Mycale (). also Mykale and Mykali ( grc, Μυκάλη, ''Mykálē''), called Samsun Dağı and Dilek Dağı (
Dilek Peninsula) in modern
Turkey, is a mountain on the west coast of central
Anatolia in Turkey, north of the mouth of the
Maeander and divided from the Greek island of
Samos by the 1.6 km wide
Mycale Strait. The mountain forms a
ridge
A ridge or a mountain ridge is a geographical feature consisting of a chain of mountains or hills that form a continuous elevated crest for an extended distance. The sides of the ridge slope away from the narrow top on either side. The line ...
, terminating in what was known anciently as the Trogilium
promontory
A promontory is a raised mass of land that projects into a lowland or a body of water (in which case it is a peninsula). Most promontories either are formed from a hard ridge of rock that has resisted the erosive forces that have removed the so ...
(
Ancient Greek Τρωγίλιον or Τρωγύλιον). There are several beaches on the north shore ranging from sand to pebbles. The south flank is mainly
escarpment.
In
classical Greece
Classical Greece was a period of around 200 years (the 5th and 4th centuries BC) in Ancient Greece,The "Classical Age" is "the modern designation of the period from about 500 B.C. to the death of Alexander the Great in 323 B.C." ( Thomas R. Marti ...
nearly the entire ridge was a promontory enclosed by the
Aegean Sea. Geopolitically it was part of
Ionia
Ionia () was an ancient region on the western coast of Anatolia, to the south of present-day Izmir. It consisted of the northernmost territories of the Ionian League of Greek settlements. Never a unified state, it was named after the Ionian ...
with
Priene placed on the coast on the south flank of the mountain and
Miletus
Miletus (; gr, Μῑ́λητος, Mī́lētos; Hittite transcription ''Millawanda'' or ''Milawata'' (exonyms); la, Mīlētus; tr, Milet) was an ancient Greek city on the western coast of Anatolia, near the mouth of the Maeander River in a ...
on the coast opposite to the south across the deep embayment into which the Maeander River drained. Somewhat further north was
Ephesus
Ephesus (; grc-gre, Ἔφεσος, Éphesos; tr, Efes; may ultimately derive from hit, 𒀀𒉺𒊭, Apaša) was a city in ancient Greece on the coast of Ionia, southwest of present-day Selçuk in İzmir Province, Turkey. It was built in t ...
.
The ruins of the first two Ionian cities mentioned with their harbor facilities remain but today are several miles inland overlooking instead a rich agricultural plain and delta parkland created by deposition of sediments from the river, which continues to form the geological feature named after it,
maeanders. The end of the former bay remains as a lake, Çamiçi Gölü (
Lake Bafa). Samsun Daği, or Mycale, still has a promontory.
The entire ridge was designated as a national park in 1966; ''Dilek Yarimadisi Milli Parki'' ("Dilek Peninsula National Park") has , which is partly accessible to the public. The remainder is a military reservation. The park's isolation has encouraged the return of the native ecology, which is 60%
maquis shrubland
220px, Low maquis in Corsica
220px, High ''macchia'' in Sardinia
( , , ) or ( , ; often in Italian; hr, makija; ; ) is a shrubland biome in the Mediterranean region, typically consisting of densely growing evergreen shrubs.
Maquis is char ...
. It is a refuge for species that used to be more abundant in the region.
Geophysics
Western Turkey is mainly
fault-block terrain, with steep-sided ridges running east-west and rivers in the rifts. The source of the faulting is the closing of
Tethys Sea and the collision of the
African
African or Africans may refer to:
* Anything from or pertaining to the continent of Africa:
** People who are native to Africa, descendants of natives of Africa, or individuals who trace their ancestry to indigenous inhabitants of Africa
*** Ethn ...
and
Arabian plates with the
Eurasian plate. The smaller
Turkish
Turkish may refer to:
*a Turkic language spoken by the Turks
* of or about Turkey
** Turkish language
*** Turkish alphabet
** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation
*** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey
*** Turkish communities and mi ...
and Aegean plates are being pushed together, generating ridges in Turkey. This orogenic belt was in place by 1.6 mya and continues to be a hot spot of earthquakes and volcanoes.
