Some descriptions report that the lighthouse was surmounted by a huge statue, possibly representing either Alexander the Great or Ptolemy I Soter in the form of the sun god Helios. Though it was well-known earlier, the Pharos does not appear in any list of wonders until the 6th century ce (the earliest list gives the walls of Babylon instead). In the Middle Ages sultan Ahmed ibn Touloun replaced the beacon with a small mosque. The Pharos was still standing in the 12th century, but by 1477 the Mamlūk sultan Qāʾit Bāy was able to build a fort from its ruins.