prize8-2, Exercise 1: "The Pharos of Alexandria was the tallest building of its age"

Model answer (check the details), using the six questions:

1. Who says it? Guidebooks, popular histories and enthusiasts for the Seven Wonders; ancient writers praised it but did not give measurements we can check.
2. What exactly is claimed? That it was the tallest building. "Building" needs a definition (does it include the Great Pyramid at Giza?), and "of its age" needs a date.
3. What would count as evidence? Ancient descriptions with measurements, Arab travellers' accounts of the standing tower, archaeological finds of the base and blocks, and comparison with other structures.
4. Compared with what? The Egyptian pyramids, which were far older and about 140 metres high when built (check), and other ancient towers.
5. Which period? The Pharos of the 3rd century BC, as against the tower in its later, damaged form seen by medieval travellers.
6. What would change my mind? Evidence of a precise height, or evidence that its height was much lower than traditional estimates.

Verdict: it was probably among the tallest buildings of its time and the tallest purpose-built lighthouse for many centuries, but "tallest building of its age" cannot be shown, since the pyramids were as tall or taller (check). A careful sentence: "The Pharos was one of the tallest man-made structures of the ancient world, though its exact height is uncertain."

Care: height estimates depend on which ancient unit of length a writer used, and on which stage of the tower's history is meant.