They were made of white marble quarried locally at Laureotic Olympus. ...they knew how to praise what is great and by acknowledging it, to bring themselves in front of the sublime, founding, in this way, a world" (ibid.). Travelers and archaeologists at Sounion From the 17th century on foreigner travelers (G. Wheler / 1676, J.-D.Le Roy / 1754, R. Chandler / 1765, E. Dodwell /1805, A. Blouet /1829 et al.) Le temple de Poséidon au cap Sounion est un temple grec classique, construit entre -444 et -440. Reviews 0 Reviews. Uploaded by Mark Cartwright, published on 26 April 2012 under the following license: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike.This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon this content non-commercially, as long as they credit the author and license their new creations under the identical terms. You can buy a ticket once you board the bus: there is a guy walking on the bus with tickets. Après avoir battu Xerxès à Salamine, les Athénien… Ce temple dorique domine la mer à l'extrémité du cap Sounion, à une hauteur de près de 60 mètres. The inscribed name of George Lord Byron, carved into the base of one of the columns of the Temple of Poseidon, possibly dates from his first visit to Greece, on his Grand Tour of Europe before he acquired fame. *Not included the most parts of Athens urban area, Greek cape at the southernmost tip of the Attic peninsula, ἀλλ᾽ ὅτε Σούνιον ἱρὸν ἀφικόμεθ᾽, ἄκρον Ἀθηνέων, Perseus Digital Library, for search term 'Sounion. The monument's present state is due to the work performed in the 1950s by the Greek Archaeological Service, led by Anastasios Orlandos. Jessica Paga, "Attic Sanctuaries" in: Miles (ed. Cape Sounion itself is located between the villages of Kato Sounio and Legrena. It would have contained, at one end facing the entrance, the cult image, a colossal, ceiling-height (6 metres (20 ft)) bronze statue of Poseidon.[6]. Early modern descriptions in travelogues include those by G. Wheler (1676), J.-D. In ancient times it was called Sounias Akra (edge) and was connected with the legends of Athens and the Aegean. Vacation Style Holiday Type. Herbert Abramson, "A Hero Shrine for Phrontis at Sounion? [1] After they defeated Xerxes in the naval Battle of Salamis, the Athenians placed an entire captured enemy trireme (warship with three banks of oars) at Sounion as a trophy dedicated to Poseidon.[2]. Martin Heidegger visited Sounion during his journey to Greece in 1962, as described in his book Sojourns. The temple itself was magnificent. The temple of Poseidon at Sounion The Temple of Poseidon (Ναός Ποσειδώνος) is the most prominent monument at the archaeological site of Sounion, in southeast Attica. This was during the ascendancy of the Athenian statesman Pericles, who also rebuilt the Parthenon in Athens. Ancient Temple of Poseidon at Cape Sounion in Aegean sea, Greece, c3325a23e8bd9867d4ddefeef059ed6a "[1] Menelaus landed at Sounion to give his companion full funeral honours (i.e., cremation on a funeral pyre on the beach). Discover the signatures on the temple marble left by famous authors who visited the Cape of Sounion, including the Romantic poet Lord Byron. [17], In 413 BC, during the Peloponnesian War against the Spartans, the Athenians fortified the site with a wall and towers to prevent it from falling into Spartan hands. [9], The original, Archaic-period temple of Poseidon on the site was built of tufa. The first excavations were made by Wilhelm Dörpfeld, Director of the German Archaeological Institute, in 1884. It was built to honour Poseidon, God of the sea. After they defeated Xerxes in the naval Battle of Salamis, the Athenians placed an entire captured enemy trireme (warship with three banks of oars) at Sounion as a tro… Perseus Digital Library, for search term 'Sounion, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Temple_of_Poseidon,_Sounion&oldid=996957456, 5th-century BC religious buildings and structures, Ancient Greek archaeological sites in Greece, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. The fortress included a small naval base, with a shipshed for two warships in the northwestern corner (37°39′09″N 24°01′22″E / 37.6524°N 24.0228°E / 37.6524; 24.0228). They were 6.10 m (20 ft) tall, with a diameter of 1 m (3.1 ft) at the base and 79 cm (31 inches) at the top. [3], Sounion was fortified in the nineteenth year of the Peloponnesian War (413 BCE) for the purpose of protecting the passage of the cornships to Athens,[4] and was regarded from that time as one of the principal fortreses of Attica. The Temple of Poseidon. Today only 15 out of the 34 doric style columns of the temple are still standing. According to the myth, this is the site where Aegeus, king of Athens, fell into the sea because of a misunderstanding. ★ Temple of Poseidon (Rio) built by the Ottoman Sultan Bayezid II in 1499 above the ruins of an ancient temple of Poseidon within three