posted on 2017-07-03, 00:00authored byG. Massiot & cie
The relief to the left is the wind Notos, who is the bearer of rain, emptying a pitcher of water.\u000a\u000aAndronikos of Kyrrhos was a Greek architect and astronomer. He is associated with a single building, the Tower of the Winds (Horologion) on the edge of the Roman agora in Athens, of which he was named the architect by Vitruvius (On Architecture I.vi.4). This elegant and ingenious small marble octagonal building was designed externally as a monumental sundial and weather-vane, with a representation of each of the eight winds carved on the sides of the octagon; at the apex of the roof was a bronze Triton that acted as a weathercock. The interior of the building contained a complicated waterclock; apart from the Triton and the clock, the building is well preserved. The date of the Tower of the Winds, and hence of Andronikos, is uncertain. The tower has usually been dated to the mid-1st century BCE, connecting its construction with that of the Roman agora and relying on the fact that the tower was mentioned by Varro (On Agriculture III.v.17) and Vitruvius, writing just after the middle of the century.
History
Alt Title
Tower of the Winds
Date Created
1910-01-01
Date Modified
2017-07-03
Spatial Coverage
Athens, Periféreia Protevoúsis, Greece: edge of the Athens Agora
Athens
+37.974178+23.727003
Temporal Coverage
before or circa 1910
Cultural Context
['Greek (ancient)', 'Hellenistic']
Rights Statement
To view the physical lantern slide, please contact the Architecture Library.