SEG 33.199 The Tower of the Winds

The Tower of the Winds

SEG 33.199 Date: 2nd-1st century BC

North face Boreas Relief ^[1]

Northeast face Kaikias Relief

East face Apeliotes Relief

Southeast face Euros Relief

South face Notos Relief

Southwest face Lips Relief

West face Zephyros Relief

Northwest face Skiron Relief

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References:

SEG 33.199 (Translated text) (PHI)

Translation by: Chris de Lisle

Monument type: Tower

Inscription type: Building inscriptions

Original location: Tower of the Winds

Findspot: Tower of the Winds (In situ)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] This set of inscriptions label the relief decoration on the Tower of the Winds, next to the Roman Agora. This octagonal structure, known in ancient times as the Kyrrhestian house (AIO 2439, l. 54) and the Horologion (‘Clock,’ Varro, De Re Rust. 3.5.17), designed by Andronikos of Kyrrhos (cf. IG XII,5 891), served as a weathervane, a clock, and probably an orrery (a mechanism that tracked the movement of the heavenly bodies). No dedicatory inscription for the structure survives and it is not clear that any existed. Partially as a result, the date of the tower’s construction and thus the date of the inscriptions is disputed, with various dates proposed in the second and first centuries BC. On the tower of the Winds, see H. J. Kienast, Der Turm der Winde in Athen (2014); P. A. Webb, The Tower of the Winds in Athens (2017) and for images, see Commons. On the Roman Agora, see IG II³ 4, 12 with notes.

Around the top of the building, just below the roof, are a series of eight relief sculptures, one on each side, depicting a male winged figure flying to the right, each a personification of the wind that blows towards that side of the building. The figures are individualised to reflect the particular characteristics of specific winds. Thus, Boreas, the wild, cold, and noisy north wind, has an unruly beard, wears a woollen cloak and socks, and carries a conch shell trumpet, while Notos, the south wind, which brings warm weather and rain, is a beardless youth in a sleeveless tunic carrying a water jar (images of all the reliefs can be seen on Commons). On the moulding above each figure is a narrow slit, which admitted light to the interior of the structure and (to the left of the hole) an inscription, naming the wind in question. On top of the tower, there was a bronze figure in the shape of a Triton holding a rod forwards in one hand, which rotated to point in the direction of the oncoming wind (Vitruvius, De Architect. 1.6.4-5). These inscriptions would thus have allowed passersby to identify which wind was currently blowing.

The façade of a mid-first century AD Arcuated Building, which abuts the tower to the south (IG II³ 4, 1403), may have served as a small aqueduct supplying water to the hydraulic mechanism in the structure after the original subterranean pipe had ceased to function.

Added: 6 Mar 2026
Updated: 6 Mar 2026
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