Πειραματικό Λύκειο Αγ. Αναργύρων, Athens/1st Grade, 2009-2010

is actually the Clock (Horologion/ὡρολόγιον of the astronomer Andronicos Kyrrestes (Andronicos of Cyrrhus)/ Ἀνδρόνικος Κυρρήστης.

It was built in the middle of the 1st century BC or, according to certain archaeologists, in the Hellenistic period (2nd century BC)

1

2

34

5

1. Acropolis, 2. Athenian Agora, 3. Roman Agora, 4. Library of Hadrian, 5. Stoa of Attalos.

The Solar Clock of Kyrrestes is located east of the Roman Agora, in the red circle.

The Solar Clock of Kyrrestes, east of the Roman Agora, between the Agoranomeion and the Vespasianae

A’ EKPA in Βλίζος, 2008

1.Library of Hadrian, 2.Pantheon (?), 3.Roman Agora, 4.Vespasianae, 5.Tower of the Winds, 6. Agoranomeion.

The Tower and the Agoranomeion (reconstruction)

The octagonal Pentelic marble building (of an 8m diameter) is ca 12m high.

It has two propylons/πρόπυλον (entrance porches), one on the NE side, the other on the NW side. Each porch had 2 corinthian columns in front of the doorways.

Attached to the South side is a cylindrical annex.

The Structure of the Tower

The structure features a combination of 8 sundials, a water clock and a wind vane. It was topped in antiquity by a weathervane-like Triton (Τρίτων/ a creature with the body of a man and the tail of a fish) that indicated the wind direction.

Reconstruction by Stuart-Rovett

The circular chamber on the exterior of the southern side of the building roofed two tanks of water, one over the other. The flow of water from the upper tank into the lower one provided the power which turned the gears of an elaborate, probably metal, clock inside the building.

3d reconstruction of the Solar Clock of Kyrrestes. On the right you can see the East Propylon of the Roman Agora

In the doric order interior, the water clock (or clepsydra) was driven by water coming down from the Acropolis.

Recent research has shown that the considerable height of the tower was motivated by the intention to place the sundials and the wind vane at a visible height on the Agora, making it effectively an early example of a clock tower. It was also important for the merchants to know the winds in order to estimate the arrival of products coming by sea. Reconstruction of the clock mechanism

according to Price and Noble

The clock itself may have been shaped like a disk that slowly turned to reveal the passing of the hours, days, and even phases of the moon.

Reconstruction of the clock mechanism according to Price and Noble

The sundials are under the frieze which depicts personifications of the winds, so that one could tell the time

from several different directions from outside

View of the octagonal construction with the two propylons. The Tower was a sort of meteorological station, as it is evident from the sundials on the exterior, the hydraulic clock inside and the bronze weather vane, no longer preserved, at the top of the pyramidal roof.

The frieze depicting the eight wind deities — ΒΟΡΕΑΣ (N), ΚΑΙΚΙΑΣ (NE), ΕΥΡΟΣ (E), ΑΠΗΛΙΩΤΗΣ (SE), ΝΟΤΟΣ (S), ΛΙΨ (SW), ΖΕΦΥΡΟΣ (W), and ΣΚΙΡΩΝ (NW). You can also see the Erechtheion on the Acropolis (5th century BC) in the background.

North (Βορέας, Septentrio)Man wearing a heavy cloak, blowing through a twisted shell

North East (Καικίας, Aquilo)Man carrying & emptying a shield with small round objects

East (Ἀπηλιώτης, Solanus)Young man holding a cloak full of fruit and grain

South East (Εὖρος, Eurus)Old man wrapped tightly in a cloak against the elements of nature

South (Νότος, Auster)Man emptying an urn and producing a shower of water

South West (Λίψ, Africus)Boy pushing the stern of a ship, promising a good sailing wind

West (Ζέφυρος, Favonius)Young man carrying flowers into the air

North West (Σκίρων, Caurus/Corus)

Bearded man holding a bronze pot filled with hot ashes and charcoal

The South East Wind (Εὖρος, Euros)

