Tower of the Winds
On Gingerguide's self-guided Athens audio tour, Tower of the Winds is a stop worth about ~30 min. Stand in front of it, press play for a short narrated story, and put any follow-up question to the built-in AI guide.
- Type monument
- Suggested visit ~30 min
- Athens Athens guide
About Tower of the Winds
An eight-sided marble tower that told ancient Athens the hour, the season and the wind, with eight carved winds, eight sundials and a water clock inside.
The Tower of the Winds is an octagonal Pentelic-marble tower in the Roman Agora, the Horologion, or "timepiece", of Andronikos of Kyrrhos, which combined sundials, an internal water clock and a wind vane into a single public timekeeping monument. It stands about 12 metres tall and roughly 8 metres in diameter on a base of three steps, with each of its eight sides oriented to a compass point. A carved relief personifying the wind from that direction runs around the top of each face, and all eight winds are named, from Boreas in the north to Zephyros in the west.
Below each wind figure are the engraved lines of a sundial, giving eight sundials in all, while inside a water clock told the time when the sun was not shining. The tower was originally crowned by a bronze Triton that turned as a weathervane, now lost. Its exact date is not recorded but is usually placed in the second or early first century BC. In the Ottoman period it served as a dervish lodge.
Did you know? The tower's eight faces each carry a named, personified wind, from Boreas in the north to Zephyros in the west, and below each wind is a sundial, so the monument bears eight sundials in all.
How much time do you need at Tower of the Winds?
Around ~30 min works well for Tower of the Winds — time to look properly and listen to its story on the spot. Linger if you like; nothing on a self-guided walk is on a clock.
Should you stop at Tower of the Winds?
Yes — Tower of the Winds made the cut as one of 35 places the Gingerguide team researched and narrated across Athens. The story tells you why it is worth the stop, and the AI guide fills in anything you still wonder.
Nearby stops in Athens
Sources and further reading
Where to check the facts about Tower of the Winds and read more:
Day 1 of the Athens in 2 days itinerary →Day 1 of the Athens in 3 days itinerary →
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Hear the story of Tower of the Winds
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