Editing Mount Athos (section)

== History ==
[[File:Mont Athos 3D version 1.gif|thumb|A 3D model of Athos]]

=== Antiquity ===
[[File:Ste01945.jpg|thumb|Imaginary view of the Alexander monument, proposed by [[Dinocrates]]; engraving by [[Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach]], 1725]]

In [[Greek mythology]], [[Athos (mythology)|Athos]] is the name of one of the [[Gigantes]] that challenged the [[Greek gods]] during the [[Gigantomachy|Gigantomachia]]. Athos threw a massive rock at [[Poseidon]] which fell in the [[Aegean Sea]] and became Mount Athos.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Mythology and History of Chalkidiki (Halkidiki) |url=https://chalkidiki.com/mythology_history.html |access-date=2023-11-08 |website=chalkidiki.com |archive-date=8 November 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231108085611/https://chalkidiki.com/mythology_history.html |url-status=live }}</ref> According to another version of the story, Poseidon used the mountain to bury the defeated giant.{{Citation needed|date=March 2023}}

[[Homer]] mentions the mountain Athos in the [[Iliad]].<ref>Homer, ''Iliad'' 14,229.</ref> [[Herodotus]] writes that during the Persian invasion of [[Thrace]] in 492 BC, the fleet of the Persian commander [[Mardonius (general)|Mardonius]] was wrecked with losses of 300 ships and 20,000 men, by a strong North wind while attempting to round the coast near Mount Athos.<ref>Herodotus, ''Histories'' 6,44.</ref> Herodotus also states that [[Pelasgians]] from the island of [[Lemnos]] populated the peninsula, then called ''Akte,'' and names five cities thereon, [[Sane (Acte)|Sane]], [[Cleonae (Athos)|Kleonai]] (Cleonae), [[Thyssos]] (Thyssus), [[Olophyxos]] (Olophyxus), and [[Akrothoon]] (Acrothoum).<ref>Herodotus, ''Histories'' 7,22.</ref> [[Strabo]] also mentions the cities of Dion (Dium) and Akrothoon.<ref>Strabo, ''Geography'' 7,33,1.</ref> [[Eretria]] also established colonies on Akte. At least one other city was established in the Classical period: [[Acanthus (Greece)|Akanthos]] (Acanthus). Some of these cities minted their own coins.{{Citation needed|date=March 2023}}

The peninsula was on the invasion route of [[Xerxes I]], who spent three years<ref>Warry, J. (1998), ''Warfare in the Classical World'', Salamander Book Ltd., London, p. 35</ref> excavating the [[Xerxes Canal]] across the isthmus to allow the passage of his invasion fleet in 483 BC. After the death of [[Alexander the Great]], the architect [[Dinocrates]] (Deinokrates) proposed carving the entire mountain into a statue of Alexander.

[[Pliny the Elder]] stated in 77 AD that the inhabitants of Mount Athos could "live to their four hundredth year" due to the fact that they eat the skin of vipers.<ref>Pliny the Elder. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0137%3Abook%3D7%3Achapter%3D2] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211029223357/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0137:book%3D7:chapter%3D2|date=29 October 2021}}, Retrieved on 30 October 2021.</ref>

The lack of historical accounts shrouds the history of the peninsula during the later ages. Archaeologists have not been able to determine the exact location of the cities reported by Strabo. It is believed that they must have been deserted when Athos's new inhabitants, the monks, started arriving sometime before the ninth century AD.<ref name="Kadas1">{{cite book |last=Kadas |first=Sotiris |title=The Holy Mountain |year=1981 |publisher=Ekdotike Athenon |location=Athens |language=el |isbn=978-960-213-199-2 |page=9}}</ref>

=== Early Christianity ===
[[File:Athos peninsula.jpg|thumb|The peninsula as seen from the summit of Mount Athos]]

According to the Athonite tradition, the [[Blessed Virgin Mary]] was sailing accompanied by St [[John the Evangelist]] from [[Jaffa|Joppa]] to [[Cyprus]] to visit [[Lazarus of Bethany|Lazarus]]. When the ship was blown off course to then-pagan Athos, it was forced to anchor near the port of Klement, close to the present monastery of Iviron. The Virgin walked ashore and, overwhelmed by the mountain's wonderful and wild natural beauty, she blessed it and asked her Son for it to be her garden. A voice was heard saying, {{lang|grc|{{"-}}Ἔστω ὁ τόπος οὗτος κλῆρος σὸς καὶ περιβόλαιον σὸν καὶ παράδεισος, ἔτι δὲ καὶ λιμὴν σωτήριος τῶν θελόντων σωθῆναι"}} (Translation: "Let this place be your inheritance and your garden, a paradise and a haven of salvation for those seeking to be saved"). From that moment the mountain was consecrated as the garden of the Mother of God and was out of bounds to all other women.<ref group="note">St Gregory Palamas included this tradition in his book ''Life of Petros the Athonite'', p. 150, 1005 AD.</ref>

Historical documents on ancient Mount Athos history are very few. Monks have certainly been there since the fourth century, and possibly since the third. During [[Constantine I]]'s reign (324–337) both Christians and followers of traditional Greek religion were living there. During the reign of [[Julian (emperor)|Julian]] (361–363), the churches of Mount Athos were destroyed, and Christians hid in the woods and inaccessible places.<ref>{{cite book |last=Speake |first=Graham |date=2002 |title=Mount Athos: Renewal in Paradise |publisher=Yale University Press |page=27 |isbn=0-300-093535}}</ref>

Later, during [[Theodosius I]]'s reign (379–395), the temples of the traditional Greek religion were destroyed. The lexicographer [[Hesychius of Alexandria]] states that in the fifth century, there was still a temple and a statue of "[[Zeus]] Athonite". After the [[Islamic conquest of Egypt]] in the seventh century, many Orthodox monks from the Egyptian desert tried to find another calm place; some of them came to the Athos peninsula. An ancient document states that monks "built huts of wood with roofs of straw ... and by collecting fruit from the wild trees were providing themselves improvised meals."<ref>Biography of Saint Athanasius the Athonite</ref>

=== Byzantine era and onwards ===
{{expand section|date=October 2024}}
{{see|Monastic community of Mount Athos#History}}
[[File:Icon in the Monastery of Great Lavra, Mount Athos, 15th century.png|thumb|Icon in the Monastery of Great Lavra, Mount Athos, 15th century]]
[[File:Refectory in a Greek Monastery, Mount Athos, Theodore Jacques Ralli, 1885.jpg|thumb|''Refectory in a Greek Monastery, Mount Athos'' by Theodore Jacques Ralli, 1885]]