Mount Mycale is part of a larger ridge, which continues in
Samos on the other side of the Samos Strait, and to the northeast in the Aydin Dağlari ("Aydin Mountains"), ancient Messogis range, on the other side of low hills and passes. The entire block of mountains around the Menderes (Maeander) River is known as the Menderes Massif.
Mycale is scored transversely by numerous ravines through which sources drain. The biggest ravine is Oluk Gorge, with cliffs high. The main permanent streams are the Bal Deresi, the Sarap Dami and the Oluk Dereleri. The ample water supply supports a verdant maquis.
The rock is primarily
metamorphic:
marble and
limestone formed from rocks originating in the
Mesozoic, crystalline
schists formed from rocks originating in the
Palaeozoic
The Paleozoic (or Palaeozoic) Era is the earliest of three geologic eras of the Phanerozoic Eon.
The name ''Paleozoic'' ( ;) was coined by the British geologist Adam Sedgwick in 1838
by combining the Greek words ''palaiós'' (, "old") and '' ...
and
conglomerate
Conglomerate or conglomeration may refer to:
* Conglomerate (company)
* Conglomerate (geology)
* Conglomerate (mathematics)
In popular culture:
* The Conglomerate (American group), a production crew and musical group founded by Busta Rhymes
** Co ...
s of the
Cenozoic
The Cenozoic ( ; ) is Earth's current geological era, representing the last 66million years of Earth's history. It is characterised by the dominance of mammals, birds and flowering plants, a cooling and drying climate, and the current configura ...
. The renowned builders and sculptors of Ionia made full use of these materials for their major works.
Ecology
The ridge and its environs offer a number of different ecologies. The crest is a sharp divide between the
xerophytic southern slopes and the forested northern slopes, with of
maquis
Maquis may refer to:
Resistance groups
* Maquis (World War II), predominantly rural guerrilla bands of the French Resistance
* Spanish Maquis, guerrillas who fought against Francoist Spain in the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War
* The network ...
and of mixed pine.
Around the base of the promontory is a maritime environment.
The maquis vegetation includes ''
Pistacia lentiscus
''Pistacia lentiscus'' (also lentisk or mastic) is a dioecious evergreen shrub or small tree of the genus ''Pistacia'' native to the Mediterranean Basin. It grows up to tall and is cultivated for its aromatic resin, mainly on the Greek islan ...
;
Laurus nobilis;
Quercus ilex
''Quercus ilex'', the evergreen oak, holly oak or holm oak is a large evergreen oak native to the Mediterranean region. It is a member of the ''Ilex'' section of the genus, with acorns that mature in a single summer.
Description
An evergreen tr ...
,
Q. frainetto'' and ''
Q. ithaburensis;
Phillyrea latifolia;
Ceratonia siliqua
The carob ( ; ''Ceratonia siliqua'') is a flowering evergreen tree or shrub in the Caesalpinioideae sub-family of the legume family, Fabaceae. It is widely cultivated for its edible fruit pods, and as an ornamental tree in gardens and landsca ...
;
Olea europaea
The olive, botanical name ''Olea europaea'', meaning 'European olive' in Latin, is a species of small tree or shrub in the family Oleaceae, found traditionally in the Mediterranean Basin. When in shrub form, it is known as ''Olea europaea'' ...
;
Rubus fruticosus;
Myrtus communis
''Myrtus communis'', the common myrtle or true myrtle, is a species of flowering plant in the myrtle family Myrtaceae. It is an evergreen shrub native to southern Europe, North Africa, Western Asia, Macaronesia, and the Indian Subcontinent, and a ...
;
Smilax;
Jasminum fruticans;
Vitis vinifera;
Lathyrus grandiflorus;
Erica arborea;'' and ''
Juncus'' on the slopes of the north. In moister areas are to be found ''
Nerium oleander,
Platanus orientalis,
Fraxinus ornus
''Fraxinus'' (), commonly called ash, is a genus of flowering plants in the olive and lilac family, Oleaceae. It contains 45–65 species of usually medium to large trees, mostly deciduous, though a number of subtropical species are evergr ...
,
Laurus nobilis,
Cupressus sempervirens
''Cupressus sempervirens'', the Mediterranean cypress (also known as Italian cypress, Tuscan cypress, Persian cypress, or pencil pine), is a species of cypress native to the eastern Mediterranean region, in northeast Libya, southern Albania, sou ...
