Location: 69 km (43 mi) South- east of Athens Map
Tel. 22920 39363
Open: 9am- sunset daily
Sounion is an ancient Greek archeological site located 69 km (43 mi) South- east of Athens in Greece. Sounion is most famous for its beautiful Temple of Poseidon (god of oceans) that stands at Cape Sounion. The Temple of Poseidon was constructed in the 5th century BC on site of the older 8th century sanctuary that was destroyed during Persian invasion in 480 BC under leadership of king Xerxex I. Greek culture and life evolved around sea and sea trade. Needless to say that this shrine played an important role in lives of many sailors. The sanctuary was closed to all armies and all people who did not get permission from the priests. So in the ancient times it became famous as a refuge for run away slaves that escaped from Laurion silver mines near by. During Peloponnese War Sounion was well fortified to defend possessions of the Athens in their war against Sparta and its allies. The site was badly damaged by the orders of Byzantine Emperor Arcadius in 399, but much of its structure was preserved due few residents in the area. In the 1800's Sounion was visited by famous English poet George Lord Byron who left his autograph on one of the marble columns.
History
Ancient times
Ancient temple and fortification
enclosure
The first written reference to Sounio is made by Homer,
who called it "Sounion sanctuary" (Odyssey). Sophocles (Ajax 1235),
Euripides (Cyclops 292), Pausanias (I, 1) and Vitruvius (IV 7) also
give testimonies.
In the archaic period the sanctuary was
developed a lot, something that is proved by the colossal kouros
that were erected there. Three of them are found today in the
National Archaeological Museum. At that time, it seems, the temple
of Athena Souniados was built on a lower neighboring hill. The
construction of the Porian temple of Poseidon dates back to the
beginning of the 5th century. However, this temple under
construction was never completed because it was destroyed by the
Persians during the Median Wars. A small temple of Poseidon was
built a little later, temporarily to meet the needs of worship. In
444 BC the Athenians built the newest temple of Poseidon. Sounion
was fortified during the 9th year of the Peloponnesian War to
protect the passage of grain from there (Thucydides VIII 4) and in
fact this fort was considered the strongest in Attica, as testified
by Demosthenes ("Peri Stefanou" 238), Livius ( 25) and Skylax (21).
Its walls, parts of which survive to this day, were 3.5 m thick and
encircled the area in a circumference of 500 m, while, every 20
meters, that wall had protective square towers. This fort was manned
by a guard of soldiers of the Macedonian phalanx, which, however,
was removed by Demetrius the Besieger in 307 BC. In 263 BC. The
Sounion garrison resisted an attack by Antigonus Gonatas, but
eventually the fort fell and a Macedonian garrison re-established
itself there. The Athenians recaptured the fortress in 229 BC. when
Aratos of the Achaean Confederation intervened and the commander was
forced to surrender his position in exchange for money. In the
period 104-100 BC, Sounion was occupied by a thousand rebellious
slaves from the mines of Lavrio.
In general, the area of
Sounion at that time reached east to the bay of Thorikos, north of
the current port of Lavrio, and from west to Anaflystos, thus
occupying the Sounian extremity "the fur of Sounion" as reported by
Herodotus (IV 99).
The temple of Poseidon was built of
marble of Agrileza Lavrio, 4 km north of the cape of Sounion, where
both the quarries are preserved in good condition, from which the
marble for the construction of the temple was mined, as well as
their ancient road to the cape of Sounio.
Ancient city
The
ancient settlement of SounioSounion was a coastal settlement of the
western bay, and the inhabitant of "Sounieus" belonged first to the
Leontida tribe and later from 200 BC to the Attalida tribe. During
265 BC. Patroclus, Admiral of Ptolemy Lygidos, built on the opposite
islet, today's Patroclus, also a strong fortress with the guard of
which Antigonus Gonatas managed to capture Sounio in 260 BC. which
was later attributed again to the Athenians by Aratos in 229 BC.
Ottoman rule
In 1762 the English poet William Falconer
(1732-1769), traveling from Venice to Alexandria, was shipwrecked in
the area of Sounion. He described about this shipwreck and his
experience in a famous poetic trilogy entitled "The shipwreck",
which was well received and admired by the critics and the public of
the time.