kouroi, which were found buried in a pit east of the temple (see fig. 23). The earliest temple
for which we have evidence dates somewhat later, around 490–480. Numerous fragments
of its limestone Doric capitals, wall blocks, column drums, and architraves were built into
the foundations of the later temple of Poseidon or reused in the sanctuary of Athena on the
lower hill. The plan is similar to that of the later temple but slightly smaller; it was presum-
ably destroyed by the Persians in 480/79.
The marble temple still crowning the cape today should probably be dated to the
440s as part of the Periklean building program (see figs. 100 –103). It has the standard
Doric plan, with six columns by thirteen, so close in design to the Hephaisteion above the
Agora that it has been suggested that both were built by the same architect. The Sounion
temple has three anomalies, however. All but one of the columns have drums of equal
height (0.6 meters), and the walls of the cella had regular courses of alternating heights
of 0.3 and 0.6 meters. Also, the columns have sixteen f lutes, an archaizing feature; most
Classical columns have twenty. There are several battered and worn sculpted frieze
blocks which went in the pronaos (front porch) and, probably, the opisthodomos (back
porch). One series depicts a boar hunt and the other a centauromachy. These are now
stored in the closed museum at Laureion. Fragments of pedimental sculpture and an
acroterion were also recovered and are on display in the National Museum. The temple
stood within its own walled precinct, which was approached through a marble and lime-
stone propylon, distyle-in-antis (two columns between the antae) in plan. To the west of
the propylon, facing south, was a stoa, used presumably to display votives and perhaps
for dining.
Soon after the construction of the sanctuary, the entire hill was fortified, in 413/2, ac-
cording to Thucydides (see figs. 100, 163). The fort thereafter became an important garri-
son for the Athenians and was repaired and renewed in the troubled times of the third cen-
tury. Two distinct building styles can be made out in the circuit, the later making liberal use
of blocks taken from dismantled grave monuments. Two ship sheds were constructed at
the northwest edge of the promontory. During a slave revolt in 104–100 b.c., Sounion was
seized and used as a base for plundering Attica (Athenaios, Deipnosophistai 272E). In later
times the cape and its sheltered beaches continued to attract travelers, many of whom in-
scribed their names on the Poseidon temple or carried off bits of the building to their
homes.
The deme site of Sounion may be the collection of houses and streets that appear par-
tially excavated within the fort, as at Rhamnous. An inscription (IG II
2
1140) calling for the
construction of a new agora for the deme was found several kilometers to the north, how-
ever, so the precise location of the deme center remains uncertain.
308 SITE SUMMARIES