Editing Mount Athos (section)

=== 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>