![]() ![]() This is one of the reasons why people enjoyed listening to stories about Greek gods, since they weren’t so different from us in character. ![]() They were all shaped in form of human beings and they had the same weaknesses as humans. ![]() Unlike other religions and traditions that are common today, Greek mythology was full of violent events and even killing by the gods themselves. Humans were afraid but at the same time they showed a great amount of love and appreciation for gods that had the ability to send the grace or eternal damnation. These higher forces were deities that ruled over humans and who were their supreme emperors. In ancient times when people didn’t have the opportunity to explain events that were happening around them, the only logical solution was that these events were created by some sort of higher force. Greek deities were formed as a hierarchy, which means there were or there was a supreme god that ruled the rest of them, but there were also deities for almost every segment of human life. The reason why it stood out is because the Greeks had an enormous amount of stories, so greatly written that they couldn’t have been neglected. Greek mythology belongs to one of the widest known mythologies around the world. These stories are all tied together and linked into one magnificent piece of history. The Temple is roughly 300 metres from the entrance to the archaeological site.Greek mythology represents a combination of various stories, myths and legends about heroes, beasts and beautiful women. Between the parking and the Temple itself is a small hill that you will have to climb to reach the spectacular remains. ![]() Parking is available near the entrance to the Temple, but be wary that it can fill up very quickly at sunset as visitors arrive to see the Temple at its best. The Temple is roughly an hour out from Athens (a 70km drive), heading southwest, and there are several tour operators offering half-day trips. The Temple was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2014, as part of Ancient Lavrion. If you can catch it at sunset, then the scene will be complete. For truly spectacular views this partially-ruined Greek temple is hard to beat. Today, only part of the Temple remains intact, but these ruins are still a must see site for anyone touring the eastern part of mainland Greece. This destruction ultimately paved the way for the building of the monumental marble temple, the remains of which you can see today. Built of tufa, it may well have been destroyed by the Persian King Xerxes in 480 BC, following his sacking of the Acropolis at Athens. During the Archaic Period, another Temple of Poseidon had been present on top of this cliff. It was Aegeus’ suicide that supposedly gave the sea its name: the Aegean Sea.Īway from mythology, the site at Sounio appears to have had religious significance since the Bronze Age. He consequently threw himself from the cliffs into the sea. Theseus forgot to change the sails’ colour, leading Aegeus to wrongly believe that his son had been killed during his quest. Theseus and Aegeus had agreed that the former would hoist white sails on his return if he had been successful, but that his men would hoist black sails if Theseus had failed and died during his famous Minotaur mission. Aegeus, the legendary father of Theseus, was said to have thrown himself from the cliffs above Cape Sounio when he saw his son’s ship returning from Crete hoisting black sails. Hexastyle in its original design (6 columns in width x 13 columns in length), only 16 of the original 38 columns remain.Īctivity had been occurring on the site long before the construction of this major monument, with the site also having some mythological links. Made of marble mined from nearby Agrileza and dramatically perched on a cliff overlooking the ocean, the Temple of Poseidon of Sounio is now made up of a rectangle of restored large Doric columns. The Temple itself was constructed in the mid 5th century BC, at roughly the same time as the Parthenon and the Temple of Hephaestus in Athens. The Temple of Poseidon of Sounio is a picturesque ruin of a 5th century BC Greek temple dedicated to the deity of the sea. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |