The figures of the Eight Winds appeared on the original Tower of the Winds in Athens and were used by the sculptor John Bacon (1740-99) as the basis for his designs for the flying figures round the top of the stonework of the Observatory. Bacon also designed the two statues (in cast iron) of Atlas and Hercules who support the globe on the roof.
Notos, the South Wind, was associated with desiccating hot wind after midsummer, and was thought to bring the storms of late summer and autumn. He was feared as a destroyer of crops, and depicted with water pouring from his pitcher.
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Isisbridge said:
The figures of the Eight Winds appeared on the original Tower of the Winds in Athens and were used by the sculptor John Bacon (1740-99) as the basis for his designs for the flying figures round the top of the stonework of the Observatory. Bacon also designed the two statues (in cast iron) of Atlas and Hercules who support the globe on the roof.
Notos, the South Wind, was associated with desiccating hot wind after midsummer, and was thought to bring the storms of late summer and autumn. He was feared as a destroyer of crops, and depicted with water pouring from his pitcher.
www.gtc.ox.ac.uk/about/history/radcliffe-observatory