Temple of Poseidon

Cape Sounion closes off the Attica peninsula at its southern end, and the Temple of Poseidon sits on the headland about 60 metres above the water. It is the last piece of the Greek mainland that ships leaving Athens see, and it was built to be read from exactly that angle — by sailors, before anyone else.

The Temple of Poseidon at Cape Sounion

Historical Background

Archaeological finds at the sanctuary go back to around 700 BCE, when two cult centres were established on the cape, one for Athena and one for Poseidon. An Archaic temple of Poseidon was under construction in the early 5th century BCE and was probably destroyed unfinished by Persian troops during Xerxes' invasion in 480 BCE; more than forty of its limestone column drums have since been identified on the site. Later that same year, after the naval victory at Salamis, the Athenians dedicated a captured enemy trireme at Sounion in Poseidon's honour.

The temple standing today is the replacement, built between 444 and 440 BCE during the years of Pericles' leadership.

The Building

• Doric and hexastyle: six columns across the front, thirteen along each flank, thirty-four in all. Fifteen are still standing.
• Each column is 6.10 metres high and about a metre in diameter at the base.
• The marble came from the Agrileza quarries a short distance inland. It is coarser-grained than the Pentelic marble used on the Acropolis, and it has weathered accordingly.
• The naos held a colossal bronze statue of Poseidon, roughly six metres tall — floor to ceiling.

History and Mythology

Poseidon, God of the Sea

Poseidon, usually shown holding a trident, was the Olympian god of the sea, and his power was reckoned second only to Zeus'. He also governed horses, storms and earthquakes. For a city whose grain arrived by ship and whose security rested on a navy, he was not an abstract figure, and Athenians had practical reasons to keep him satisfied.

Worship at the Cape

The sanctuary worked as a landmark and a place of petition at the same time. Fishermen and sailors climbed to it to pray for safe passage, leaving animal sacrifices and votive offerings; the marble kouros excavated here in 1906 is one of them, and is now among the best-known Archaic statues in Greece. From the terrace, worshippers could see the sea lanes their voyages depended on, which is much of the point — the god was petitioned where his work was in plain view.

Visiting the Temple Today

Why the Cape Mattered

Sounion marks the southernmost point of Attica and commands the approaches to Piraeus, the port of Athens. Ships bound for the Cyclades and the eastern Aegean passed within sight of it, which made the cape a lookout as much as a sanctuary and tied it directly to the rise of the Athenian navy. It was fortified at some point in antiquity, and the remains of that wall still enclose the temple platform.

What You See

A narrow path climbs from the entrance through the fortification remains up to the temple. Fifteen columns are up; the rest of the building lies around them as blocks of marble on the ground, and time has taken the roof, the frieze and the bronze. The terrace gives an open view over the Aegean in three directions. Most visitors time their arrival for late afternoon, when the sun drops behind the columns and the marble goes gold — the site keeps longer hours in summer for that reason.

A short descent below the temple leads to Sounion beach, which served as a landing point for ships guarding the approaches to Athens and is now simply somewhere to swim.

The cape is the last thing you see leaving Athens by water and the first thing on the way back, and boats out of the Attica marinas round it within a few hours of casting off — which is why the temple shows up on the opening day of an Athens gulet cruise about as often as it does on a coach itinerary.