months. The name Capo Colonne (graecicized Καβοκολώνες Kavokolones) is reported from the 17th century, for the reason that unusually, several columns of the temple of Poseidon had remained standing since antiquity. Where nothing, save the waves and I, The Poseidon building was rectangular, with a colonnade on all four sides encompassing the peristasis. The Temple of Poseidon at Sounion . The Sounion Kouros, discovered in 1906 in a pit east of the temple alongside fragments of other statues, was probably one of a number of votive statues dedicated to Poseidon which probably stood in front of the god's sanctuary. There is, however, no direct evidence that the inscription was made by Byron himself. Le premier temple de Poséidon, d'époque archaïque, était construit en tuffeau, au même endroit. The story recounts that as the various Greek commanders sailed back from Troy, the helmsman of the ship of King Menelaus of Sparta died at his post while rounding "Holy Sounion, Cape of Athens. Its remains are perched on the headland, surrounded on three sides by the sea. Cape Sounion and Temple of Poseidon Half-Day Trip from Athens (From US$63.07) Cape Sounion and Temple of Poseidon Half-Day Small-Group Tour from Athens (From US$66.78) Cape Sounio, Temple of Poseidon and Athenian riviera private tour from Athens (From US$102.03) Sunset at the Cape Sounion Half Day Tour (From US$71.73) Perched on the heights of the cape, the temple was appropriately dedicated to the god of the sea, Poseidon. [9] The ancient Greek temple of Poseidon at Cape Sounion, built during 444–440 BC, is one of the major monuments of the Golden Age of Athens. In my opinion, one of the most majestic temples in the whole of Greece is the Temple of Poseidon at Sounion, about 70 kms away from central Athens. Strabo noted: The design of the peripteros temple is a typical hexastyle, i.e.,, it had a front portico with six Doric columns. According to Traill (1986), the center of the settlement was situated somewhat to the north of the cape, between the modern settlements of Ano Sounio and Kato Sounio (close to 37°40′26″N 24°01′48″E / 37.674°N 24.030°E / 37.674; 24.030). [8] Though Sounion was especially sacred to Athena, we learn from Aristophanes that Poseidon was also worshipped there. The temple of Athena was demolished in the 1st century AD, and parts of its columns were taken to Athens to be used in the South-East temple of the Agora. Archaeological evidence indicates that Sounion was a sacred area as far back as the Bronze Age, but the temple visible in our day was built in the middle of the 5th century BCE (between 444 and 440 BCE). Although there is no direct evidence for Sounion, Xerxes certainly had the temple of Athena and everything else on the Acropolis of Athens, razed as punishment for the Athenians' defiance. [4] The temple of Poseidon, the ancient Greek god of the sea, dominates the southernmost tip of Attica, where the horizon meets the Aegean Sea. The Temple of Poseidon at Cape Sounion is the best half day trip you can do out of Athens or combine it with a swim and lunch or dinner at a seaside fish taverna. Watch the sunset over the clear waters of the Aegean Sea. to Sounion viewed the ruined temple of Poseidon in a romantic mood. Cape Sounion is noted for its Temple of Poseidon, one of the major monuments of the Golden Age of Athens. It is part of Lavreotiki municipality, East Attica, Greece. We had a great trip with Antonis to Cape Sounion to see the Temple of Poseidon. The project Arrangement of the Archaeological Site of Sounion (2011–2013) was co-financed by the Greek Ministry of Culture and Sports and the European Union (ERDF). Coordinates: .mw-parser-output .geo-default,.mw-parser-output .geo-dms,.mw-parser-output .geo-dec{display:inline}.mw-parser-output .geo-nondefault,.mw-parser-output .geo-multi-punct{display:none}.mw-parser-output .longitude,.mw-parser-output .latitude{white-space:nowrap}37°39′01″N 24°01′28″E / 37.6502°N 24.02455°E / 37.6502; 24.02455. The temple is located on top of the hill at Cape Sounion, 68 kilometers away from Athens and it was dedicated to the God of the Sea and brother of Zeus, Poseidon! The standing … The original, Archaic-period temple of Poseidon on the site, which was built of tufa, was probably destroyed in 480 BC by Persian troops during Xerxes I's invasion of Greece. This was during the ascendancy of the Athenian statesman Pericles, who also rebuilt the Parthenon in Athens. [16] They were made of locally quarried white marble. The Temple of Poseidon in Sounion Athens: Cape Sounion is found about 70 km to the south-east of Athens, on the southernmost tip of Attica peninsula. May hear our mutual murmurs sweep...