Temple of Poseidon, Tainaron

An ancient Greek sanctuary at the extreme tip of the Mani Peninsula, the southernmost point of mainland Greece, dedicated to Poseidon Asphaleios ("Poseidon of Safety"). Temple foundations dating from the mid-6th century BC lie near the modern Church of the Asomatoi, which incorporates reused materials from the ancient structure. The geographer Strabo described it as a sacred grove with a nearby cave, while Pausanias wrote of a cave-like temple with a statue of Poseidon at its entrance. In antiquity, the cave was believed to be the entrance to Hades, where Heracles supposedly dragged Cerberus from the underworld. The sanctuary also served as a center for mercenary recruitment and slave asylum, with four recovered stelae recording slave manumissions from the 5th-4th centuries BC.