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Tower Of The Winds




The Tower of the Winds, also called '' Horologion '' (timepiece), is an octagonal Pentelic Marble tower on the Roman '' Agora '' in Athens . It was supposedly built by Andronicus Of Cyrrhus around 50 BC , but according to other sources might have been constructed in the 2nd Century BC before the rest of the Forum .

The 12 m tall structure has a Diameter of about 8 m and was topped in antiquity by a weathervane-like Triton that indicated the Wind direction. Below the Frieze depicting the eight wind deities — Boreas (N), Kaikias (NE), Eurus (E), Apeliotes (SE), Notus (S), Lips (SW), Zephyrus (W), and Skiron (NW) — there are nine Sundial s. In its interior, there was a Water Clock (or clepsydra), driven by water coming down from the Acropolis .

In early Christian times, the building was used as the bell tower of a Byzantine Church . It was partly buried in the ground until it was fully excavated in the 19th Century by the Greek Archaeological Society .


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