[23]. They were 6.10 m (20 ft) high, with a diameter of 1 m (3.1 ft) at the base and 79 cm (31 inches) at the top. It is perched above the sea at a height of almost 60 metres (200 ft). This would have threatened Athens' seaborne grain supply route from Euboea. Cape of Sounion, with its famous temple dedicated to the god Poseidon, is one of the most beautiful natural areas of Attica and one of the most impressive archaeological sites in Greece. The original, Archaic-period temple of Poseidon on the site, which was built of tufa, was probably destroyed in 480 BC by Persian troops during Xerxes I's invasion of Greece. It would have contained, at one end facing the entrance, the cult image, a colossal, ceiling-height (6 metres (20 ft)) bronze statue of Poseidon.[14]. The walls which are fortified with square towers, are of the most regular Hellenic masonry, and enclose a space or a little more than half a mile in circumference. ), This page was last edited on 29 December 2020, at 10:28. Along with its twin, the Antirrio Castle; is a list of temples of Poseidon Temple of Poseidon at Kalaureia Temple of Poseidon at Sounion Temple of Isthmia Temple of Poseidon at Rio Achaea The Ancient Greeks knew how to choose a site for a temple. Efforts at restoring and preserving the remains of the Poseidon temple began in 1875. Byron mentions Sounion in his poem Isles of Greece: Place me on Sunium's marbled steep, The design of the Temple of Poseidon is a typical hexastyle i.e. It sent four men to the ancient Boule of 500 at the time of Cleisthenes, and later (3rd century BC) six men to the Boule of 600. He marvels at "the way that this single gesture of the land suggests the invisible nearness of the divine and dedicates to it every growth and every human work" (ibid.). ", Christopher Mee and Antony Spawfort, 'Greece: An Oxford Archaeological Guide, Sounion, Temple of Athena (Building) (Perseus Project), https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sounion&oldid=1003284614, Ancient Greek archaeological sites in Greece, Articles containing Ancient Greek (to 1453)-language text, Wikipedia articles incorporating a citation from the 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica with Wikisource reference, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 28 January 2021, at 07:34. My dream travel list was always an extensive one. The temple was built twice. [20] The fortress was maintained well into the Hellenistic period. 16 out of the 38 columns are standing today (of which four were re-erected in the 20th century). The beauty of the remains of the temple and its … The ancient Greek temple of Poseidon at Cape Sounion, built during 444–440 BC, is one of the major monuments of the Golden Age of Athens. [5] It’s about an hour drive from Athens, and it’s a beautiful site to visit while there. The temple is dedicated to the Greek God Poseidon, the brother of Zeus, and the God of the sea. At Cape Sounion, 70km south of Athens, the Temple of Poseidon stands on a craggy spur that plunges 65m to the sea. The columns are of the Doric Order. Construction of villas across the bay northwest of Cape Sounio flourished in the 1960s to 1970s. [7] The circuit of the walls may still be traced, except where the precipitous nature of the rocks afforded a natural defence. It is 59.6 km away from Athens. [10] After they defeated Xerxes in the naval Battle of Salamis, the Athenians placed an entire captured enemy trireme (warship with three banks of oars) at Sounion as a trophy dedicated to Poseidon.[11]. Although there is no direct evidence for Sounion, Xerxes certainly had the temple of Athena and everything else on the Acropolis of Athens, razed as punishment for the Athenians' defiance. Athens' supply situation had become critical since the city's land supply lines had been cut by the Spartan fortification of Dekeleia, to the north of Attica. The design of the temple is a typical hexastyle, i.e., it had a front portico with six columns. Cape Sounion (Modern Greek: Aκρωτήριο Σούνιο Akrotírio Soúnio [akroˈtirʝo ˈsuɲo]; Ancient Greek: Ἄκρον Σούνιον Άkron Soúnion, latinized Sunium; Venetian: Capo Colonne "Cape of Columns") is the promontory at the southernmost tip of the Attic peninsula, 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) south of the town of Lavrio (ancient Thoricus), and 70 kilometres (43 mi) southeast of Athens. He goes on to reflect "the people of this country knew how to inhabit and demarcate the world against the barbarous in honour of the seat of the gods. Open: Winter: 9:30 until sunset Summer: 9:30 a.m. - sunset Last entry: 20 minutes before sunset time Sounion, about an hour outside of Athens, is home to the beautiful Temple of Poseidon and some incredible views. The Temple of Poseidon Sounio is famous for its sunset and for its characteristic ancient Greek temple that rises on the rock. 590 BC)[7] and the relief of a "self-crowning athlete" (ca. it had a front portico with 6 columns. At the centre of the temple, beyond the colonnade, there would have been the hall of worship (naos), a windowless rectangular room, similar to the partly intact hall at the Temple of Hephaestus.