Cape Sounion is the promontory at the southernmost tip of the Attica peninsula.Cape Sounion is noted for its Temple of Poseidon, one of the major monuments of the Golden Age of Athens.For the purpose of protecting the passage of the cornships to Athens and was regarded from that time as one of the principal fortreses of Attica.The temple of Poseidon at Sounion was constructed in 444–440 BC. This was during the ascendancy of the Athenian statesman Pericles, who also rebuilt the Parthenon in Athens. It was built on the ruins of a temple dating from the Archaic period. It is perched above the sea at a height of almost 60 metres (200 ft).Cape Sounino a popular day-excursion for tourists from Athens, with the sunset over the Aegean Sea, as viewed from the ruins, a sought-after sight since the first development of modern tourism in the early 19th century.