Tower of the Winds

In front of you is one of the best-preserved ancient buildings in Athens and, at the same time, one of the most puzzling. This octagonal tower, some twelve metres tall, was a great scientific instrument. According to Vitruvius and Varro, it was designed by the astronomer Andronicus of Cyrrhus, and it is usually dated to around 50 BC.

1A time machine

Each of its eight faces looks towards a point of the compass and bears a relief of the wind that blows from there: Boreas, the cold north wind, bearded and wrapped up warm; Zephyrus, the gentle west breeze, with flowers in his lap. Sundials were carved beneath them. Inside ran a water clock fed by a spring on the Acropolis, and on the roof a bronze Triton turned to point out the wind's direction with a rod. Neither the mechanism nor the Triton has survived, and nobody knows exactly how the inner clock worked.

2The dervishes of the tower

Over the centuries, earth buried it up to half its height. Around 1750, a brotherhood of dervishes turned it into their tekke, their place of prayer and ritual dance. European travellers of the time came to watch their ceremonies. The dervishes left with the War of Independence in 1821.

For centuries Athenians simply called it “Aerides”, the Winds.

3What to look for

• The eight winds: look for Boreas blowing into a conch shell.
• The sundial lines beneath the reliefs.
• The small round turret attached to the south face, which held the water tank.