Sounio

Sounio is the name of the cape located on the southern end of the county of Athens. The seaside around Sounio consists of abrupt rocks almost vertical to the sea. Sounio is known for its strategic location as well as the ruins of the ancient temple of Neptune located there. The great rock of the Neptune’s temple, is also well known in Greek mythology as it was the place where Theseus’ father Aegeus commited suicide. According to the story, Theseus went to Crete in order to slay the Minotaur, a mythical monster, which each year was fed with 7 young boys and 7 young girls from the city of Athens. Theseus made an arrangement with his father Aegeus that if the monster was killed, white cloth would be raised on the ship’s mast. Due to the happiness of the achieved goal, Theseus and his sailors forgot to change the ship’s cloth from black to white, so as the father observed the black clothed ship approaching thought his son was killed and fell of the greatest rock and drowned. From then on the Greek sea took his name, the Aegean bay. During modern times the vast area around Sounio was declared a national park thanks to its environmental value. Sounio is also very popular due to the wonderful sunset one can witness while being there.