Editing Lighthouse (section)

===Ancient lighthouses===
[[File:Torre de Hércules 2023.jpg|thumb|upright=0.9|The [[Tower of Hercules]] lighthouse in northwest Spain]]
Before the development of clearly defined [[port]]s, mariners were guided by fires built on hilltops. Since elevating the fire would improve visibility, placing the fire on a platform became a practice that led to the development of the lighthouse.<ref>Trethewey, K. R.:Ancient Lighthouses, Jazz-Fusion Books (2018), 326pp. {{ISBN|978-0-99265-736-9}}</ref> In antiquity, the lighthouse functioned more as an entrance marker to ports than as a warning signal for [[reef]]s and [[promontory|promontories]], unlike many modern lighthouses. The most famous lighthouse structure from antiquity was the [[Lighthouse of Alexandria|Pharos]] of [[Alexandria]], [[Egypt]], which collapsed following a series of earthquakes between 956 and 1323.

The intact [[Tower of Hercules]] at [[A Coruña]], Spain gives insight into ancient lighthouse construction; other evidence about lighthouses exists in depictions on coins and mosaics, of which many represent the lighthouse at [[Ostia Antica (archaeological site)|Ostia]]. Coins from Alexandria, Ostia, and [[Latakia|Laodicea in Syria]] also exist.