Tower of the Winds

building, Athens, Greece
Also known as: Horologion, Horologium, Lantern of Demosthenes
Also called:
Horologium
Greek:
Horologion (“Timepiece”)

Tower of the Winds, building in Athens erected about 100–50 bc by Andronicus of Cyrrhus for measuring time. Still standing, it is an octagonal marble structure 42 feet (12.8 m) high and 26 feet (7.9 m) in diameter. Each of the building’s eight sides faces a point of the compass and is decorated with a frieze of figures in relief representing the winds that blow from that direction; below, on the sides facing the sun, are the lines of a sundial. The Horologium was surmounted by a weather vane in the form of a bronze Triton and contained a water clock (clepsydra) to record the time when the sun was not shining. The Greeks invented the weather vane; the Romans used them in the belief that the wind’s direction could foretell the future.

Initially described by the Roman architect Vitruvius (1st century bc), the Tower of the Winds was fancifully reconstructed in the 16th-century editions of his work by Cesare Cesariano and Giovanni Rusconi. Although these fanciful images influenced designs by 17th-century English architects Christopher Wren and Nicholas Hawksmoor, accurate illustrations were not published until 1762, when they appeared in volume one of James Stuart and Nicholas Revett’s The Antiquities of Athens. The Tower of the Winds was subsequently influential in the Greek Revival, notably in the versions of it built by Stuart in the landscaped pairs at Shugborough, Staffordshire, Eng. (c. 1764), and at Mount Stuart, County Down, Ire. (1782), and in James Wyatt’s more imaginative Radcliffe Observatory Tower, Oxford, Eng. (1776).

This article was most recently revised and updated by Kathleen Kuiper.

Classical architecture, architecture of ancient Greece and Rome, especially from the 5th century bce in Greece to the 3rd century ce in Rome, that emphasized the column and pediment. Greek architecture was based chiefly on the post-and-beam system, with columns carrying the load. Timber construction was superseded by construction in marble and stone. The column, a unit human in scale, was used as a module for all of a temple’s proportions. The Doric order, probably the earliest, remained the favourite of the Greek mainland and western colonies. The Ionic order developed in eastern Greece; on the mainland, it was used chiefly for smaller temples and interiors. Both Doric and Ionic orders are present in the Athens Acropolis, the greatest Greek architectural achievement. By the late 5th century bce, the orders were applied to such structures as stoas and theatres. The Hellenistic Age produced more elaborate and richly decorated architecture, with often colossal buildings. Many of the great buildings were secular rather than religious, and the Ionic and especially the newer Corinthian orders were widely used. The Romans used the Greek orders and added two new ones, Tuscan and Composite, but the Corinthian was by far the most popular. Roman architects used columns not only as functional bearing elements but also as applied (engaged) decoration. Though rigidly adhering to symmetry, the Romans used a variety of spatial forms. Whereas Greek temples were isolated and almost always faced east-west, Roman temples were oriented with respect to other buildings. Roman columns carried arches as well as entablatures, permitting greater spatial freedom. The discovery of concrete enormously facilitated construction using the arch, vault, and dome, as in the Pantheon. Other public buildings included basilicas, baths (see thermae), amphitheatres, and triumphal arches. Classical architecture may also refer to architecture of later periods that employs Greek or Roman forms. See also Western architecture: The Classical period.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Kathleen Kuiper.