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Temple of Poseidon Facts & Worksheets

The Temple of Poseidon is one of the most important monuments from the Golden Age of Athens. Built between 444 and 440 BCE.

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The Temple of Poseidon is one of the most important monuments from the Golden Age of Athens. Built between 444 and 440 BCE at the edge of a cliff overlooking the Aegean Sea at Cape Sounion, it is 80 kilometers away from the capital city of Athens. Its location was recognized as holy ground by Homer and Herodotus as far back as 2800 BCE.

See the fact file below for more information on the Temple of Poseidon, or you can download our 29-page Temple of Poseidon worksheet pack to utilize within the classroom or home environment.

Key Facts & Information

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

  • The temple of Poseidon was rebuilt in Cape Sounion in 1884  after the original Archaic-period temple was destroyed. The first excavation was carried out by Wilhelm Dörpfeld, while in 1897 and 1913, Valerio Stais carried out more systematic excavations.
  • The Archaic-period temple was constructed in 500 BCE using tufa (a type of limestone). It was believed that in 480 BCE, before it was finished, it was destroyed by Persian troops under Xerxes I.
  • There is no direct evidence of Xerxes I’s invasion of Sounion, but there is for the temple of Athena and Athens’ Acropolis. This invasion was a punishment for Athenian defiance.
  • The Athenians won the naval Battle of Salamis against Xerxes I, and to dedicate their win to Poseidon, they placed their captured enemy’s trireme (warship) at Sounion as a trophy.
  • Between 444 to 440 BCE, the temple of Poseidon was built from the ruins of an Archaic temple. During the Peloponnesian War (413-412 BCE), Athenians built a defensive wall around the temple.

LOCATION AND FUNCTION

  • The Temple of Poseidon is located at the Cape of Sounion, at the foot of Attica, in Greece. It can be seen by ships sailing from Asia to Attica and near Attica.
  • There are a lot of possible reasons why and where the temple was constructed. These reasons may be due to Greek beliefs and defense and economic strategies.
  • The Temple of Poseidon was built near the Aegean Sea and dedicated to Poseidon, the god of the sea in Greek mythology. It was common practice in ancient Greece to place temples in areas related to the deity they were honoring. 
  • The god Poseidon is significant in Athens as the city is surrounded by sea, and the inhabitants valued their navy and sea trade. They prayed to him to keep them safe from shipwrecks and storms.
  • The choice of location was also influenced by practical aspects such as defense and economy. Placed at Sounion, near the sea, it served as a lookout for Athens’s enemies. The southernmost part of Attica is also a valuable economic hub as it has lots of naval merchant traffic. 
  • The site and the temple are beautiful and are a pleasant welcome and goodbye to seafarers traveling in and out of Athens. It is a landmark and just one of the fascinating tourist attractions in Greece. 

THE BASIC STRUCTURES OF GREEK TEMPLES

  • To understand the architecture of the temple of Poseidon, it is better first to understand the Greek’s basic temple structures. This includes the Greek temple’s basic floor plan and elevation.  
  • A floor plan is a scaled diagram of a floor’s structure in top view, showing the arrangement of rooms and spaces. In Greek temples, the basic floor plan includes a naos, pronaos, and/or opisthodomos, and a peristasis. 
  • The naos or cella is the hall of worship and contains the statues of the deity. The pronaos is a porch that has door access and is in front of the naos. The opisthodomos is like the pronaos but is located behind and has no access to naos, as it’s only for aesthetic purposes. Lastly, the peristasis is a single or double row of columns enclosing all the rooms and spaces. 
  • An elevation is a drawing that shows one of the façades of a structure, emphasizing the height, feature, and relationship of its vertical components. The Greek temple’s basic vertical components include the crepidoma, columns, entablature, and those above it. 
  • The crepidoma is a multilevel platform (usually three steps). It is the uppermost level, called the stylobate, upon which the columns and walls are built.  
  • The columns are vertical structural shafts made of several cuts of column drums and contain flutes (grooves). They also have a crowning top called the capital.
  • The entablature is the structure above the columns and is composed of the architrave and frieze. An architrave is a beam where the columns are connected. The frieze contains triglyphs and metopes, which can be flat or decorated.
  • Above the entablature, we have a geison, sima, and pediment. The geison is the outer edge of the roof; the sima is the roof’s upturned edge that acts like a gutter. Lastly, a pediment is a triangular or rectangular part that is richly decorated.

