a celebrated mountain of Chalcidia in Macedonia, situated in E. Long. 26. 20. N. Lat. 40. 10. The ancients entertained extravagant notions concerning its height. Mela affirmed it to be so high as to reach above the clouds; and Martianus Capellinus, that it was six miles high. It was a received opinion that the summit of Mount Athos was above the middle region of the air, and that it never rained there; because the ashes left on the altars erected near the summit were always found as they were left, dry and unscattered. But if on many accounts it was famous among the ancients, it is no less so among the moderns. The Greeks, struck with its singular situation and the venerable appearance of its towering ascent, erected so many churches, monasteries, hermitages, &c. upon it, that it became in a manner inhabited by devotees, and from thence received the name of the Holy Mountain; which name it still retains, though many of those consecrated works are now decayed. According to the accounts of modern travellers, this mountain advances into the Archipelago, being joined to the continent by an isthmus about half a league in breadth. It is about 30 miles in circumference, and two in perpendicular height. It may be travelled over in about three days, and may be seen 90 miles off. There is a fine prospect from the top; but, like all other high mountains, the cold on its summit is excessive. It abounds with many different kinds of plants and trees, particularly the pine and fir. In the valleys grows a plant called elegia, whose branches serve to make pens for writing. In short, this mountain is said to be adorned with variety of herbage and evergreens, a multitude of springs and streams, and woods growing near the shore, so as to be one of the most agreeable places in the world.

It is now inhabited by Caloyers, a sort of Greek monks, of the order of St Basil, who never marry, though others of that church do. They abstain from flesh, and fare very hardly, their ordinary meal being olives pickled when they are ripe. They are about 6000 in all, and inhabit several parts of the mountain, on which are 24 large old monasteries, surrounded with high walls for a defence against banditti. They are so respected, that the Turks themselves will often send them alms. These monks are not idle like others; but labour with the axe, spade, and sickle, dressing themselves like hermits. Formerly they had fine Greek manuscripts; but are now become so illiterate, that they can scarcely read or write.

Through this mountain, or rather through the isthmus behind it, Xerxes king of Persia is said to have cut Athos cut a passage for his fleet when about to invade Greece. In this work he spent three whole years, and employed in it all the forces on board the fleet. He is also said, before the work was begun, to have written the following insolent and ridiculous letter to the mountain: "Athos, thou proud and aspiring mountain, that liftest up thy head to the very skies, I advise thee not to be so audacious as to put rocks and stones that cannot be cut in the way of my workmen. If thou makest that opposition, I will cut thee entirely down, and throw thee headlong into the sea." The directors of this enterprise are said to have been Bubaris the son of Megabyzus, and Artacheus, the son of Arbeus, both Persians; but as no traces of such a great work remain, the truth of the whole relation has justly been called in question.