Cape Sounion is the most soutern point of Attica. It is a rocky cape, which rises about 70 meters above the sea, with a temple dedicated to Poseidon built on top of that rock, built around 444 BC. The friezes of the temple (now very fragmentary and only on display in the museum) ishow amongst others the contest between Athena and Poseidon, with the stake the patronage of the newly founded city of Athens. During the Peloponnesian Wars (in 413 BC), the Athenians fortified the temple settlement to prevent the cape from falling into Spartan hands, which would jeopardize the supply of grain to Athens.
Besides being a place for the temple, cape Sounion also served as a lookout for Athens, and as a fortress for the town of Sounion. The site was subjected to archaeological research by Dörpfeld in 1884. In 1906, two larger-than-life archaic kouroi were recovered east of the temple.
Sounion is very popular with tourists, but also with the Greeks themselves, who like to watch the sunset. Many people, including Lord Byron, have carved their names into the stones over the centuries.