• What is the problem/issue being addressed?
MAMEMS seeks to contextualize the development of the monastic communities on Mount Athos over the course of the Middle Ages, from the first firm attestation of a discernible monastic presence there until the founding of the last principal monastery of Stavronikita (ca. 850-1550). Even though the holdings of the monastic archives of the “Holy Mountain” from the medieval period are practically unmatched elsewhere in the Eastern Mediterranean world and represent the largest collection of surviving Byzantine documents in the Greek language, hitherto they have not been analyzed in a comprehensive fashion as witnesses to the formation and development of a unique phenomenon that has been profitably described as a monastic republic. Thus, on the one hand, MAMEMS illuminates this inner history of the rise of a self-governing monastic federation on Mount Athos on the basis of the uniquely rich source material stemming from the Holy Mountain.
On the other hand, MAMEMS also examines the manifold connections of Mount Athos with other parts of the Eastern Mediterranean world and beyond. Athos’ reputation as an oasis of solitude and spiritual asceticism severed from the lay world – an image consciously cultivated by the monks themselves – is belied by considerable evidence demonstrating the exact opposite, namely that the Holy Mountain stood at the center of a vast network of contacts throughout the medieval Orthodox lands. Especially well-attested are the Holy Mountain’s sovereign connections with the court of the emperor himself at Constantinople, as well as those of other Orthodox sovereigns in Bulgaria, Georgia, Moldavia, Serbia, Rus’, Trebizond and Wallachia. Though these strands of sovereign patronage on Athos have been studied to a limited extent, far less well-known are the Holy Mountain’s interactions with policies across the confessional (South Italy, the Papacy, Aragon) and religious (the Ottoman Empire) divide. The multicultural nature of sovereign patronage was both the byproduct of the diverse linguistic and ethnic composition of Athos’ monastic communities as well as a key factor in fostering and maintaining this cultural diversity.
In summation, MAMEMS aims at effecting a substantial reevaluation of the role of the monastic communities of Mount Athos in Eastern Mediterranean history, both from an internal (the rise of a monastic republic) as well an external (Athos’ relations with the rest of the Eastern Mediterranean world) perspective.
• Why is it important for society?
The research which MAMEMS is undertaking is of not inconsiderable societal impact. The project represents the most comprehensive evaluation to date of a semi-autonomous monastic republic within the European Union. Mount Athos’ quasi-independent status within the Hellenic Republic is guaranteed by the Greek constitution. As such, MAMEMS will provide a historical basis for discussions regarding various aspects of the Holy Mountain’s modern status, including but not limited to questions of political status, property rights and its relationship with the Orthodox Church and in particular the Patriarchate of Constantinople. In addition, MAMEMS will provide context for contemporary debates on the Holy Mountain’s well-known prohibition of women (under the invocation of the so-called abaton rule), which has been challenged in European courts since the last century. By extensively documenting the instances in the medieval period when women interacted with Athos at a distance or, in some very rare cases, by actually visiting, MAMEMS will provide a sound historical basis for future discussions of the prohibition on women visiting the Holy Mountain.
Furthermore, the database created by MAMEMS (discussed below) will constitute what is perhaps the most extensive database for any one place in the entire medieval Eastern Mediterranean world, and will be of general interest not just to academics, but to the broader public as well. Both scholars and interested persons more generally will be able to use the database to examine the historical basis of questions with contemporary relevance, such as the changing cultural and ethnic character of the Holy Mountain or the instances where the prohibition on the presence of women was not uniformly observed.
• What are the overall objectives?
In order to bring about the aforementioned reevaluation of Mount Athos’ role in the history of the medieval Eastern Mediterranean, MAMEMS has adopted a three-pronged approach. First and foremost, MAMEMS is in the process of creating a comprehensive prosopographical database of all persons involved with medieval Mount Athos. This database, tentatively titled Prosopographica Athonica (PA), include all monks, benefactors and visitors who had any sort of interactions with the Holy Mountain from ca. 850 to 1550. At this point, data from the sources is being fed into a database built using the open-source OpenAtlas software.
Secondly, PA will encompass not only the incredibly rich archival material from Athos, but also include the names from three of the Holy Mountain’s most important commemorative lists, two unpublished and one largely inaccessible to the broader scholarly community. These lists were composed in three separate languages (Church Slavonic, Greek and Georgian) in different historical epochs, although all three contain names from the medieval period. Each of the three lists is currently being edited by a researcher of the MAMEMS project and will appear as monograph, with each one containing an edition, translation and commentary of the text. In addition, a further monograph on Memoria in the Byzantine World by the PI will situate the Athonite commemorative tradition within the broader milieu of Byzantine memorial praxis.
Thirdly, MAMEMS is organizing a total of three international conferences thematically dedicated to particular aspects of the Holy Mountain’s history: Wealth, Ethnicity and Gender. The proceedings of each conference will be published as an edited volume. The conferences for wealth and ethnicity have already been completed and the corresponding edited volumes are in preparation, while the scholarly gathering planned for gender will take place in September of 2023.
All of the project’s books (three monographs for the commemorative lists, one on memoria in the Byzantine world and three edited volumes) will appear as peer-reviewed, open-access titles. Brill has been contracted to publish these seven volumes within the prestigious “The Medieval Mediterranean” series, pending the successful peer-review of each individual work.
Last but not least, insights garnered from work on the MAMEMS project will appear in various edited volumes and journals, in open-access form.
