Sounion

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Sounion or Cape Sounion (Άkron Soúnion) is a notable archaeological site at the southern most part of the ancient Attica in Greece. Sounion is noted for its Temple of Poseidon, one of the major monuments of the Golden Age of Athens. Its remains are perched on the headland, surrounded on three sides by the Aegean sea.

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Overview

At the end of the Sounion peninsula, the southern most point of ancient Attica, the Athenians built sanctuaries in honour of two of their most important deities, Athena and Poseidon.

The earliest mention of Sounion in literature is found in Homer's Odyssey (III. 278–285). The passage tells the story of the Greek commanders returning from Troy, where the helmsman of King Menelaus of Sparta died while rounding "Holy Sounion, Cape of Athens". Menelaus stopped at Sounion to honor his companion with a full funeral, including cremation on a pyre at the beach. Archaeological evidence from the site dates back to as early as 700 BCE. Herodotus (VI.87) notes that in the sixth century BCE, the Athenians held a quinquennial festival at Sounion, during which the leaders of Athens would sail to the cape in a sacred boat.

Archaeological Structures

circa

Deme of the Leontis Tribe
Sounion was a deme (suburb or subdivision) of the Leontis tribe (phyle) before being fortified during the Peloponnesian War. It contributed four representatives to the Boule of 500 under Cleisthenes and later sent six to the Boule of 600 in the third century BCE. By the second century BCE, Sounion remained a deme, now part of the new Attalid phyle established in honor of Attalus I. The settlement was situated between Amphitrope and Thorikos, encompassing areas of the Mines of Laurion, likely near modern Ano and Kato Sounio.

circa

Temple of Poseidon Sounios
The sanctuary of Poseidon lies within a fortified area that protected the coast of Attica. The temple, constructed of white marble from Agrileza, was erected in the middle of the fifth century BCE, on the sheer, south eastern side of the peninsula, above an earlier poros temple. The earlier temple, dating back to the late sixth century BCE, was destroyed before it was completed, during the Persian invason of 480 BCE.

Before the construction of the temples, marble kouros statues stood in the precinct, and were also destroyed by the Persians. The peripteral Doric temple, measuring 31.12 meters long and 13.47 meters wide was supported by 13 columns on the long side and 6 on the short. Above the epistyle of the pronaos was a frieze with a relief decoration, work of Cycladic craftsmen, which continued around all four sides. The subjects depicted were drawn from the legends of the Battle of the Centaurs and Lapiths, the Battle of the Giants and Gods, and the Labours of Theseus.

circa

Sanctuary of Athena Sounios
The Sanctuary of Athena was built on the lower hill to the north of the Poseidon's Temple, near an earlier precinct of roughly circular shape that was dedicated to a male deity of some sort. Two temples were dedicated to Athena, a small rectangular Doric style temple of the early sixth century BCE, which was destroyed by the Persians, and a later, larger Ionic style temple with an altar on the south side.

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References

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