According to Greek mythology, Mount Athos is associated with the giant battle between the Giants and the Olympian gods, the leader of the former was Athos. In the conflict, Athos threw a huge stone volume against God Poseidon, but it escaped from his hands and fell into the sea, forming the piece of land where Mount Athos is located today.
Another version says that Poseidon was the one who threw the rock against Athos. The rock flattened Athos and buried him underneath. This rock also created Mount Athos.
According to another myth, the god Apollo fell in love with Daphne, daughter of the king of Arcadia. Daphne, in order to keep herself pure, found refuge in the main port of Athos, thus giving her name to it.
From this myth it appears that since ancient times the region was associated with the struggle against the flesh.
Until the 3rd BC century there were many small Greek cities on the Athos peninsula. Later, for reasons unknown, these cities declined or were destroyed, as a result of which the place remained deserted for several centuries.
Exactly when Christianity spread to Athos is not known. According to tradition, the Virgin and the Evangelist John, on their way to visit Lazarus in Cyprus, fell into a great sea storm which forced them to disembark temporarily at the port where the monastery of Iberon is located today. Admiring the wild landscape, the Virgin Mary asked her Son to offer her the whole Mount as a gift. Then the voice of the Lord was heard saying: "Let this place be your lot and surround you and be a paradise, and let it be a port of salvation for those who want to be saved". Since then, Mount Athos has been considered the lot and orchard of the Virgin Mary.
From the 5th AD century, human activity began to appear in the area again, when the first monks settled, who, disillusioned with the daily routine of social life, found this beautiful and deserted place ideal to better worship God.
There is also a tradition that Constantine the Great built most of the temples on Mount Athos, but from the research, nothing positive about this is witnessed.
According to what is believed to be the first Standard Charter ratified by Emperor Ioannis Tsimiskis, Athos is simply called "Mountain" which may have been the usual name of the area at the time. However, the prevalence of the name "Holy Mount" seems to have taken place during the first half of the 11th century, specifically in a golden document of the Emperor Alexios I Comnenus to the Holy Monastery of Megistis Lavra in 1144 which is definitively and officially recognized and the new name is imposed as it is written on it: "Henceforth the name of Athos shall be called Mount Athos above all else". In later Imperial and other documents it is referred to as "The Holy Name Mount Athos".

Editor: Fotini Anastasopoulou