Sounion

• Deme located at the southernmost tip of Attika

• The precise location of the deme site remains uncertain

• Belonged to the coastal trittys of Leontis

• Played a significant role in Athenian economy, trade, and defense as it served as an access point for communication between Attika and the broader Aegean Sea

• The site was known in Homeric times as it was mentioned in the Odyssey as the place where Menelaos stopped Phrontis while returning from the Trojan War

• Themistokles, Athenian statesman who headed Athens' naval expansion, was familiar with the area of Sounion because his family belonged to nearby Phrearrhioi

• This cape safeguards the Laurion silver mines

• Athenians placed a strong garrison here

• An important cult center → Sanctuary of Poseidon and Sanctuary of Athena

• Evidence of cult activity around 700 BCE but no monumental architecture until 5th century BCE

• This deme and the Sanctuary in particular gained importance after the Battle of Marathon

Sanctuary of Poseidon

• There are scant remains of this Sanctuary with the exception of the Temple of Poseidon

• The sanctuary was entered through a marble and limestone propylon, to the west of the propylon was a stoa that faced south used to display votives and as a dining hall

• Votive dedications dating to around 700 BCE

  • 11 relief plaques

  • Many small finds including hand and mold-made figurines, fragments of stone sculpture, scarabs, seals, jewelry, weapons, tools, utensils, metal vessels, Egyptian and Egyptianizing faience amulets

• Group of 6th century kourai found buried in a pit east of the temple

• After the Battle of Salamis, a captured Phoenician ship was brought and dedicated to Poseidon at Sounion for his help in driving Persian ships into cliffs, storms, and the open sea. It was displayed on the cliff near the remains of Archaic temple where it could be seen by many and serve as a trophy of Athenian victory. (Shear 2016, 231)

Archaic Temple

• Dimensions: 13.12 x 30.34

• 6 x 13 Doric order peripteral temple

• Made of limestone

• Interior had a pronaos, cella, opisthodomos, and internal colonnade with up to 5 Doric columns per side

• Date of construction is debated, some have presented a date ~500 BCE while others have presented ~490-480 BCE with the temple being constructed as a reaction to the Battle of Marathon (Paga & Miles 2016, 687)

• Utilizes a forward-thinking plan that would become standard in the later 5th century BCE

  • Colonnades laid out with uniform spacing

  • Axial intercolumniation of 2.449m and the columns have a lower diameter of 0.98m giving it a ratio of 5:2

• Was never finished as its construction was halted by Persian invasion and destruction in 480 BCE

Classical Temple

• Dimensions: 13.48 x 31.15

• Made of marble

• Very similar in plan to its predecessor

  • 6 x 13 Doric order peripteral temple

• Features:

  • Plain metopes with no sculptural decoration

  • Highly decorative sima with stylized vegetation of palmettes and lotus blossoms interspersed with lion heads

  • Pediment sculptures that have almost completely perished

  • Sculpted Ionic frieze made of Parian marble inside the porch on the east side with scenes depicting the Gigantomachy, the Centauromachy, and deeds of Theseus

    • Only a few slabs from this frieze survive and many are in poor condition making it difficult to identify the iconography of the slabs and the frieze as a whole (Leventi 2009, 122)

• Reuse of material from the previous Archaic temple

  • Majority of the limestone blocks were used for the foundations of this later marble temple or in constructing the surrounding terrace

• It has a design and plan quite similar to the Hephaisteion in the Athenian Agora suggesting the possibility of being constructed by the same architect

• Built in the mid 5th century potentially as part of the Periklean building program

• This temple has many similarities to the Parthenon on the Akropolis:

  • Display strong Ionic features

  • Built around the same time

  • Replace earlier unfinished temples destroyed by Persian invasions in 480 BCE

  • Incorporate material from their predecessors in their large podium foundations

  • Require large podium foundations due to the uneven cliff topography they are built on

Significance of Sounion and the Sanctuary of Poseidon

With its close proximity to the open sea, the oceanside cliff location of Sounion is perfectly suited for a sanctuary to Poseidon, god of the sea, as Shear articulates in the statement, “as one stands on the windswept cliffs, above the pounding of the waves, the sea god is a palpable presence, and it was inevitable that early sailors would come to this spot to appease his wrath and to offer thanks for a safe voyage home”(Shear 2016, 230). With the original Archaic version of the Temple of Poseidon at Sounion constructed after the Battle of Marathon as a display of their victory against the Persians on land and their shifted focus to strengthening their naval forces, the Athenians were looking to Poseidon to watch over their fleets and protect them from the fleets of enemies. After their victory at the Battle of Salamis, the Athenians thanked Poseidon for his efforts in destroying the Persian navy by gifting him with a captured ship displayed at Sounion near the ruins of the original Temple of Poseidon. They later honored him and demonstrated their strength as a naval power by constructing a new temple to Poseidon over the remains of the original.

The Temple of Poseidon at Sounion is significant in that it shares many features with both the Parthenon on the Athenian Akropolis and the Hephaisteion in the Athenian Agora revealing development of a somewhat uniform architectural style for Athenian temples during the Classical period. All of these temples are representative of the evolving style of temple construction as they all include features of the Ionic order in the predominantly Doric order plans. The Temple of Poseidon and the Parthenon in particular have many similarities with their Ionic elements, close date of construction, reuse of previous material, and large podium foundation, but another common feature of these two temples are the scenes depicted in their sculptural programs: the Gigantomachy, Centauromachy, and deeds of Theseus. These mythical scenes demonstrate the way in which Athenians commemorate victory over the Persians. Both the Gigantomachy and the Centauromachy serve as mythical parallels to conflict between Athenians and Persians displaying how the Athenians viewed the Persians as a barbaric group, an other. The “common theme between the myths was the punishment of hubris on a cosmic scale”(Shear 2016, 240). The depiction of both of these myths on these two temples constructed to replace their earlier versions destroyed by Persian invasion demonstrates their function as commemorating Persian defeat and Athenian dominance. The inclusion of representations of the deeds of Theseus makes these sculptural programs specific to Athens and emphasizes Athenian dominance in that Theseus is a local Athenian hero. His presence on the Temple of Poseidon at Sounion is even more significant because he is also the son of Poseidon.

After the Persian Wars and once under Athenian patronage, Sounion developed into an important cult center on the edge of Attika and a major gateway to the outside world with connections to cities and civilizations of the East.

Bibliography

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Iphigeneia Leventi. "Interpretations of the Ionic Frieze of the Temple of Poseidon at Sounion." In Structure, Image, Ornament: Architectural Sculpture in the Greek World, edited by Schultz Peter and Von Den Hoff Ralf, 121-32. Oxford; Oakville: Oxbow Books, 2009. Accessed April 24, 2021. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1cd0pht.14.

Jessica Paga, and Margaret M. Miles. "The Archaic Temple of Poseidon at Sounion." Hesperia: The Journal of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens 85, no. 4 (2016): 657-710. Accessed March 17, 2021. doi:10.2972/hesperia.85.4.0657.

John Camp. "Attica." In The Archaeology of Athens, 271-318. Yale University Press, 2001. Accessed March 17, 2021. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1npxgm.13.

T. Leslie Shear Jr. "Temples in the Countryside." In Trophies of Victory: Public Building in Periklean Athens, 230-243. Princeton University Press, 2016.

Zetta Theodoropoulou Polychroniadis. Terracotta Offerings from the Sanctuaries of Poseidon and of Athena at Sounion, Les Carnets de l’ACoSt [Online], 11 | 2014. Accessed on March 29, 2021. https://doi.org/10.4000/acost.426

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