'' and ''
Rubus fruticosus''.
The mixed pine forest goes up to . Its major plant species are
Pinus brutia,
Juniperus phoenicea, with broad-leaved trees and shrubs:
Ulmus campestris,
Acer sempervirens,
Fraxinus ornus
''Fraxinus'' (), commonly called ash, is a genus of flowering plants in the olive and lilac family, Oleaceae. It contains 45–65 species of usually medium to large trees, mostly deciduous, though a number of subtropical species are evergr ...
,
Castanea sativa,
Tilia platyphyllos,
Sorbus torminalis,
Viburnum tinus
''Viburnum tinus'', the laurustinus, laurustine or laurestine, is a species of flowering plant in the family (biology), family Adoxaceae, native plant, native to the Mediterranean area of Europe and North Africa. ''Laurus'' signifies the leaves' ...
,
Pyrus eleagrifolia
''Pyrus elaeagrifolia'', the oleaster-leafed pear, is a species of wild pear plant in the genus ''Pyrus'' ( Rosaceae), the specific name referring to the similarity of its foliage to that of ''Elaeagnus angustifolia'' - the so-called 'wild olive' ...
and
Prunus dulcis.
Some
mammal
Mammals () are a group of vertebrate animals constituting the class Mammalia (), characterized by the presence of mammary glands which in females produce milk for feeding (nursing) their young, a neocortex (a region of the brain), fur or ...
s native to the region are
Sus scrofa
The wild boar (''Sus scrofa''), also known as the wild swine, common wild pig, Eurasian wild pig, or simply wild pig, is a suid native to much of Eurasia and North Africa, and has been introduced to the Americas and Oceania. The species is no ...
,
Vulpes vulpes,
Hystrix cristata
The crested porcupine (''Hystrix cristata''), also known as the African crested porcupine, is a species of rodent in the family Hystricidae native to Italy, North Africa and sub-Saharan Africa.
Characteristics
The adult crested porcupine h ...
,
Canis aureus
The golden jackal (''Canis aureus''), also called common jackal, is a wolf-like canid that is native to Southeast Europe, Southwest Asia, South Asia, and regions of Southeast Asia. The golden jackal's coat varies in color from a pale creamy y ...
,
Canis lupus,
Martes martes,
Lynx lynx
The Eurasian lynx (''Lynx lynx'') is a medium-sized wild cat widely distributed from Northern, Central and Eastern Europe to Central Asia and Siberia, the Tibetan Plateau and the Himalayas. It inhabits temperate and boreal forests up to an eleva ...
,
Felis sylvestris,
Ursus arctos,
Meles meles,
Lepus,
Erinaceus europaeus and
Sciurus. Migrants are Lynx
caracal and
Panthera pardus.
Some birds are
Columba livia,
Alectoris graeca
The rock partridge or common rock partridge (''Alectoris graeca'') is a gamebird in the pheasant family, Phasianidae, of the order Galliformes (gallinaceous birds). It is native to southern Europe, and is closely related and very similar to its ...
,
Perdix perdix,
Coturnix coturnix,
Scolopax rusticola
The Eurasian woodcock (''Scolopax rusticola'') is a medium-small wading bird found in temperate and subarctic Eurasia. It has cryptic camouflage to suit its woodland habitat, with reddish-brown upperparts and buff-coloured underparts. Its eyes ...
,
Turdus merula
The common blackbird (''Turdus merula'') is a species of true thrush. It is also called the Eurasian blackbird (especially in North America, to distinguish it from the unrelated New World blackbirds), or simply the blackbird where this does not ...
,
Turdus pilaris
The fieldfare (''Turdus pilaris'') is a member of the thrush family Turdidae. It breeds in woodland and scrub in northern Europe and across the Palearctic. It is strongly migratory, with many northern birds moving south during the winter. It ...
,
Oriolus oriolus
The Eurasian golden oriole (''Oriolus oriolus'') also called the common golden oriole, is the only member of the Old World oriole family of passerine birds breeding in Northern Hemisphere temperate regions. It is a summer migrant in Europe and ...
