Athos ( �æθɒs

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

: , ), in

Greek mythology A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the origin and nature of the world, the lives and activities o ...

, was one of the Gigantes. He is best known for the creation of

Mount Athos Mount Athos (; el, Ἄθως, ) is a mountain in the distal part of the eponymous Athos peninsula and site of an important centre of Eastern Orthodox monasticism in northeastern Greece. The mountain along with the respective part of the peni ...

, a mountain and peninsula in northern Greece which is an important centre of

Eastern Orthodox Eastern Orthodoxy, also known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity, is one of the three main branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholicism and Protestantism. Like the Pentarchy of the first millennium, the mainstream (or " canonical ...

monasticism Monasticism (from Ancient Greek , , from , , 'alone'), also referred to as monachism, or monkhood, is a religious way of life in which one renounces worldly pursuits to devote oneself fully to spiritual work. Monastic life plays an important rol ...

, and thus called , 'Holy Mountain'. There are two versions of the creation myth of the mountain. In one version, Athos throws a mountain at

Poseidon Poseidon (; grc-gre, Ποσειδῶν) was one of the Twelve Olympians in ancient Greek religion and myth, god of the sea, storms, earthquakes and horses.Burkert 1985pp. 136–139 In pre-Olympian Bronze Age Greece, he was venerated as ...

but misses. It is said that "Athos got away and the rock he was about to throw at the god slipped through his fingers". Poseidon then threw it back at him, thus creating Mount Athos. In the other version, Poseidon throws a rock at Athos, creating the mountain.

Sources

* “Gigantes.” Accessed September 14, 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20151001095553/http://www.mlahanas.de/Greeks/Mythology/Gigantes.html. * “GIGANTES : Giants of Phlegra , Greek Mythology, W/ Pictures.” Accessed September 14, 2015. http://www.theoi.com/Gigante/Gigantes.html. * “Gigantomachy: Sculpture & Vase Representations.” Accessed September 21, 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20130208175042/http://mkatz.web.wesleyan.edu/cciv110x/hesiod/cciv110.gigantomachy.html. * “HOLY MOUNTAIN AND BULGARIAN ZOGRAF MONASTERY.” Accessed September 21, 2015. http://berberian11.tripod.com/gulabov_athos.htm. * “Mount Athos.” Sacred Sites. Accessed September 21, 2015. https://sacredsites.com/europe/greece/mount_athos.html. * “Mount Athos - Everything2.com.” Accessed September 21, 2015. http://everything2.com/title/Mount+Athos. * “Myths and Legends about Mount Athos.” Accessed September 21, 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20151001153446/http://europost.bg/article?id=968. * “Tsantali » Mount Athos.” Accessed September 16, 2015. http://www.tsantali.com/mount-athos/. {{DEFAULTSORT:Athos (Mythology) Gigantes Mythology of Macedonia (region) Greek legendary creatures Mount Athos