- The Tower of Winds (or Horologium) is an octagonal tower in the Roman Agora of Athens that was built by Andronicus of Cyrrhus in c.50 BCE as a weather station.
- It was an Anaphoric Clock that featured a Sun Dial, Water Clock and Wind Vane which pointed to eight named winds and acted like a modern weather station.
The Monument Today
- The octagonal Tower of Winds is still standing intact and located in the Roman Forum of Athens at Aiolou.
The Eight Winds of Eratosthenes
- The Tower was built on Eratosthenes system of eight not twelve winds.
- The Eight Winds on the Tower were:
- N Boreas (not Aparctius)
- NE Caecias
- E Apeliotes
- SE Eurus
- S Notus
- SW Lips
- W Zephyrus
- NW Sciron (not Argestes)
- Boreas (not Aparctias, N), Caecias (SE), Apeliotes (E), Eurus (SE), Notos (S), Lips (SW), Zephyrus (W) and Sciron (NW, variant of Argestes).
Vitruvius
- Vitruvius (c.88-c.26 BCE) describes an Anaphoric Clock located in Alexandria in his ‘Architectura’, Book IX, Chap.8. 8-15.
- It was probably a waterclock, identical or certainly very similar to the Tower of Winds in Athens.
- The clock had a rotating field of stars behind a wire frame which indicated the time of day.
- The wire frame and star map were constructed using Stereographic Projection.
- Other examples have been found in the Roman Empire dating to the first to third century CE.
The Tower of Winds, Athens