Temple of Poseidon

Poseidon Adventure

temple of poseidonTemple of Poseidon2

inscriptions

Many names are carved into the marble from the 19th century. The scandalous Lord Byron left carved his name here.

temple of poseidon4

The Doric style innovative columns.

poseidon temple3

side view

templetourists

Next to the temple is the lesser known Temple of Athena.

tourists@temple

sun flare on temple

Let it flare!

sunbeaming throughsunsettingontemple

The Temple of Poseidon is located at the southernmost point of  the Athenian peninsula at Cape Sounio. It is an hour and a half away from Athens’ center. The long drive there is gorgeous and worth it. The temple is dedicated to Poseidon the Greek God of the sea. It was rebuilt by order of Pericles in the 5th century B.C. over an older temple from the Archaic period. This site has been continually inhabited since prehistoric times.

This is my second time at the Temple of Poseidon in Sounio. I can’t get enough of the temple and views here. I couldn’t stop taking pictures. The task of organizing them was a bit of a chore, but I finally got around to publishing them. I have more of the pictures of the views of the ocean that I will be posting soon.

For more information about the temple and 3D view of how it used to look in ancient times head on over to this site: http://www.ancientathens3d.com/sounio-history/

The Temple of Poseidon/Ο Ναος του Ποσειδωνα

templetext1

templetext2

templetext3

templetext6

templetext8

templetext7

templecolumnstext

templegraffiti

There is a lot of graffiti from over a century ago. If you zoom in you at the top you can see Lord Byron’s’ name.

templetext5

templetext4

touriststextThe temple of Poseidon at Cape Sounio is a beautiful spot at the southern tip of Attica. It has one the greatest views of the sea I have seen in Greece. It is no wonder then that it was such a significant strategic point for the ancient Athenians who, from this point, could control the sea passage to the Aegean sea and Piraeus and Lavrion Peninsula.  Poseidon, the God of the sea, protected the ships in the Mediterranean. Seafarers would come to the temple and make animal sacrifices or give gifts in exchange for a safe sea voyage.