Temple of Poseidon at Sounion: The Sea God's Clifftop Temple

The Story of the Temple of Poseidon at Sounion

For sailors in the ancient world, Cape Sounion was a landmark of enormous importance. It is the last point of mainland Attica before the open Aegean, and ships heading to or from Athens rounded it on their way across the sea. It was only natural that the Athenians would build a temple here to Poseidon, god of the sea, earthquakes and horses, whose favor could mean the difference between a safe voyage and a shipwreck. Homer already called Sounion the sacred cape of Athens in the Odyssey.

The site was sacred long before the classical temple rose on the headland. Archaeologists found remains of an earlier temple built in the late Archaic period, which was still unfinished when the Persians invaded and destroyed it in 480 BC. Large marble statues of young men, known as kouroi, were also discovered nearby and are now displayed in the National Archaeological Museum in Athens. They hint at how important the sanctuary was even in the 6th century BC.

The temple you see today was built around 444 to 440 BC, in the age of Pericles, at the same time as the great monuments of the Acropolis. It is a Doric temple with 6 columns at each end and 13 along each side, made from marble quarried nearby at Agrileza. Its columns are unusually slender for the Doric style, perhaps to make them look elegant against the sky. Many scholars think it was designed by the same unknown architect who built the Temple of Hephaestus in Athens.

Sounion is tied to one of the saddest myths of Athens. King Aegeus waited anxiously for the return of his son Theseus, who had sailed to Crete to kill the Minotaur. Theseus had promised to raise white sails if he succeeded, but in the joy of victory he forgot to change the black ones. According to a popular version of the story, Aegeus was watching from the cliffs of Sounion, and when he saw the black sails he threw himself into the sea in grief. That sea has been called the Aegean ever since.

The cape was not only a place of worship. During the Peloponnesian War, in 413 BC, the Athenians fortified it to protect the grain ships coming to the city, and the remains of a fortification wall still run around the headland. Nearby, on a lower hill, stood a separate sanctuary of Athena, whose foundations can also be seen. The whole area was rich with silver mines in antiquity, at nearby Lavrio, which helped finance the Athenian fleet.

Centuries later, the temple became a favorite stop for European travelers who came looking for the glories of ancient Greece. Many carved their names into the marble, and the most famous signature belongs to the poet Lord Byron, who praised Sounion in his verse. His name, cut into one of the columns, is still pointed out by guides, although nobody can prove he carved it himself.

Today the Temple of Poseidon is one of the most popular day trips from Athens. The coastal road along the Athens Riviera leads past beaches and small harbors to the cape. Several columns still stand on the edge of the cliff, and you can walk around the temple, looking out over the deep blue sea and the islands on the horizon. Come in the late afternoon and stay for sunset, when the sun sinks into the Aegean behind the columns and the marble turns gold, just as it did for the sailors of ancient Athens.