|
[?]
|
Copyright ©
2004 George Kountouris, All Rights Reserved
Mellow
|
- This contribution is viewable with Quicktime and Flash.
[ Close ]
The peninsula of Sounion was inhabited from the prehistoric period, and there seems to have been some form of cult there in the Mycenaean times, since Homer is the first to describe Sounion as"sacred". He relates that on the journey back from Troy, Menelaus buried his steersman Prontis here.The excavations at the beginning of the century revealed that there was an organised sanctuary here already in the Geometric period (10th-7th C. BC). The construction of the temple of Poseidon and the propylon leading to it began in the early 5th C. BC. It was of poros, a very majestic structure, as befitted the great god of sea, whose cult was becoming increasingly important, with the growth of Athenian naval power. This temple was destroyed during the Persian invasion, however, before it could be completed. Another was erected on its site-a marble Doric peripteral temple with 6x13 columns. The entire sanctuary was encircled by a strong defence wall, which prevented access from the north and west. In 412 BC, during the Peloponnesian war, the Athenians strengthened the fortress, which occupied a strategic position from which it commanded the entrance to Saronic and South Euboea gulfs, and protected the whole of southern Attica. In 332 BC it was captured by the Macedonians, who were expelled by Demetrios Poliorketes in 307 BC. Despite Athenian resistance, it fell into the hands of the Macedonians once more in 263 BC, to be retaken by Athenians in 229 BC.
|
Previous