,
Merops apiaster,
eagle
Eagle is the common name for many large birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of genera, some of which are closely related. Most of the 68 species of eagle are from Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, just ...
s,
vultures,
Corvus corax,
Pica pica and
Sturnus vulgaris.
Monachus monachus breeds in caves around the shores of Mycale. They and other marine predators (including man) feed on
Liza Liza may refer to
* Liza (name), including a list of people named Liza
* ''Liza'' (fish), a genus of mullets
* ''Liza'' (1972 film), a 1972 Italian film
* ''Liza'' (1978 film), a 1978 Malayalam horror film
* Hurricane Liza (disambiguation), the ...
,
Pagellus,
Dentex vulgaris
''Dentex'' is a genus of fish in the family (biology), family Sparidae.
Species
There are currently 14 recognized species in this genus:
* ''Dentex abei'' Yukio Iwatsuki, Iwatsuki, Masato Akazaki, Akazaki & Nobuhiko Taniguchi, Taniguchi, 2007 (Y ...
and
Thunnus thynnus
The Atlantic bluefin tuna (''Thunnus thynnus'') is a species of tuna in the family Scombridae. It is variously known as the northern bluefin tuna (mainly when including Pacific bluefin as a subspecies), giant bluefin tuna or individuals exceed ...
.
History
Earliest references
Mycale,
Miletus
Miletus (; gr, Μῑ́λητος, Mī́lētos; Hittite transcription ''Millawanda'' or ''Milawata'' (exonyms); la, Mīlētus; tr, Milet) was an ancient Greek city on the western coast of Anatolia, near the mouth of the Maeander River in a ...
and the
Maeander appear in the
Trojan Battle Order of the
Iliad, where they are populated by
Carians. "The steep heights of Mycale" and Miletus are also in the ''
Hymn to Apollo'', where
Leto, pregnant with
Apollo, an especially Ionian god, travels about the Aegean looking for a home for her son, and settles on
Delos
The island of Delos (; el, Δήλος ; Attic: , Doric: ), near Mykonos, near the centre of the Cyclades archipelago, is one of the most important mythological, historical, and archaeological sites in Greece. The excavations in the island are ...
, the major Ionian political, religious and cultural center of
Classical Greece
Classical Greece was a period of around 200 years (the 5th and 4th centuries BC) in Ancient Greece,The "Classical Age" is "the modern designation of the period from about 500 B.C. to the death of Alexander the Great in 323 B.C." ( Thomas R. Marti ...
.
A similar metaphor is to be found in the centuries-later ''Hymn to Delos'' of
Callimachus, in which
Delos
The island of Delos (; el, Δήλος ; Attic: , Doric: ), near Mykonos, near the centre of the Cyclades archipelago, is one of the most important mythological, historical, and archaeological sites in Greece. The excavations in the island are ...
, a swimming island, visits various places in the Aegean, including Parthenia, "Maiden's Isle" (
Samos), where it is entertained by the nymphs of Mycalessos. Just as Parthenia is the previous name of Samos so the reader is to understand Mycalessos as the previous name of Mycale. On being chosen as the birthplace of Apollo, Delos becomes fixed in the sea.
There are no earlier instances of Mycale but some major Creto-Mycenaean cities, later Ionian, which appear in
Mycenaean Greek and
Hittite records of the
Late Bronze Age. In Hitti language, there were the Achaean-Greek cities Apasa (
Ephesus
Ephesus (; grc-gre, Ἔφεσος, Éphesos; tr, Efes; may ultimately derive from hit, 𒀀𒉺𒊭, Apaša) was a city in ancient Greece on the coast of Ionia, southwest of present-day Selçuk in İzmir Province, Turkey. It was built in t ...
), the capital of a state called
Arzawa, in which also was Karkisha in (
Caria) and Millawanda (
Miletus
Miletus (; gr, Μῑ́λητος, Mī́lētos; Hittite transcription ''Millawanda'' or ''Milawata'' (exonyms); la, Mīlētus; tr, Milet) was an ancient Greek city on the western coast of Anatolia, near the mouth of the Maeander River in a ...
