Roman Agora Athens and the Tower of the Winds: visitor guide

Rome’s gift to Athens

By the late 1st century BC, the Ancient Agora — Athens’s original civic and commercial space, in operation since the 6th century BC — was overcrowded and struggling to handle the volume of trade in a city that Rome had transformed into a provincial capital and intellectual centre.

Julius Caesar and Augustus provided the funding for a new commercial marketplace just to the east of the old one. The Roman Agora (officially the Market of Caesar and Augustus) was built in the final decades BC and continued functioning as the city’s main commercial zone through much of the imperial period. It is smaller than the Ancient Agora, primarily rectangular in plan with a colonnade surrounding a large courtyard, and its remains — while substantial — are not the reason most visitors come here.

The reason is the Tower of the Winds.

The Tower of the Winds

The Horologion of Andronikos Kyrrhestes — universally known as the Tower of the Winds — is one of the most remarkable surviving structures from the ancient world, and it stands in the northeast corner of the Roman Agora site.

Constructed around 50 BC, the tower is an octagonal marble structure 12 metres high and roughly 8 metres in diameter. It served simultaneously as a sundial, water clock and weather vane. Each of its eight faces is oriented to one of the eight compass winds, and each has a carved relief figure representing that wind: Boreas (north), Kaikias (northeast), Apeliotes (east), Euros (southeast), Notos (south), Lips (southwest), Zephyros (west) and Skiron (northwest). The figures are carved directly into the marble just below the cornice, in high enough relief to be legible from the ground.

On the south face, a conical roof extension with a carved ornament originally housed the water mechanism: water from the Acropolis was channelled in to drive a rotating drum inside the tower that showed the time, the position of the sun among the constellations, and the phases of the moon. It was, in effect, an analogue computer displaying astronomical data for public use.

The sundial lines cut into the exterior faces are still clearly visible. The original bronze wind vane (a Triton figure pointing to the relevant wind) is gone, but the pivot socket where it rotated is visible at the apex of the conical roof.

The condition of the tower is exceptional. All eight faces are intact, the relief carvings retain significant detail, and the structure has required no major structural restoration. It survived in remarkably good shape partly because it was used continuously — as a church, a dervish monastery in the Ottoman period, and (from the 18th century onward) as one of the most-visited ancient monuments in Athens.

The Roman Agora itself

The gate of Athena Archegetis (Gate of Athena the Leader) at the west entrance is the most visually striking element of the main agora precinct. Four Doric columns of a propylon (ceremonial gateway) remain standing, dated by inscription to the reign of Augustus. The gate’s condition is exceptional — the columns, entablature and partial pediment are complete.

The rectangular courtyard behind the gate is roughly 111 by 98 metres, originally surrounded by colonnades on all four sides. The east colonnade is partially standing; the rest survives mainly as foundations and column drums. The courtyard functioned as an open-air marketplace with shops (ergasteria) opening from the colonnades.

At the south side of the courtyard are the visible remains of a large latrina (public toilet) — a 68-seat marble semicircular structure that functioned both practically and socially, as latrines in antiquity were places of conversation and business as well as hygiene. The marble seats and drainage channels survive.

The Ottoman-era Mosque (Fethiye Mosque, or “Mosque of the Conqueror”), built in 1458 to commemorate Mehmed II’s conquest of Athens, stands within the Roman Agora precinct and is a historically significant structure in its own right. After decades of use as a granary, storehouse and excavation depot, restoration work has been ongoing; its status as a visitable interior varies by season.

Practical information

Entry: €8 adult (standalone ticket, April–October). €4 in winter (November–March). Included in the €30 seven-site combo ticket. A specific Roman Agora audio tour is also available: the Roman Agora audio guide covers the Tower of the Winds, the Gate of Athena Archegetis, the mosque and the latrina with detailed commentary.

Opening hours: April–October: 8:00 am–8:00 pm daily. November–March: 8:00 am–3:00 pm daily.

Getting there: The Roman Agora is in Monastiraki, two minutes’ walk east from Monastiraki square. Enter from Pelopida street (north side) or from Markou Aureliou (southwest). Metro: Lines 1 and 3 to Monastiraki, a three-minute walk.

Time needed: 45 to 60 minutes for the Roman Agora and Tower of the Winds. Efficient visitors who focus on the tower and the gate can complete a visit in 30 minutes. Combining it with the Ancient Agora (400 metres west) and Hadrian’s Library (immediately adjacent) gives a productive two-hour Monastiraki archaeology circuit.

Combining the Roman and Ancient Agoras

The Roman and Ancient Agoras are complementary sites that work well visited in sequence. The Roman and Ancient Agora combination packages both with audio guides, which is the most efficient way to cover both intelligently on a single morning.

