The Role of Poseidon in Attica

Poseidon was an important deity in archaic Ellucis, consistent with his close cult relations to Demeter. Poseidon had other cultic sites in Attica, but the most important was the sanctuary at the promontory of Sunion which Homer called the Sacred Headland. It was from here that Aegeus was said to have jumped when he saw a Theseus ship, with the black sail still hoisted. This historic temple, built around 440 BC during the Periclesian Building Program, atop the foundations of the ancient temple,. Was the ancient temple in all of Greece and occupied a commanding position overlooking the Aegean Sea at the entrance to the Seronic Gulf.