Cape Sounio sits at the southernmost tip of the Attica Peninsula, right where the Saronic Gulf opens up to the Aegean Sea. Overlooking the entrance to the bay, the Temple of Poseidon dominates the cape at a height of 60 meters above sea level.
With its commanding view and strategic location, the temple of the god of the seas has been standing here since archaic times. The actual remains date back to the 5th century BC, after the previous temple was destroyed by the Persian King Xerxes I, when he raised Athens to the ground after he overcame King Leonidas at the battle of Thermopylae.
