Athos, Mount

Also known as the Holy Mountain, the center of Greek Orthodox monastic spirituality and theological study in the Byzantine period. Situated on the easternmost of the three Chalkidike peninsulas in northeast Greece, it comprised 20 monasteries (most of them Orthodox), which represented both the communal and hermetic traditions. Mount Athos first flourished under Emperor Nikephoros Phokas (963-69), and by about 1100 it was a self-governing monastic republic.