Greece - Table of Contents   .................................    Architecture Around the World

 Tower of the Winds
Roman Agora, Athens, Greece
Agora (pron. AG or a): A place of congregation, especially an ancient Greek marketplace

Tower of the Winds, also called Horologium, Greek Horologion (“Timepiece”), building in Athens erected about 100–50 BC by Andronicus of Cyrrhus for measuring time. Still standing, it is an octagonal marble structure 42 feet (12.8 m) high and 26 feet (7.9 m) in diameter. Each of the building’s eight sides faces a point of the compass and is decorated with a frieze of figures in relief representing the winds that blow from that direction; below, on the sides facing the sun, are the lines of a sundial. The Horologium was surmounted by a weather vane in the form of a bronze Triton and contained a water clock (clepsydra) to record the time when the sun was not shining. The Greeks invented the weather vane; the Romans used them in the belief that the wind’s direction could foretell the future. - Encyclopaedia Britannica (online December 2018)

Except where noted, photos taken November 2018 Tower of the Winds 2001 photo Note broken weather vane Terra cotta tile roof   ...   Lion head gargoyles Center frieze:  Kaikias - the Northeast wind -  holds a shield full of hailstones   ...   Note Parthenon in upper left 2001 photo Frieze:  Euros - the Southeast wind -  A bearded male whose cloak billows in the wind Frieze:  Euros - the Southeast wind -  A bearded male whose cloak billows in the wind   ...   Note the physical deterioration Frieze:  Apeliotes – the East wind - A young male whose cloak is filled with fruit and grain Frieze:  Notos - the South wind - He is emptying an amphora of water Frieze:   Zephyros - the West wind - cloak is filled with flowers Frieze:  Zephyros - the West wind - cloak is filled with flowers Frieze:   Skiron - the Northwest wind - Northwest -  bearded male in a tunic and cloal holding an overturned metal vase which has spilt hot coals Frieze:  Lips - the Southwest wind - He is holding the stern of a ship