Tower of the Winds
The only clock tower from classical antiquity still standing — water clock, sundials, and wind vane packed into one octagonal marble building from 50 BC.
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Completed around 50 BC, this 12-metre Pentelic marble tower combined three timekeeping systems so citizens could orient themselves in both space and time. It has been in continuous use ever since, making it one of the very few buildings from classical antiquity that still stands virtually intact — not a ruin, an actual building.
What to look for
- Eight wind-god reliefs carved around the top of the tower — look for the contrast between the young winged figures and the older men, each representing a different wind direction
- Sundial markings on the exterior faces, positioned to be read from the street below
- The octagonal plan itself: eight sides, one aligned to each of the eight winds named on the reliefs above
Inside the Roman Agora in Athens; the tower is raised on three steps and the sculpted frieze sits near the top of a 12-metre structure, so step back to take it in.
Tower of the Winds is one of 36 sights worth the detour in Athens, all bundled offline in Voyage GO — download the Athens pack and it sits on your map with no signal, filling your travel passport the moment you walk past.
More to see in Athens
- ParthenonA temple built to celebrate a war victory that went on to become a church, a mosque, and a gunpowder depot — blown apart in 1687 and still being reassembled.
- Acropolis of AthensA flat-topped rock 150 m above the city where Pericles spent the 5th century BC erecting the buildings that still define Athens.
- Platonic Academy (Akadimia Platonos)Aristotle studied here for twenty years before leaving to found his own school — and the word "academy" has followed ever since.
- Classical AthensDemocracy was invented here in 508 BC — and it took a bribe at Delphi to get it started.
- Olympic Stadium Athens "Spyros Louis"Santiago Calatrava's white steel roof arches over the same track where Athens opened the 2004 Olympics — and hosted three Champions League finals.
- ErechtheionThe one Greek temple that broke every rule of classical architecture — and scholars still can't agree on what it was actually called.