). In the
Linear B
Linear B was a syllabic script used for writing in Mycenaean Greek, the earliest attested form of Greek. The script predates the Greek alphabet by several centuries. The oldest Mycenaean writing dates to about 1400 BC. It is descended from ...
script tablets the region is called A-swi-ja (Asia). Documents at
Pylos
Pylos (, ; el, Πύλος), historically also known as Navarino, is a town and a former municipality in Messenia, Peloponnese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform, it has been part of the municipality Pylos-Nestoras, of which it is th ...
,
Thebes and
Knossos identify female textile workers and seamstresses (raptria) in servitude of Mi-ra-ti-ja, *Milātiai, "Milesians". The regions from which they came were centers of
Mycenaean civilization although the languages they spoke was an early Greek-Mycenaean language and written in Linear B, although some support that was an unknown.
The state of Melia
After the Late Bronze Age the entire Aegean region entered a historical period termed the
Greek Dark Ages
The term Greek Dark Ages refers to the period of Greek history from the end of the Mycenaean palatial civilization, around 1100 BC, to the beginning of the Archaic age, around 750 BC. Archaeological evidence shows a widespread collaps ...
. Archaeologically it was known as the
Proto-geometric and
Geometric
Geometry (; ) is, with arithmetic, one of the oldest branches of mathematics. It is concerned with properties of space such as the distance, shape, size, and relative position of figures. A mathematician who works in the field of geometry is ca ...
Periods, which did not belong to any one ethnic group. This is the time to which heavy Ionic migration from mainland Greece to the coast of Ionia and the emergence of
Delos
The island of Delos (; el, Δήλος ; Attic: , Doric: ), near Mykonos, near the centre of the Cyclades archipelago, is one of the most important mythological, historical, and archaeological sites in Greece. The excavations in the island are ...
as an Ionian center is believed to apply. These events were over at the start of the brilliant renaissance of the
Orientalizing Period in which
Ionia
Ionia () was an ancient region on the western coast of Anatolia, to the south of present-day Izmir. It consisted of the northernmost territories of the Ionian League of Greek settlements. Never a unified state, it was named after the Ionian ...
played a cardinal role.
During this rise to prominence twelve cities were settled or resettled and emerged as
Ionia
Ionia () was an ancient region on the western coast of Anatolia, to the south of present-day Izmir. It consisted of the northernmost territories of the Ionian League of Greek settlements. Never a unified state, it was named after the Ionian ...
speaking varieties of
Ionic Greek
Ionic Greek ( grc, Ἑλληνικὴ Ἰωνική, Hellēnikē Iōnikē) was a subdialect of the Attic–Ionic or Eastern dialect group of Ancient Greek.
History
The Ionic dialect appears to have originally spread from the Greek mainland ac ...
.
Vitruvius, however, says there were thirteen, the extra state being Melite, which "... as a punishment of the arrogance of its citizens was detached from the other states in a war levied pursuant to the directions of a general council (''communi consilio''); and in its place ... the city of
Smyrna was admitted into the number of Ionian states (''inter Ionas est recepta'')." There is no other mention of Melite anywhere but two fragments of
Hecataeus say that Melia was a city of
Caria and an inscription from
Priene confirms that there had been a "Meliac War" against a state located between Priene and
Samos; i.e., on Mycale.
The inscription records the result of an arbitration between Priene and Samos by jurors from
Rhodes. Both litigants claimed that Carium, the fortified settlement of Melia, and Dryussa, another settlement, had been distributed to them at the conclusion of the Meliac War, when the Carians were expelled. Being on the Samian side of the crest Melia had been resettled mainly by Samians and for this reason they had won a similar case brought before
Lysimachus
Lysimachus (; Greek: Λυσίμαχος, ''Lysimachos''; c. 360 BC – 281 BC) was a Thessalian officer and successor of Alexander the Great, who in 306 BC, became King of Thrace, Asia Minor and Macedon.
Early life and career
Lysimachus was b ...
of
Macedon a century earlier. That case is mentioned in an earlier inscription from Priene.
Priene had now reopened the case arguing that their sale of plots from the land demonstrated their continuous ownership of it except for a brief period when an invasion of the
Cimmerians under
Lygdamis forced temporary Greek evacuation of the region (about 650 BC). The Samians used a passage from the now missing ''History'' of Maeandrius of Miletus to support their claim. The jury found that Maeandrius was not authentic and reversed the earlier decision.
