The Archaeology of Sounion
Exploring the Buildings and History of an Ancient Greek Sanctuary
The site of Sounion has a long history and its archaeology covers much more than the ancient sanctuaries the site is famous for.
Situated at the southernmost tip of Attica, the site of Sounion was important from Mycenaean times. The columns of the world renowned temple of Poseidon were the last sight Athenian sailors saw as they departed their homeland. However, there is more to the remains of Sounion than temples. For after the Persian wars, this strategically significance site, situated in an area rich with resources vital to Athens was embellished with a fort, trireme launch and a settlement.
History of the Site
The earliest cult activity in evidence on the site dates from the Mycenaean period. A circular temenos or sacred precinct has been identified to the north of the cape, which included a sacred grove and a burial mound. Here, votive offerings of arrow heads, weapons, clay and bronze figurines point to a warrior cult dedicated to chthonic deities. A reference in Homer’s Odyssey lends weight to this analysis. Sounion is referred to as the burial place of Phronis, one of Menealeus’s warriors who died at the cape on the way home from the Trojan War (III, 279).
In the 6th Century BC, the sanctuary of Athena was built in close proximity to this early temenos. Temple of Poseidon took its place on the headland in the early 5th century. Built from local stone, these initial temples were destroyed later in the 5th Century BC by the Persians. It was only after the Persian defeat that the temples were rebuilt, this time in local marble from the quarry at Agrileza. However, the Athenian’s were taking no chances with the defences of the temples and the strategically important site. A fort was added and a facility for launching triremes to defend grain ships passing to Athens. The spectacular views from the cape made it the perfect place to police the area in general.
By the fourth century BC, the lead mines had been abandoned and Sounion declined in importance. Its fort was abandoned and the sanctuaries fell into disuse by the 1st Century BC. Its only discernable feature remained the columns of the temple of Poseidon which were still used for navigation by sailors, leading to the new name ‘Capo di Collogne’ or ‘The Cape of Columns.’
The Fort
The fort extended the original sanctuary walls, so that it enclosed 3.5 hectares of the site, stretching down to the sea on the north side. The three metre thick wall, built from local stone and the remains of the destroyed temples was punctuated by thirteen defensive towers that were accessible from the interior of the defences by a pathway that ran around the wall’s perimeter. Towers I, II and III flanked the entrance to the Sanctuary of Poseidon, with the remaining towers circling round down to the trireme launch. The entrance of the fort was between towers X and XI. Close to tower XII the barracks have been identified, built with the natural bedrock as its back wall.
The Settlement
Situated to the north of the Temple of Poseidon, not far from the fort’s entrance and the trireme launch, remains have been found of a large central street onto which most of the buildings opened out. Again, it seems that the settlement may well have been built from the detritus of the destroyed Temple of Poseidon as it is built out of the same reddish stone.
The settlement’s primary function would have been to serve the fort. Water cisterns, millstones for grinding grain, marble basins for bread making have been identified on site, as well as clay beehives, pointing towards a thriving self sufficient community.
The Trireme Launch
Situated on the North West coast of the cape, the trireme launch has left behind indisputable evidence of its existence in the form of 2 launch ramps that were carved into the coastal bedrock. Material remains in the area suggest that unlike of the rest of Sounion’s military buildings, the boat sheds were in fact built of the same marble as the new sanctuary complexes.
The Sacred Sites
Besides the remains of the original warrior cult, Sounion has evidence of the later worship of other gods, no doubt as a result of the expansion of occupation of the site. Around the area of the fort and temenos of Athena, inscribed pedestals of Apollo and Aphrodite have been founds, as well as a late 2nd century BC sanctuary to Asclepius, the god of medicine and Ianiskos, the god of malaria, no doubt due to the effects of the nearby marshland.
However, despite these later additions, it was still the Sanctuaries to Poseidon and Athena that continued to dominate Sounion until its fall.
Sources
‘Sounion’ by Mary Salliora-Oikonomakou. Ministry of Culture Archaeological Receipts Fund, Greece.
‘The Odyssey’ Homer. Trans. E V Rieu. Penguin Classics.
