In this article we shall address the commonly posed question, “Who built the first lighthouse?” We have discussed elsewhere [1] what we actually mean by the word ‘lighthouse’. The following definitions should be kept in mind throughout this paper:

A lighthouse is a fully or partially enclosed built structure bearing a light that is used as a navigational aid and that is capable of admitting at least one person to operate or maintain the light entirely from within

A lightstructure is any built structure bearing a light that is used as a navigational aid but is not capable of admitting one person to operate or maintain it entirely from within.

A beacon is any artifact, built or floating, visible or recognisable from a distance, whether by land or sea, that is specifically intended to provide a signal or warning for any purpose not exclusive to navigation.

The use of terms such as ‘Stone Age’ or ‘Bronze Age’ is dependent upon the relative stage of development of the civilisation in question. However, for the purposes of chronology in the Mediterranean region, and in accordance with standard practice, in this article we shall consider the Stone Age as being prior to 3,000 BC. We take the Bronze Age as being divided into three parts: early Bronze Age from 3,000 BC to 2,000 BC, Middle Bronze age from 2,000 BC to 1,100 BC and late Bronze Age from 1,100 BC to 700 BC. The Iron Age is considered to span the years from 1,200 BC to 555 BC.