The Tower of the Winds in Athens, in the Roman Agora, was one of the world’s first clock towers. It was built around 50 BC, and designed by the Macedonian astronomer Andronicus of Cyrrhus.
An enormous water clock was housed inside, fed every 24hrs by a stream running down from the Acropolis. As the water level rose, a float rose, powering a mechanism that showed the progress of the sun across the sky.
The lines of sundials can still be seen on the walls, as another way of telling the time (so long as the sun was shining). A bronze figure of Triton was placed on top as a weather-vane.