The logical sequence: start at the Ancient Agora (Thissio entrance) for 90 minutes — Temple of Hephaestus, Stoa of Attalos museum — then walk east through Monastiraki to the Roman Agora for the Tower of the Winds and gate. The entire route is easily walkable; the two sites share the same seven-site combo ticket and are the most naturally adjacent pair among the seven.

See the Acropolis tickets guide for full combo ticket details and multi-site sequencing advice.

The neighbourhood context

The Roman Agora sits at the archaeological heart of Monastiraki, Athens’s most historically layered neighbourhood. Within 200 metres: the Monastiraki flea market (Ifaistou and Avyssinia streets), one of Athens’s most atmospheric covered markets; Monastiraki square with its restored 18th-century mosque and metro station; Hadrian’s Library immediately to the north; and dozens of restaurants and cafes along Adrianou and Mnisikleous.

Visiting the Roman Agora in the morning and then spending time in Monastiraki afterward — particularly on a Saturday when the flea market is at its busiest — makes for one of Athens’s best combined mornings.

The area also connects directly toward Plaka to the east, and Thissio to the west, making it the practical centre of any ancient-sites walking circuit.

For the Acropolis itself, the route south from Monastiraki along Adrianou or through Plaka reaches the south slope entrance in about 15 minutes on foot.

Why the Tower of the Winds matters historically

Beyond its visual appeal, the Tower of the Winds represents something significant in the history of science and engineering: it was a precision instrument designed to make celestial and meteorological information publicly accessible in an urban context.

The water clock mechanism inside the tower was driven by a constant supply of water from the Acropolis slope, maintaining consistent flow rate regardless of external conditions. This hydraulic precision was necessary because an inconsistent flow meant an inaccurate display. The rotating drum mechanism — reconstructed by scholars from surviving evidence — showed not just the time of day but the current position of the sun in the zodiac, enabling any literate Athenian to know both the hour and the season with a glance.

The eight wind reliefs served a different function: they made meteorological knowledge navigable. Knowing which wind was blowing was economically critical in an ancient port city — different winds meant different sailing conditions in the Saronic Gulf, different agricultural implications for the Attic plain, and different religious associations (each wind had a deity and a character). The Triton vane pointing to the relevant wind-figure on the wall made this information immediate and public.

In this sense, the Tower of the Winds was Athens’s most public information system — the ancient equivalent of a digital display showing weather, time and astronomical position simultaneously for free, in the commercial centre of the city.

The astronomer Andronikos of Kyrrhus, who designed the tower, was working within a tradition of Hellenistic scientific instrument-making that had produced, a generation earlier, the Antikythera Mechanism — the extraordinarily complex astronomical calculator found in a shipwreck off the Greek coast and now in the National Archaeological Museum. The Tower of the Winds is Antikythera-level engineering at architectural scale. Seen in this light, it is arguably the most intellectually significant structure at any of Athens’s seven combo sites.

Frequently asked questions about the Roman Agora

Is the Tower of the Winds the reason to visit the Roman Agora?

Essentially, yes — though the Gate of Athena Archegetis and the overall site atmosphere are worth the visit independently. The Tower of the Winds is a genuinely exceptional ancient structure that is underrated compared to its actual historical and architectural significance. There is nothing quite like it in Athens, and very few comparable objects from this period anywhere in the Mediterranean.

How does the Roman Agora differ from the Ancient Agora?

The Ancient (Greek) Agora was Athens’s civic centre — democracy happened there, lawcourts, council chambers, temples. The Roman Agora was purely commercial — a marketplace built by Roman patrons to relieve pressure on the older site. The Ancient Agora is much larger and contains more varied ruins. The Roman Agora is smaller and faster to visit, but the Tower of the Winds is its own reason to come.

Can I see the Tower of the Winds for free from outside?

From Pelopida street, you can see the upper section of the tower over the site wall. For the full view — including the relief figures on all eight faces, the ground-level detail and the doorway — you need to enter the site. Given the €8 entry price (or combo ticket inclusion), there’s no reason to settle for the partial street view.

Is the Roman Agora included in the seven-site combo ticket?

Yes. The €30 seven-site combo includes the Roman Agora, the Ancient Agora, the Acropolis, Kerameikos, the Temple of Olympian Zeus, Hadrian’s Library and the Lykeion. The combo is valid for five consecutive days and is the best value for any visitor covering more than two of the seven sites.

Does the audio guide work well here?

The Roman Agora audio guide is particularly useful because the individual structures — the tower’s functions, the gate’s dedicatory inscriptions, the mosque’s history — are not well explained by on-site signage alone. The tower in particular is much more interesting once you understand what all its parts were for.