While walking around the Roman Forum in Athens, a most curious building stands at the eastern end, at the opposite end from where it meets the Ancient Agora.
This tall, clean-lined, eight-sided building is the Tower of the Winds, so named because, high on the face of each wall, you can see the name and representation of the eight principal winds of the Mediterranean. North, North East, East, and so on, all the way back to the North.
An eight-sided building is just a curiosity, even in ancient times. This building was much more than that. It was a functioning piece of technology and served a valuable business need.
For on the very top, a large bronze wind vane was once set, so merchants in the market below could see whether their cargo of goods could sail into the harbor at Piraeus or not, and so close a deal on good terms.
Inside the building sat a water clock, the rhythm of time set by the gurgling stream that came down from the Acropolis.
On the face of the Tower, facing the Agora, was a clock face, so people could tell the time. And there were sundials too, for added reference.
All this was fully functional and operational before Caesar had even paid down the first denarius to finance his new Forum. Think about it.
The Classic Age was gone. Christians turned the Tower into a bell tower for a nearby church to call the faithful to prayer; later, the Turks used it as a gathering place for the mystical whirling dervishes who worshipped in the Fethiye Mosque.
The Tower managed to survive, being half-buried in the rubbish for centuries, so today you can see it almost as it was meant to be.
The Temple of Hephaestus: Set in a garden of pomegranates, myrtle and laurel