Nonnullis placuit esse ventos quattuor: ab oriente aequinoctiali solanum, a meridie austrum, ab occidente aequinoctiali favonium, ab septentrionali septentrionem. sed qui diligentius perquisierunt, tradiderunt eos esse octo, maxime quidem Andronicus Cyrrestes, qui etiam exemplum conlocavit Athenis turrem marmoream octagonon et in singulis lateribus octagoni singulorum ventorum imagines excalptas contra suos cuiusque flatus designavit, supraque eam turrim metam marmoream perfecit et insuper Tritonem aereum conlocavit dextra manu virgam porrigentem, et ita est machinatus, uti vento circumageretur et semper contra flatum consisteret supraque imaginem flantis venti indicem virgam teneret.

Itaque sunt conlocati inter solanum et austrum ab oriente hiberno eurus, inter austrum et favonium ab occidente hiberno africus, inter favonium et septentrionem caurus, quem plures vocant corum, inter septentrionem et solanum aquilo. hoc modo videtur esse expressum, uti pateat numerus et nomina et partes, unde flatus certi ventorum spirent.

 (F. Krohn, Lipsiae 1912)

Some have held that there are only four winds: Solanus from due east; Auster from the south; Favonius from due west; Septentrio from the north. But more careful investigators tell us that there are eight. Chief among such was Andronicus of Cyrrhus who in proof built the marble octagonal tower in Athens. On the several sides of the octagon he executed reliefs representing the several winds, each facing the point from which it blows; and on top of the tower he set a conical shaped piece of marble and on this a bronze Triton with a rod outstretched in its right hand. It was so contrived as to go round with the wind, always stopping to face the breeze and holding its rod as a pointer directly over the representation of the wind that was blowing.

Thus Eurus is placed to the southeast between Solanus and Auster: Africus to the southwest between Auster and Favonius; Caurus, or, as many call it, Corus, between Favonius and Septentrio; and Aquilo between Septentrio and Solanus. Such, then, appears to have been his device, including the numbers and names of the wind and indicating the directions from which particular winds blow.

Vitruvius: The Ten Books on Architecture, transl. Morris Hicky Morgan, Cambridge: Harvard University Press. London: Humphrey Milford. Oxford University Press 1914.

Intrinsecus sub tholo stella lucifer interdiu, noctu hesperus, ita circumeunt ad infimum hemisphaerium ac moventur, ut indicent, quot sint horae. In eodem hemisphaerio medio circum cardinem est orbis ventorum octo, ut Athenis in horologio, quod fecit Cyrrestes; ibique eminens radius a cardine ad orbem ita movetur, ut eum tangat ventum, qui flet, ut intus scire possis.

Inside, under the dome of the rotunda, the morning-star by day and the evening-star at night circle around near the lower part of the hemisphere, and move in such a manner as to show what the hour is. In the middle of the same hemisphere, running around the axis, is a compass of the eight winds, as in the horologium at Athens, which was built by the Cyrrestrian; and there a pointer, projecting from the axis, runs about the compass in such a way that it touches the wind which is blowing, so that you can tell on the inside which it is.

W. D. Hooper - H. B. Ash , Loeb Classical Library, London, 1934

In early Christian times, the building was used as the bell tower of a Byzantine Church. Under Ottoman rule it became a tekke (a lodge for dervishes). At that time it was buried up to half and this can be observed in the interior, where Turkish inscriptions can be detected on the walls. It was fully excavated in the 19th century by the Archaeological Society of Athens.

Many other constructions have been influenced by the structure of the Tower of the Winds. The design of the 18th-century Radcliffe Observatory in Oxford, England, is based on it. You can see the eight anaglyphs of the wind gods on the frieze.

The 15th century Torre del Marzocco in Livorno, Italy

Tower of the Winds in Sevastopol, Russia built in 1849.

The Temple of the Winds, Mount Stewart, near Newtownards in Northern Ireland.

The mausoleum of the founder of the Greek National Library Panayis Vaglianos at West Norwood Cemetery, London.

The Tower of the Winds is one of the few most well preserved monuments in the Roman Agora.

Sophia Athanasiou – Panagiotis Sarantopoulos, students/Alexandra Melista, teacher