DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.803#0036
30 , THE BRITISH MUSEUM.
hestes, which still remains at little distance from the
north wall of the Acropolis. This is the small
building now vulgarly called the Tower of the Winds,
the reason for which will appear from the following
description by Vitruvius* :—" Those who have paid
most attention to the winds make them eight in
number, and particularly Andronicus Cyrrhestes,
who built at Athens an octagonal marble tower, and
cut on each face the figure of the several winds, each
being turned to the quarter from which that wind
blows; on the tower he erected a marble column
(meta), on which he placed a Triton of bronze,
holding out a rod in his right hand. And he so
contrived it, that the figure moved round with the
wind and constantly stood opposite to it; the rod
which was above the figure showed in what direction
the wind blew." The figures of the eight winds
were cut in relief, with their names above them on
the friezet- Immediately in the neighbourhood of
this monument was the New Agora, or Public Place,
in the quarter called Eretria. This is proved by the
existence of the gateway, which Stuart first deter-
mined to be the entrance into the Agora, and not, as
Wheler and other early travellers supposed, a temple
of Augustus. It consists of four Doric columns, supr
porting an entablature and pediment; and the date
of its erection is fixed in the time of Augustus,
about B. c. 12. The various inscriptions upon it
may be seen in Spon, Wheler, and Stuart. On the
acroterion there was, as we learn from an inscription
there, the statue of Lucius Caesar, the son of M. V.
Agrippa and Julia, and the grandson and adopted
son of Augustus. " In the wall of the house which
is opposite," says Spon, " there is an inscription of
the time of the Hadrian, regulating matters as to the
*I. 6. _ . - ;f Spon, ii.p. 135.
hestes, which still remains at little distance from the
north wall of the Acropolis. This is the small
building now vulgarly called the Tower of the Winds,
the reason for which will appear from the following
description by Vitruvius* :—" Those who have paid
most attention to the winds make them eight in
number, and particularly Andronicus Cyrrhestes,
who built at Athens an octagonal marble tower, and
cut on each face the figure of the several winds, each
being turned to the quarter from which that wind
blows; on the tower he erected a marble column
(meta), on which he placed a Triton of bronze,
holding out a rod in his right hand. And he so
contrived it, that the figure moved round with the
wind and constantly stood opposite to it; the rod
which was above the figure showed in what direction
the wind blew." The figures of the eight winds
were cut in relief, with their names above them on
the friezet- Immediately in the neighbourhood of
this monument was the New Agora, or Public Place,
in the quarter called Eretria. This is proved by the
existence of the gateway, which Stuart first deter-
mined to be the entrance into the Agora, and not, as
Wheler and other early travellers supposed, a temple
of Augustus. It consists of four Doric columns, supr
porting an entablature and pediment; and the date
of its erection is fixed in the time of Augustus,
about B. c. 12. The various inscriptions upon it
may be seen in Spon, Wheler, and Stuart. On the
acroterion there was, as we learn from an inscription
there, the statue of Lucius Caesar, the son of M. V.
Agrippa and Julia, and the grandson and adopted
son of Augustus. " In the wall of the house which
is opposite," says Spon, " there is an inscription of
the time of the Hadrian, regulating matters as to the
*I. 6. _ . - ;f Spon, ii.p. 135.