Sanctuary of Athena at Sounion

On the southern-most tip of Attica is Cape Sounion, believed to have been sacred to Athena and home to the Sanctuaries of Athena and Poseidon. Located in the deme Sounion of the Leontis tribe, the temple in the sanctuary dedicated to Athena- alternatively known as Athena Sounias- was constructed primarily of marble, a material that was used much more sparingly outside of Attika. The marble used on the Sounion Temple of Athena, however, was of remarkably poor quality. While the vast majority of the temple has been destroyed, the Temple of Poseidon, pictured in the background in the photo below, has been significantly better preserved and overlooks Cape Sounion. "At least the façade of [Athena's] temple must have been stripped in the first century A.D. and taken to Athens for a temple in the Agora, as several of its Ionic columns and a block of cornice have been found there. In the third century, they were re-used in the Valerian wall." (ancient-greece.org)

Two Temples

Over the time that cult activity at the site, the Sanctuary of Athena held two separate temples, both of which are believed to have been dedicated to the goddess. Because they were built on different axes, it is assumed that their constructions had been staggered and separate. The first was a smaller Doric temple, called simply "The Small Temple" which stood on the north side of the sanctuary with a cella of 5x6.9 meters in dimension. The foundations were that of irregular stones, harvested locally, and it boasted red walls and a humble wooden roof. A greyish-blue stone base stood on the inside, most likely as the basis for a cult statue of the patron goddess. "The small temple is attributed to Athena and it was built during the Archaic period, probably around 600 BC. In 480/79 BC it was destroyed by the Persians along with the sculpture of the sanctuary. " (Mourtzos) While cult activity supposedly continued after the Persian destruction of the smaller temple, it is unclear whether or not it was ever rebuilt. Those who speculate it was not rebuilt point out that many destroyed temples and statues were left in their disheveled state as a reminder of the Persians' disrespect and brutality until the Periclean building program in 449 BCE.

The Large "Unusual" Temple that succeeded it earned its name through its unorthodox construction as it "[consisted] of a rectangular cella with a colonnade only its eastern front and southern flank.” (Mourtzos) The larger temple, which was stylized in the Ionic order, was most likely constructed in the 470s BCE, with the cella being constructed first and the peristyle added later. "The temple had four interior columns. In the exterior, the east flank had ten columns, the south twelve, and one more existed at each of the northern and western sides." (Mourtzos) No sculpture survived the destruction.

The two temples were surrounding by a limestone wall that stretched across the southern and western sides of the sanctuary and stood at 85 meters in length and 40 meters in width. Considered the oldest wall on the site, now only a few small sections of it still remain on the sanctuary, which had been artificially filled before construction began for a distance of 10 meters in order to extend and level the build site. (Barletta, 19-21)

Mythological Association

One of the earliest known references to Cape Sounion was in Homer's Odyssey in the 8th century BC, in which Cape Sounion is described as "the sacred cape of the Athenians". (odysseus.culture.gr)

Other ancient Greek references to the cape and sanctuaries occur in works by the playwrights Sophocles and Euripides, who specifically mentions the Temple to Poseidon and lists the grounds as being "sacred to Athena". In the play Cyclops by Euripides, Athena is named as "Sounia", another of the first clear references to the cape and sanctuaries. (Barletta)