The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1916-04-20
FABLED MOUNT ATHOS.
No Female Allowed to Set Foot Upon
I.-Hens and Cows Also Barred.

lies fortified Balkan port of Salonlkl
lies tabled Mount Athos, today holy
mount to the Christians, the doml-
nant physical feature of the Chalcl-
dian region; and here, where the
ancient gods are nodding down upon
the mushroom growth of a wonder
ful military camp in the old port city,
is situated a sanity monastic COM
munity, peaceful, reflective, re-
ligious republic through the Dark
Ages of the Balkans, begins a bulle-
tin Just issued by the National Geo.
graphic society, which tells of the
Christian stronghold on Mount Athos
that persisted in thriving for years
within the boundaries of the Otto
man empire.
Legend makes the rugged noun
tain holy in the eyes of all near-east-
ern Christians, and, moreover, the
same legend has to do with some of
the present-day discomforts of life
there high above the blue Aegean.
Z It is recorded that the Blessed V1r-
gin rescued the son Of the emperor,
Theodosius, from shipwreck, and
brought him safely through the vio-
lent seas to the mountain foot. AS
they touched upon the shore, the sa-
cred companion of the prince COM
manded: LET no other ! woman's
1 foot tread this soil after me-" And
so it comes, that no female beings
are allowed upon the holy mount.
The strict exclusion of all female
creatures from the mount, however,
has certain disadvantages. Thus, no
{ fresh eggs may be had on Mount
Athos, and no milk, for the cow and
the hen, under the ban of the legend,
{ are kept from its area. 1t is a place
OF masculine independence and su-
premacy; a land where all fowls
are cocks; all sheep rams; all cats
Toms; all housemaids men, and most
men monks
The ascent of the holy mount, to
its realm of religious and masculine
{ seelusion, is a toilsome one. Above
the monasteries and the hermit cells,
the eliminating, colossal, conical
peak of the mount breaks into the
clouds. This peak is so majestic that
1T is said to throw it's evening shadow
across distant Lemnos. Karyes,
city of quaint domes, set in groves of
= hazel, is the capital of the commu-
nifty, and, it was practically the capi-
fal of a monastic republic.
On the lower slopes, the olive, the
cypress, the lemon, and the orange
form an outlying fringe of vegeta-
tion. The higher slopes are climbed
by the oak, the beech, the chestnut,
and mantled by the fir All manner
of vegetables and fruits are grown
In the monastery gardens; and the
low, rambling buildings, accretive
rather than planned, are picturesque,
honey surroundings, within which to
PASS away calm, reflective life
s The monks and hermits of Mount
Athos have been named the Lotos-
eaters. Nature around them is beau
tiful and impressive, and their ways
are sheltered and through plenty. On
the other hand, some writer's find the
lot of life upon the holy mount any
thing but enviable One says: "Na-
ture and history have combined in
making Mount Athos what it is-a
milkless, mirthless seat of supersti-
tious meditation, where sanctity is
Matched in sable-folded idleness,
where the spirit slumbers rocked il
the cradle of medieval faith. No
breath of, scepticism waited from the
outer world ever reaches these Lotto
phagian retreats, no aspiration of
those that agitate the purblind race
OF miserable men ever quickens the
pulse of these melancholy anchor
ties The monks of Mount Athos,
however, have deserved we'll of the
world by preserving much of the
wealth of old Greek culture to mod
@ern times.
Athos swells the tip:of the eastern
most of the three Chalcidian penin
sulas. The mountain reaches crest
$3.50 feet above the sea, and plunges
precipitously into the water. Mon
asteries were founded upon the
! mount in the early middle ages, some
say as early as the time of Constan
tine. They preserved their independ-
ence under Moslem rule, even after
assisting in struggle for Greek in
dependence, and, for centuries, they
were the centre of Greek learning.
The peninsula, on which Athos is
: situated, is 40 miles long, and it is
connected with the mainland by a