What Is The Temple Of Poseidon?
The Ancient Greek temple of Poseidon was built during 444-440 BC and is one of the major monuments of the Golden Age of Athens. It is situated at Cape Sounion and perched above the sea at a height of almost 60 metres (200 ft).
Cape Sounion was known by Ancient Greeks as the Sacred Cape, and the temple was dedicated to Poseidon, God of the Sea.
The temple was constructed of marble from the valley of Agrilesa, about four kilometres north of Cape Sounion. The architect could have been Ictinus, who built the Temple of Hephaestus in the Ancient agora in Athens. He built the 16 columns at the Temple of Poseidon in a way that ensured they would stand the test of time and resist the harshness of the environment. He made the Doric columns slenderer at the top so they would look taller.
In Greek mythology, Poseidon, brother of Zeus, was the God of the Sea. It is no wonder that he was highly revered and worshipped in a country with over 13 500 kilometres of coastline. Ancient Greek seamen, believed storms were signs of Poseidon’s wrath, and therefore the temple at Cape Sounion was a sacred place where sailors and the general population came to offer animal sacrifices and other gifts to appease him and find favour.
History
The first Archaic-period temple of Poseidon built on the site, was built of tufa and destroyed in 480 BC by Persian troops during Xerxes I’s invasion of Greece. There is no direct evidence that this is the case but Xeres had the temple of Athena and everything else on the Acropolis of Athens, demolished as punishment for the Athenians’ defiance.
After the Athenians defeated Xerxes in the naval Battle of Salamis, they placed an entire captured warship with three banks of oars at Cape Sounion as a trophy dedicated to Poseidon.
The temple of Poseidon was constructed on the ruins of the temple during the ascendancy of the Athenian statesman Pericles. He also rebuilt the Parthenon in Athens.
The Poseidon building was rectangular, with a colonnade on all four sides including the peristalsis. The total number of original columns of the outer colonnade was 34, of which 16 still stand today (of which four were re-erected in the 20th century). The columns are of the Doric Order. They were made of white marble from the quarry at Laureotic Olympus. At the centre of the temple, beyond the colonnade, there would have been the hall of worship (naos), a windowless rectangular room, like the partly intact hall at the Temple of Hephaestus. It would have contained, at one end facing the entrance, the cult image, a colossal, 6 metres (20 ft) bronze statue of Poseidon.
Archaeological Remains
Early study of the ruins was done by the Society of Dilettanti in 1797 and by Guillaume-Abel Blouet during an expedition 1829. The first excavations were done in 1884 by Wilhelm Dörpfeld, Director of the German Archaeological Institute. During 1897-1913 systematic excavations followed by Valerios Stais.
Efforts at restoring and preserving the remains of the Poseidon temple began in 1875. The monument’s present state is due to the work performed in the 1950s by the Greek Archaeological Service, led by Anastasios Orlandos.
The excavation uncovered numerous artifacts and inscriptions, most notably a marble kouros statue known as the Sounion Kouros (ca. 590 BC) and the relief of an athlete (ca. 460 BC). Both can now be seen in the Athens National Archaeological Museum. A column from the temple can be seen in the British Museum.
The remnants of the temple’s marble sculptures are now displayed at the National Archaeological Museum of Athens and the Mineralogical Museum of Lavrio, with one column on display at the British Museum in England. British Romantic poet Lord Byron carved his name at the base of one of the remaining columns during a visit in 1810 when he was touring Europe before rising to fame.
Interest For Today
As with many other monuments and sanctuaries around Greece, historical facts about the Temple of Poseidon in Sounion are intertwined with legend. This is thought to be the spot where Athenian King Aegeus killed himself by jumping off the cliff. Aegeus, who had positioned himself at Sounion to look out for the return of his son Theseus from Crete, saw the black sails on the ship and mistakenly thought Theseus had been killed by the Minotaur. In fact, young Theseus was victorious but had forgotten to replace the black sails on his ship with white ones upon returning, which ultimately led to his father’s death. This led to Aegeus’ name being given to the Aegean Sea.
And in the Odyssey, Homer wrote that Sounion was the place where King Menelaus of Sparta buried his helmsman, who died at his post while rounding the cape.
Location
The temple of Poseidon is located at Cape Sounion, 70km south of Athens. It stands on a craggy spur that plunges 65m to the sea.
Tourist Information
It is open from 09:00 to sunset and tickets in 2020 are €8 for adults and €4 for children.
