated but if so, how did visitors get to the 40th floor? And did the building provide lifts? At least one source suggests a ‘dumb-waiter’ type arrangement for lifting the fuel for the lighthouse beacon but does this suggestion just hint at another and possibly far more realistic possibility, given the details of my reconstruction? To top

11. The Towers and Elevators.

A hollow core is a near-essential feature in meeting the engineering imperatives of my reconstruction and just such a feature is mentioned in two of the primary documents referenced iii&iv. Apparently the existence of a hollow core was established in part from claims it was thought fuel was hauled to the top of the tower in a dumb waiter (lift arrangement), rather than by stairs. However, this observation also provides the obvious potential in reverse, for air to be drawn down through the hollow core.

In a counter-argument to sceptics, historically this feature is also significant in that if the tower did indeed have such a lift arrangement, what need would there have been for an extraordinary and expensive ramp? Logically, by this argument, with a slightly longer rope or multiple lifts, the fuel could have been lifted from ground level with no need for a ramp at all. To top

Within our present technology, logic would seem to suggests that only a steel cable could operate over such an enormous height without breaking under its own weight but in fact, under a vortex-based economy there are other distinct possibilities.

a) The shaft could have been split into a series of lifts or, and far more likely

b) The basic, vortex technology, now indicated, could have been applied here as well.

The Pharos could have used a vacuum system in much the same way many major stores transfer their money in pods from cash desks to accounts departments. ie within vacuum tubes. Again, more later. To top

12. Estuarine Heat Traps.

In river estuaries with a steady but minimal flow of fresh water and a shallow entrance bar, a heavy layer of brine can become trapped beneath an upper layer of (fresher) river water. A relatively well researched phenomena they can include elements of both a thermocline and halocline .

The establishment and maintenance of this phenomenon depends upon differentials in salinity and temperature that can be varied quite naturally or by design. As a primary heat exchange medium, a halocline layer has potential to act as a reservoir of either cold water or water somewhat warmer that the layer above, depending upon salinity. Whilst haloclines getting colder with depth are the norm, if mixing is sufficiently controlled, a heavily saline halocline can trap water in the depths far warmer (~5oC-7oC) than the fresher water at the surface and possibly more. To top

The artificial harbour created at Alexandria is approximately 2km x 1km and is still one of the largest artificial harbours ever constructed. It is/was fed by the canal from the Nile that (originally) fed an outlet adjacent to the junction between the old and new harbours, making it entirely possible to control the fed either way.

The new harbour, comprising an Inner and Outer section, has two wide and relatively shallow entrances onto the eastern Mediterranean, making it potentially ideal as a halocline thermal reservoir. Whilst it was clearly deliberately engineered as a part of the total project, just how it was used remains to be tested. There are good arguments both ways for using a halocline pool in this situation for the storing of both cold water and/or warm water, although obviously in separate sections. To top

Since vortex technology benefits enormously by the suitable availability of moderate extremes of both hot and cold it would explain entirely why the harbour at Alexandria was so specifically divided into a separate sections, both separated from the old harbour to the west by the causeway and viaduct. In this situation and with suitable techniques it would seem entirely possible to create separate reservoirs of hot and cold water.

Passed over a warm, shallow water and/or a wetted surface, heated air would be released as a humid ring of vapour from an unbroken circle of pyramids or similar structures set in the sea at a radius of around 200m from the central tower. Producing an unbroken ring of warm thermals, they would provide the major convective heat source to sustain IRV circulation and thus act as the primary energy trigger for starting the ACE mechanism.

In contrast, cold water is an ideal agent for chilling heat exchangers to induce condensation, now assumed (by me) as the primary role of this special version of vortex technology. Acting within the core of the (ACE) mechanism, any cooling would act to sustain an inverted ring vortex, centred on the tower. To top

13. Anomalous Funnels of 'Smoke'.

pharoslighthouse

The Pharos Lighthouse and the anomalous whirling 'smoke trails'

Contemporary images of the Pharos Lighthouse in various forms are fairly common and although not hard evidence they present yet another small anomaly that would seem to beg an alternative explanation.

The images in question commonly show what appear to be one or more swirling columns of smoke emanating from the top of the tower or (in this example) from numerous chimneys on the upper level balconies. Whilst smoke at night from a single signal fire at the top would not be unreasonable, the smoke would not in any case be seen in the dark. And conversely, a number of signal fires during the day from the tallest (and only) lighthouse on the planet (c300BC) would seem at best as more than somewhat superfluous. To top

It my analysis is correct it would seem possible the presence of these oddly swirling ‘smoke’ trails drew attention because the viewer recognised something distinctly odd about them and tried, as people do, to express the mystery in graphic form. It would seem entirely possible that instead of smoke these spirals were instead the vapour funnels of inverted tornado funnels created as air was drawn down into the upper sections of the tower. To top

Although not strictly proof, the extraordinary and anomalous nature of these images could be seen as further evidence of the use of the ACE mechanism, the most powerful atmospheric vortex phenomena known. If so, and more importantly, then these images might also give us some clues about how the mechanism was operated and controlled. Some sources show just one plume and others (as here) show a number and the plumes appear to rotate in different directions. This may be coincidence and it may in part relate to the damage created by earthquakes that progressively reduced the structure to ruins in the 14th century.

It is on record that after the first earthquakes the building continued to operate in a reduced capacity for many (possibly 300) years, so it’s entirely possible earthquake damage resulted in changes to the way the mechanism was operated and that this is reflected in later images. Whilst it’s something that may well be resolved with further experiments, it remains to be seen which is true since the images cannot be firmly dated. To top

14.The Plaza Colonnade.

It is generally agreed the plaza was totally surrounded by a totally walled and relatively narrow roofed colonnade. As a promenade for visitors it would appear to raise some anomalies for if the plaza was built purely for the benefit of visitors surely the failure to include landscape views of the surronding harbour would seem an almost inexplicable omission. The feature is not likely to draw comment except in the light of the engineering imperatives of the building's newly rediscovered structural objectives.

However, if as I claim, the building was built as a desalinationn plant then, as far as was possible, every feature would have been built with the main objective very much in mind's eye of the engineers. In a system designed to maximise ACE vortex rotation, reverse engineering soon reveals the true purpose of the colonnade .

If the Pharos building was in essence the start mechanism for IRV rotation around the tower, as I claaim, then the top of the colonnade would have been the trnsition point between the cold (contraction) and the hot (expansion) sides of the energy cycle and a perimeter channel of cold (salty) water along the top of this wall could been seen as a primary control mechanism.

Cold water flushed down the outside of the wall in the morning would dampen convection from the wall when it was frirst warmed by the sun. The cold water would reduce any tendency for rising air to set up NRV rotation around the tower, (ie in opposition to the building's design purpose). However, once IRV rotation was established out over the sea then a reduced flow of salty water would serve in an entirely different role, as a significant contributor to the total energy of the whole system.

Salty water flowing down the walls and out over the surrounding rocks would absorb heat. With only a moderat e flow, the heated stones would cause significant evaporation and the remaining very warm and very salty water would sink to the bottom of the harbour when it ran into the surrounding sea. A highly enhanced salt content in the water of the harbour was an essential requirement for setting up a warm water halocline.

When the sun went down in the evening, the ACE would be sustained long into the night by the energy returned to the surface by this warm water halocline. As it became less thermally stable, the halocline would upset and return the heated water to the surface, to release vapour to the outflowing winds of the vortex.