ATHENS: Tower of the Winds

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Situated within the crumbling walls of Athens ancient Roman Agora is the sumptuous eight sided Tower of the Winds. Built around 50 BC by Syrian astronomer Andronikos Kyrrhestas, this stunning feature was created to combine the functions of a sundial, wehther vane and water clock. In the process Kyrrhestas managed to design a building ulike any other in the ancient world.

It is an octagonal tower made from Pentenic marble, standing on a base of three steps. The tower comprises of a conical roof, a cylindrical annex on the south side and two propyla. There would have originally been an bronze weather vane on the roof, but this has not survived the ravages of time.

However, the personifications of the winds which it would have indicated are still carved in relief at the top of each of the eight sides.


Their names are inscribed beneath the cornice:

Boreas
Kaikias
Apeliotes
Euros
Notos
Lips
Zephyros
Skiron

The rays of the sundials are carved on each of the sides, beneath the scenes of the winds. Inside the tower are the remains of the waterclock - no longer working - which was operated by spring waters running down from the Acropolis.

In the early Christian period the Tower of the Winds - also known as the Horologion of Kyrrhestos - was used as a church, and in the 18th century it was a Dervish Monistary. Now it stands as a masterpiece of ancient architecture.


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Based on an article in Time Out Athens and The Roman Agora of Athens printed by the Ministry of Culture Archaelogical Reciepts Fund