Όρος Άθως - the Mount Athos

**Pompeius Magnus** · September 09, 2009, 09:57 AM

mount athos

**Pompeius Magnus** · September 09, 2009, 10:04 AM

background

During my travel in one of the most beautiful countries - greece - I had the unique chance to visit the monk-republic Athos in greece for 2 days. This trip was planned one year ago. The problem is that you need a special permission from the greek embassy in Athens or Thessaloniki... and that needs time.
Furthermore is is difficult to get one the eligible tickets because the ammount of visitors is strong limited.

a sidenote:
since a law of Alexius it is still forbidden for women to enter the republic.

the location

the map

the flag

the official flag of the Athos republic, the orthodox greek church of the ocumenical patriarchate of Constantinople and... of the former byzantine empire.
And indeed. If there exists a country in the world which continues the romano-byzantine tradition then it's greece of course. At Athos you can see that with your own eyes.

some infos

Mount Athos (Greek: Όρος Άθως, Oros Athos) is a mountain on the peninsula of the same name in Macedonia, of northern Greece, called in Greek Agion Oros (Άγιον Όρος, transliterated often as Hagion Oros), or in English, "Holy Mountain". In Classical times, the peninsula was called Aktí (Ακτή) (sometimes Acte or Akte). Politically it is known in Greece as the Autonomous Monastic State of the Holy Mountain. This World Heritage Site is home to 20 Eastern Orthodox monasteries and forms a self-governed monastic state within the sovereignty of the Hellenic Republic. Spiritually, Mount Athos comes under the direct jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople.

The peninsula, the easternmost "leg" of the larger Chalcidice peninsula, protrudes into the Aegean Sea for some 60 kilometres (37 mi) at a width between 7 to 12 km and covers an area of 335.637 square kilometres (129.59 sq mi), with the actual Mount Athos and its steep, densely forested slopes reaching up to 2,033 metres (6,670 ft). The seas around the end of the peninsula can be dangerous.

Though land-linked, it is accessible only by boat. The number of visitors is restricted and all are required to get a special entrance permit before entering Mount Athos. Only males are allowed entrance into Mount Athos, which is called "Garden of the Virgin" by monks, and Orthodox Christians take precedence in the permit issuance procedure. Only males over the age of 18 who are members of the Eastern Orthodox Church are allowed to live on Athos. There are religious guards, who are not monks, that assist the monks, and any other people not monks are required to live in the peninsula's capital, Karyes. The 2001 Greek national census counted a population of 2,262 inhabitants.

**Pompeius Magnus** · September 09, 2009, 10:29 AM

AoD2

now to the question how we can integrate those great impressions into Ages of Darkness 2.

The monastry string exists since vanilla-BI.
I will remove that string for Thessaloniki, the province of Makedonia. All other provinces can build their monastries as before.

In Thessaloniki I replace the existing monastry string with the brand-new Athos-string. All building UIs are brand new and hand-made. Background (landscape) + churches/monasteries are computer animations and no photos.

hist. background

early christianity

According to the athonite tradition, the Blessed Virgin Mary was sailing accompanied by St John the Evangelist from Joppa to Cyprus to visit 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 wonderful and wild natural beauty of the mountain, she blessed it and asked her Son for it to be her garden. A voice was heard saying "Ἔστω ὁ τόπος οὖτος κλῆρος σός καί περιβόλαιον σόν καί παράδεισος, ἔτι δέ καί λιμήν 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.

Historical documents on ancient Mount Athos history are very few. It is certain that monks have been there since the 4th century, and possibly since the 3rd. During Constantine I's reign (324-337) both Christians and pagans were living there. During the reign of Julian the Apostate (361-363), the churches of Mount Athos were destroyed, and Christians hid in the woods and inaccessible places. Later, during Theodosius I's reign (383-395), the pagan temples were destroyed. The lexicographer Hesychius of Alexandria states that in the 5th century there was still a temple and a statue of "Zeus Athonite". After the Islamic conquest of Egypt in the 7th 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..."

**Pompeius Magnus** · September 09, 2009, 10:32 AM

the monastries are not hanging in the air, a lot of them were build on very difficult locations. The official reason to build like that was to get a closer contact to god.
The unofficial reason to continue that kind of constructions in the 10th and 11th century was to protect the inhabitants, treasures and buildings from muslim piracy.

**AnthoniusII** · September 12, 2009, 11:38 AM

The Athonic area is under the rulle of Patriarch of Constantinople but under the "protection" of the Hellenic state..
Emperor Nikephoros Phokas was the 1st that donated land and money for the 1st monastery in Athos mountain to his friend monk Athanasios...
In a letter to Athanasios the emperor notticed that when the empire would be far aways from dangers he (the emperor)would become a simple monk under the "orders" of his friend Athanasios...
Remember that when Nikephorus was assasinated he wore only a monk's suit!

**Pompeius Magnus** · September 12, 2009, 05:48 PM

exactly,
see post 2 under the sub-chapter called "some infos"

**jermagon** · September 13, 2009, 03:57 AM

Great post Pomps, it's the first time for me to know about athos and it's great churches...
it's very interesting that when the peninsula fell to the Ottomans,they Ottoman leaders personally protected the monasteries.
but I guess I'll never be able to visit them at all since I'm Muslim, but it remains a very nice place to see

**AnthoniusII** · September 14, 2009, 09:41 AM

We in TGC mod are trying to add the monastery comnunities on the strat_map as "wonders" (if we will find someone to do it)...
Athos and Meteora...
AoD could add meteora because that monastery comnunity was far older than athonic one!
Meteora...
They are located in the thessalian region!

**Pompeius Magnus** · September 14, 2009, 10:03 AM

Originally Posted by AnthoniusII

We in TGC mod are trying to add the monastery comnunities on the strat_map as "wonders" (if we will find someone to do it)...
Athos and Meteora...
AoD could add meteora because that monastery comnunity was far older than athonic one!
Meteora...
They are located in the thessalian region!

one monastry of Athos was build by a son of Constantine. In the late 4th and 5th century there was a chain of churches near the coast-line. So it's old enough

(see post3)
However, Meteora is of course older and for sure a nice addition. I will include it

Thanx for the input Anthonius. new UIs will follow soon!