European Kingdoms

Athos (Greece)

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From the start, the capital of the newly-created Eastern Roman empire was based at Constantinople, dedicated by Emperor Constantine 'the Great' in AD 330. In AD 395, the Roman empire finally suffered a permanent split, creating formal Eastern Roman and Western Roman empires within Europe and beyond, acknowledging what had existed in practise for many years.

It was the formation of the Eastern Roman 'Macedonian Dynasty' which fully stabilised what had become an unstable empire, even if it was a far more tenuous stabilisation than in the days of the 'Dynasty of Justinian'. During the half a century of rule under the 'Phrygian / Amorian Dynasty' of 820-867 the Bulgars had become a significant threat, mounting incursions into northern areas of the empire as they fought off Slavic opposition to establish their own state.

Upon founding his own dynasty by murdering his predecessor, Emperor Basil I reconquered southern Italy, dealt with troublesome Cretan pirates, and gained victories against the Arabs on Cyprus, mainland Greece, and in Dalmatia.

The state of Athos was created during the co-emperorship of John I Zimiskes, third husband of the now-exiled Empress Theophano of the Macedonian dynasty. The region was also referred to as Mount Athos, Ayion Oras, and Ágion Óros, and the Athonian republic.

It was an autonomous monastic state which was located at the end of the promontory of the same name which juts into the Aegean Sea from the northern coast of what is now Greece. Emperor John I Zimiskes granted autonomy to Athos at a time at which its spiritual leaders were the ecumenical patriarchs of Constantinople. The village of Karyes provided a seat of local governance and this has remained in use ever since.

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(Information from the John De Cleene Archive, with additional information by Peter Kessler, from Encyclopaedia Britannica (Eleventh Edition, Cambridge (England), 1910), from The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium: Niketas, Walter Emil Kaegi (Alexander P Kazhdan, Ed, Oxford University Press, 1991), from The Cambridge Ancient History, John Boardman, N G L Hammond, D M Lewis, & M Ostwald (Eds), and from External Links: History of the Byzantine Empire (Live Science), and The Cambridge History of the Byzantine Empire, Jonathan Shepard (Ed, Revised Edition, Cambridge University Press, 2008, and available via the Internet Archive).)

1059 - 1060

Following a period of turmoil for the Eastern Roman empire during the short-lived 'Non-Dynastic' rule of Michael VI Stratioticus and then of Isaac I Comnenus of the 'Comneni Prelude', matters start to become more settled under the Ducas dynasty from 1059.

However, just one year into the establishment of that dynasty, the community of Athos is withdrawn from the authority of the patriarch of Constantinople and, in effect, a monastic republic is established.

At some point though that authority may be restored to some degree, at least in terms of spiritual or moral authority as spiritual leadership by the patriarch is shown in sources to be continual from 972.

In Eastern Roman Emperor Basil II the Bulgarians found themselves an implacable, unrelenting enemy who would not give up until their state had been destroyed

c.1144

Alexius of the Comneni dynasty officially bestows Athos with the title of 'Ayion Oros' ('Holy Mountain'). The date falls within the early years of Emperor Manuel I Comnenus, well before Alexius himself ascends the throne as Alexius II.

1204

The capture of formerly Angeli-ruled Constantinople is the Fourth Crusade's 'success', and Western European emperors are established in the city. The Eastern Roman court withdraws to Nicæa in Anatolia. Rival claimants are also quick to establish their own holdings, which include Trebizond, Epirus, and Thessalonica. Athos remains autonomous within the latter.

When the Fourth Crusade took control of Constantinople in AD 1204, with the help of the Venetians, they inherited a reduced Eastern Roman empire (click or tap on map to view full sized)

1222 - 1224

Thessalonica's capital is taken by Epirus in 1222, and the kingdom of Thessalonica soon comes to an end. Theodore of Epirus takes the title 'Emperor of Thessalonica' and moves his court there, although the kingdom itself is not revived.

1430

With the Ottoman empire gaining ground in Greece, Athos retains its autonomy under their freshly-established governance.

1783

The republic adopts a constitution which establishes an assembly. This consists of representatives from each of the twenty monasteries which constitute the republic. An executive, the epistatae, consists of four members with its president also serving as president of the assembly.

'The Camp of Georgios Karaiskakis' as depicted in 1855 by Theodoros Vryzakis, illustrating the Greek nationalist encampment during its campaigns against the ruling Ottoman empire in the mid-1820s

1912

Athos becomes autonomous within Greece as the autonomous monastic state of Ayion Oros or the Athonian republic, having survived since its founding in AD 972 by John Zimiskes of the Eastern Roman empire.