Cape Sounion and the Temple of Poseidon

We had to make an early start out of Alimos Marina on Thursday 13 August or risk paying for an extra day’s mooring (Alimos marina charges from 0800 to 0800). It felt even earlier than it was after an excellent meal with Neil and Malcolm, which finished much later in the night [Ed: or earlier in the morning!] than we had anticipated. Nevertheless, a 7am start for a 23nm passage means that you arrive to a recently emptied anchorage, which is very convenient, even if we did have to motor most of the way due to lack of wind.

We had decided to spend the night at the anchorage under Cape Sounion. As the day drew on the anchorage filled and filled and filled. Nicky counted 32 yachts at anchor overnight and several had left before the night closed in. Clearly visible high up on the cape are the remains of the Temple to Poseidon, the ancient Greek god of the sea. Also on the cape, but at a slightly lower level and much less well preserved, are the remains of a temple to Athena.

When the day had cooled down somewhat we inflated the dinghy and went ashore to visit Poseidon’s Temple. The peninsula at Sounion has been inhabited since prehistoric times and it is likely that there was a cult temple or similar at Sounion in Mycenaean times as Homer relates that Menelaus buried his steersman at this ‘sacred’ site. Construction of the first temple to Poseidon began in the early 5^th century BC but this was destroyed by the Persians before it was completed. The remains we see today are of a Doric temple which was built on the same site. Around the temple were enclosure walls and beyond this were strong defensive walls to protect the whole sanctuary and the headland from attack from the north and east (the cliffs of the cape providing the defences to the south and west).

This strategic fortress, protecting south Attica and guarding the entrances to the Saronic and South Evia Gulfs, was strengthened by the Athenians during the Peloponnesian War. The modern path above follows the line of the ancient town’s main street and to either side we saw the remains of houses and shops, some still with amphorae in position.

The Athenians had even dug into the cliffs to make ship repair facilities and, again, the remins of these can still be clearly seen, including the grooves to take the ships’ keels.

The temple’s pillars are as impressive close up as we thought them when we sailed past at night a week or so previously.

It was obvious we weren’t the first ones to think so. We saw plenty of graffiti carved onto the ancient stones in the late 1800’s, mostly by sailors to judge from the proliferation of anchors, ‘SS Sparta’ and other ship’s names. Apparently, Lord Byron also carved his name here, but we couldn’t see it.

With dusk falling we decided to watch the sunset from BV rather than from the temple itself.

And a very good vantage point it was too!

Ákra Sounion, Greece