Panionium
The Melians had named their capital Carium, "of Caria" as a Greek word. Considering that it was placed in Ionia, the choice of name suggests a political statement of some sort, although the word may have had a different meaning in the Carian language, now lost except for a few dozen words. The Ionians leagued together to defeat it and continued the league, building a capital they called
Panionium, "of all the Ionians" next to the former Carium. It rose to prominence while the Ionian confederacy was sovereign, became a memory when Ionia was incorporated into other states and empires and finally was lost altogether. The ancient writers remembered that it had been on the north side of the mountain, across the ridge from
Priene.
After a few false identifications in modern times, the ruins of Melia and the Panionium were discovered in 2004 on Dilek Daglari, a smaller peak of Mycale, to the north of Priene at an elevation of .
The Carium must be the early 7th century BC town surrounded by a triangular wall in places as thick as .
The
floruit was the early 7th, but sherds have been found there from as early as the
Protogeometric period
The Protogeometric style (or "Proto-Geometric") is a style of Ancient Greek pottery led by Athens produced between roughly 1030 and 900 BCE, in the first period of the Greek Dark Ages. After the collapse of the Mycenaean-Minoan Palace culture ...
. Coldstream characterizes the burial structures as of "a considerable Carian substrate". The culture was not entirely Carian; the Ionians continued the worship of
Poseidon Heliconius there, which
Strabo
Strabo''Strabo'' (meaning "squinty", as in strabismus) was a term employed by the Romans for anyone whose eyes were distorted or deformed. The father of Pompey was called "Pompeius Strabo". A native of Sicily so clear-sighted that he could see ...
says came from
Helike in Peloponnesian Achaea. This event must have been during the Ionian colonization. Melia therefore was a renegade Ionian state.
The temple believed to the
Panionium was constructed next to the Carium about 540 BC.
It took over the worship of Poseidon Heliconius, served as the meeting place of the
Ionian League, and was the site of the religious festival and games (''
panegyris A panegyris ( grc, πανήγυρις "gathering"), is an Ancient Greek general, national or religious assembly. Each was dedicated to the worship of a particular god
In monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator ...
'') called the
Panionia. The construction of this temple is a
terminus post quem for the existence of the
Ionian League, which as a constituted body had a name, the ''koinon Iōnōn'' ("common thing of the Ionians"), a ''synedrion'' ("place to sit down together") and a ''boulē'' ("council").
Whether this body existed before the Meliac War is uncertain. Vitruvius' ''commune consilium'' seems to translate ''koinon.'' Some analysts have postulated an association as early as 800 BC but whether formally constituted remains unknown. There is no sign of it yet on Mycale unless Carium had in fact been it.
Battle of Mycale
In 479 BC, Mycale was the site of one of the two major battles that ended the second
Persian invasion of
Greece, during the
Greco-Persian Wars. Under the leadership of the
Spartan
Leotychides, the Greek fleet defeated the
Persian fleet and army. According to
Herodotus, the battle occurred the same day as the Greek victory at
Plataea
Plataea or Plataia (; grc, Πλάταια), also Plataeae or Plataiai (; grc, Πλαταιαί), was an ancient city, located in Greece in southeastern Boeotia, south of Thebes.Mish, Frederick C., Editor in Chief. “Plataea.” '' Webst ...
.
[Herodotus]
9.90
9.96
Notes
References
*
Herodotus,
''Histories'',
A. D. Godley (translator), Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1920;
*
Pausanias, ''Description of Greece'', (
Loeb Classical Library
The Loeb Classical Library (LCL; named after James Loeb; , ) is a series of books originally published by Heinemann in London, but is currently published by Harvard University Press. The library contains important works of ancient Greek and L ...
) translated by W. H. S. Jones; Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. (191
Vol 2, Books III–V, ; Vol 3, Books VI–VIII.21, .
*
Thucydides, ''
The Peloponnesian War''. London, J. M. Dent; New York, E. P. Dutton. 191
External links
*
*
{{authority control
Mountains of Turkey
National parks of Turkey
Ionia
Iron Age Anatolia
Tourist attractions in Aydın Province
Geography of Aydın Province
Landforms of Aydın Province
Ridges of Asia
Former Christian monasteries in Turkey
Byzantine monasteries in Turkey
Mountains associated with Byzantine monasticism