On the last day when we had the car we drove to the southernmost tip of the Attic peninsula, to Temple of Poseidon. It is 70 km southeast from Athens which took us an hour and 10 minutes from our Airbnb. Bought our half priced off season tickets and in we went.
The original temple of Poseidon was destroyed by Persian troops in 480 BC. The second Temple of Poseidon was built during 444-440 BC on the same location, on a 60 m promontory named Cape Sounion. The Doric style temple was built on the edge of the cliff which is now protected with chains so people know how far they can go. It was believed n ancient Greece that storms were signs of Poseidon's, the god of sea, anger. So sailors and others offered animal sacrifices and other gifts to find favor in him. Its prominent location also signaled sailors that home is near.
The temples design is a typical hexastyle, a front portico (porch) with 6 Doric columns. The temple had 34 external and 4 internal columns, 16 of them are still standing today and 4 of which were re-erected in 20th century. Each column is a bit more than 6 meters. The restoring and preserving of the temple began in 1875 and what is seen today is mostly done in the 1950's. The Temple of Poseidon resembles the Temple of Hephaestus located beneath the Acropolis in Athens and it is believed they have been designed by the same architect, Iktinos. The white marble which was used for the temple was quarried at Laureotic Olympus which now is 30 minute car ride away from the temple.
During excavations in 1906, two artifacts were found. A 3 m marble statue of Sounion Kouros (~ 590 BC), a statue of a man which was presented as an offering to the gods, to Poseidon; and the relief of a "self-crowning athlete" (~ 460 BC). Both of the statues are seen in the Athens National Archaeological Museum. One of the columns from the temple can be seen in the British Museum as well.
In the promontory were ruins of Temple of Athena and a fortress. The Athena temple was built 300 m northeast from the Temple of Poseidon at 470 BC, replacing an older structure of 6th century. The temple was demolished in the 1st century AD and some of its column parts were taken to be used in one of the temples in agora in Athens. A 3 m thick wall with 11 towers created a fortress which was built around the Temple of Poseidon to provide more protection against the Spartans during the Peloponnesian War in 413 BC and it had a small navel base with two warships. But the fortress was taken by rebel slaves from a nearby silver mines. The reconstructed area of Temple of Poseidon looked like this.
After exploring the area, we drove around to find food. We stopped at "Stavento Restaurant Sounio" where outside the building we saw some cats too. And next to the tavern was a cafe "Vamvakousis Bakery Sounio" where we just wanted to look around and the clerk offered us some cake to try. Think Riin became a victim and bought from them.
After eating we drove a couple of meters from the restaurant towards the beach. Went swimming, chilled and then climbed up the cliff to explore a bit.
The Makronisos meaning long island (13 km long) is the biggest inhabited island in Greece. It is known as a military prison in 1940's-1970's and as a concentration camp back during the civil war (1946-1949) with around 10 000 detainees.
After that we drove back to Athens, gave back the car and went to our Airbnb. The next days we were in Athens but this I have already written about.
09.11.2018
