The History of Weather Vanes
Weather vanes, which adorn many public buildings as well as private homes, are one of the oldest methods of weather prediction. Located on the highest point of tall structures, they are a simple device balanced on a rotating axis, designed to indicate the direction and speed of the wind. Weather vanes have a rich and long history, with examples dating to ancient Greece and Rome.
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The First Recorded Weather Vane
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The Greeks constructed the first known weather vane in 48 B.C. It was built in the likeness of the Greek god Titan, and had the head and torso of a man and the tail of a fish. It was placed atop the Tower of the Winds, an octagonal structure built by the astronomer Andronicus that depicted the eight different wind deities. The weathervane is believed to have been 4 feet to 8 feet long, and indicated which god controlled the weather daily by revealing wind direction.
Viking Weather Vanes
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The Vikings used a simple form of weather vane to predict the weather during the 9th century A.D. Made of bronze and other metals, the quadrant-shaped devices had depictions of animals or creatures from Norse myths surmounted on one of the flat sides of the quadrant. They were placed on Viking ships and Scandinavian churches.
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The Pope’s Influence
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A papal edict in the 9th century A.D. helped spread weather vanes throughout Europe. The pope decreed that all churches must be adorned with the symbol of a rooster to portray the biblical story in which Christ claims that “the cock shall not crow” until Peter had denounced him three times (Luke 22:34). Many of the ecclesiastical roosters were later made into weather vanes, due to their prominence on high church steeples in towns, and thus the classic rooster weather vane was established.
Medieval European Weather Vanes
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In medieval Britain, Germany and Normandy, banners and flags were flown from castle towers. While these were originally placed in order to help archers calculate wind direction when defending the castle, they were eventually replaced by metal devices that were imprinted with the insignia of the coat of arms of the nobleman who owned the castle. These metal structures were used as weather vanes. Meanwhile, peasants and commoners of this period used a form of cloth weather vanes, known as bannerets. The long tails of these bannerets came to inspire many traditional weather vane designs in Europe.
Eaerly American Weather Vanes
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As European settlers arrived in the New World, they brought traditional weather vanes with them. Eventually, however, American colonists begin to create their own weather vanes, often with fanciful and whimsical designs, including fish, seagulls, ships, animals and Indian heads. Many of these were crafted by Colonial artisans, such as Deacon Shem Drowne, America's first documented weather vane maker. Drowne created several famous weather vanes that remain on many buildings in and around Boston, Massachusetts, such as Faneuil Hall and the Old North Church. By the 19th century, weather vanes had become mass-produced. Although they are rarely used to predict weather today, weather vanes remain as adornments on many buildings.
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References
- Photo Credit stone chimney with weathervane image by lola from Fotolia.com
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