It would be unfair, perhaps, to the great Grecian architects of the time of Alexander if Andronicus Cyrrhestes were to be classed among them, and Cyrrhestes also, having been a scientific character with a leaning toward astronomy, might with some justice feel aggrieved were he to know that he was to be considered in a category of professional men to which his calling was in no degree related. Still the little building which he designed and erected in Athens is such an interesting one, and has always held so prominent a place among the architectural treasures of the Attic city, that it might be regarded as an intentional oversight to leave him out in a book of this kind. Some authorities place this building as belonging to the time of Alexander the Great, others believe that it was erected at a later period, and one writer gives Andronicus an existence as late as 100 B.C. This building, which Delambre speaks of as “the most curious existing monument of the practical gnomonics of antiquity,” has sometimes been called the “Tower of Æolus.” Let us see what Vitruvius has to say regarding the winds and the building: “Some have chosen to reckon only four winds: the East, blowing from the equinoctial sunrise; the South, from the noonday sun; the West, from the equinoctial sun-setting; and the North, from the Polar Stars. But those who are more exact have reckoned eight winds, particularly Andronicus Cyrrhestes, who on this system erected an octagon marble tower at Athens, and on every side of the octagon he has wrought a figure in relievo, representing the wind which blew against that side; the top of this tower he finished with a conical marble, on which he placed a brazen Triton, holding a wand in his hand; this Triton is so contrived that he turns with the wind, and always stops when he directly faces it, pointing his wand over the figure of the wind at that time blowing.”