Sounio national park

Lore & Background

The earliest literary reference to Sounion is in Homer's Odyssey, where the helmsman of King Menelaus died while rounding 'Holy Sounion, Cape of Athens.' Archaeological finds on the site date from as early as 700 BC. Herodotus mentions a sacred embassy to Delos, but not a quadrennial festival at Sounion. Sounion was a deme of the Leontis tribe even before its fortification in the Peloponnesian War, sending four men to the ancient Boule of 500 at the time of Cleisthenes, and later six men to the Boule of 600.

Reader's Guide

Cape Sounion's significance lies in its layered history as a religious, military, and economic center of ancient Athens. The Temple of Poseidon, built in 444–440 BC during the ascendancy of Pericles, stands as a key monument of the Golden Age, with 15 of its original 34 Doric columns still standing. The site also includes the Temple of Athena Souniados, built in 470 BC, and a fortress constructed in 413 BC during the Peloponnesian War to protect Athens' grain supply route. The fortress was later seized by rebel slaves from the nearby silver mines of Laurium. The promontory's literary reception includes mentions by Lord Byron and Martin Heidegger, and the inscribed name of Byron carved into a column of the Temple of Poseidon possibly dates from his first visit to Greece. The site's enduring ruins have been described in travelogues since the 17th century.

Did You Know?

• The Temple of Poseidon at Sounion was constructed in 444–440 BC, during the ascendancy of the Athenian statesman Pericles.
• The Sounion Kouros, discovered in 1906 in a pit east of the temple, was probably one of a number of votive statues dedicated to Poseidon.
• The fortress at Sounion was fortified in 413 BC during the Peloponnesian War to protect the passage of cornships to Athens.
• The temple of Athena Souniados was built in 470 BC and had an unusual design with colonnades only on the southern and eastern sides.