ARCHITECTURE

  • The temple of Poseidon is a Doric peripteral structure (has a single row of columns). It is composed of a naos, pronaos, opisthodomos, and peristyle. The antae of the naos are aligned at the front and back of the second column, counting from the side.
  • At one end of the naos, facing the door, the 6-meter bronze statue of Poseidon was placed. 
  • The temple has a 6×13 single-column layout, and out of the 34 columns, only 13 are still standing. The columns are very high, so to appear thicker, they were given fewer flutes than usual, only 16.
  • For the temple’s design, its metopes have no decoration, but the architrave at the pronaos has a shallow Ionic frieze. The ceiling beams also have painted designs. The cornice (decorative molding) of its pediment has a pitch of 12.5°.
  • The old Archaic temple was made of limestones. This material is still slightly incorporated from when the temple of Poseidon was built, alongside Agrileza marble and taenia (for ceiling borders).

EXCAVATION FINDINGS

  • Wilhelm Dörpfeld discovered some remnants of the earlier Archaic-period temple below the Temple of Poseidon, suggesting that the temple was still unfluted, had no roof, and experienced a massive fire. These findings led him to believe that the Archaic temple was destroyed by the Persians in 480/479 BCE. 
  • Between 1897 and 1915, the most thorough excavation of the Temple of Poseidon happened under Valerios Stais. He discovered many findings and constructions from earlier excavations.
  • Valerios corrected Pausanias with the discovered inscriptions and claimed that the temple was dedicated to the god Poseidon rather than the goddess Athena.
  • He also found bothros (large fits) containing marble sculpture fragments and votive offerings in both the Temple of Poseidon and Athena, making him believe that these were remnants from the temple’s destruction by the Persians in 479 BCE.
  • There are also some remnants of pottery, handmade ceramics, votive offerings, gendered and zoomorphic figurines, and terracotta artifacts discovered during the excavation. 

MYTHS AND LEGENDS

  • The Aegean Sea was named after the King of Athens, Aegeus. Some believed that while waiting for his son’s ship, he jumped off the cliff, thinking that his son, Theseus, was killed by the Minotaur. Unfortunately, his son won the battle and forgot to replace their ship’s black sail with white.
  • Based on Homer’s Greek epic, the Odyssey, King Menelaus of Sparta buried his helmsman in Sounion.
  • By offering animal sacrifices at the Temple of Poseidon, sailors believed that they would be saved from Poseidon’s wrath and that he would keep them safe on the sea.

The Temple of Poseidon Worksheets

This fantastic bundle includes everything you need to know about the Temple of Poseidon across 29 in-depth pages. These ready-to-use worksheets are perfect for teaching kids about the Temple of Poseidon, one of the most important monuments from the Golden Age of Athens.

Temple of Poseidon Worksheets
Temple of Poseidon Worksheets
Temple of Poseidon Worksheets

Complete List of Included Worksheets

Below is a list of all the worksheets included in this document.

  1. Temple of Poseidon Facts
  2. What’s the Order?
  3. Why Am I Built?
  4. Through Colors
  5. Build Me Up!
  6. How Do I Look?
  7. 2 Pics and 1 Jumbled Word
  8. What Do You Think?
  9. How Well Do You Know Me?
  10. Fact or Myth?
  11. What’s in My Metopes?

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Temple of Poseidon?

The Temple of Poseidon is an ancient Greek temple located at Cape Sounion, about 70 kilometers (43 miles) southeast of Athens. It was dedicated to the god of the sea, Poseidon.

When was the Temple of Poseidon built?

The Temple of Poseidon was built during the Golden Age of Athens, around 440 BC, as a replacement for an earlier temple that was destroyed by the Persians.

What was the architecture of the Temple of Poseidon?

The Temple of Poseidon was built in the Doric style of architecture and was constructed entirely out of white marble. It featured six columns on the facade and thirteen columns on the sides.

What was the significance of the Temple of Poseidon?

The Temple of Poseidon was an important religious and cultural center in ancient Greece, and it was considered to be one of the most sacred places in Attica. It was also strategically located on a hill overlooking the Aegean Sea, making it an important landmark for sailors and traders.

What is the condition of the Temple of Poseidon today?

The Temple of Poseidon is still standing today, although it has suffered damage from natural disasters and human activity over the centuries. It has been restored and renovated several times, most recently in the early 20th century. Today, it is a popular tourist destination and a symbol of Greece’s ancient cultural heritage.

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Use With Any Curriculum

These worksheets have been specifically designed for use with any international curriculum. You can use these worksheets as-is, or edit them using Google Slides to make them more specific to your own student ability levels and curriculum standards.

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