99-598: Mount Athos ( / ˈ æ θ ɒ s / ; Greek : Ἄθως [ˈa.θos] ) is a mountain on the Athos peninsula in northeastern Greece directly on the Aegean Sea. It is an important center of Eastern Orthodox monasticism . The mountain and most of the Athos peninsula are governed as an autonomous region in Greece by the monastic community of Mount Athos , which is ecclesiastically under
198-570: A basis for coinages: anthropology , photography , telephony , isomer , biomechanics , cinematography , etc. Together with Latin words , they form the foundation of international scientific and technical vocabulary ; for example, all words ending in -logy ('discourse'). There are many English words of Greek origin . Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European language family. The ancient language most closely related to it may be ancient Macedonian , which, by most accounts,
297-543: A cold storage system, where the fruits are stored at low temperatures in untreated air, the controlled environment method avoids flesh hardening which negatively impacts the processability of the product. The ornamental cultivar Castanea sativa 'Albomarginata' has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit . The species is widely cultivated for its edible seeds (also called nuts) and for its wood. Sweet chestnut has been listed as one of
396-552: A fairly stable set of consonantal contrasts . The main phonological changes occurred during the Hellenistic and Roman period (see Koine Greek phonology for details): In all its stages, the morphology of Greek shows an extensive set of productive derivational affixes , a limited but productive system of compounding and a rich inflectional system. Although its morphological categories have been fairly stable over time, morphological changes are present throughout, particularly in
495-556: A faster, more convenient cursive writing style with the use of ink and quill . The Greek alphabet consists of 24 letters, each with an uppercase ( majuscule ) and lowercase ( minuscule ) form. The letter sigma has an additional lowercase form (ς) used in the final position of a word: In addition to the letters, the Greek alphabet features a number of diacritical signs : three different accent marks ( acute , grave , and circumflex ), originally denoting different shapes of pitch accent on
594-482: A foreign language. It is also often stated that the historical changes have been relatively slight compared with some other languages. According to one estimation, " Homeric Greek is probably closer to Demotic than 12-century Middle English is to modern spoken English ". Greek is spoken today by at least 13 million people, principally in Greece and Cyprus along with a sizable Greek-speaking minority in Albania near
693-423: A good source of copper , phosphorus , manganese and potassium (nutrition table). Its sugar content ranges from 14% to 20% dry weight, depending on the cultivar. Fructose is mostly responsible for the sweet taste. Sweet chestnut is suited for human nutrition. Most sweet chestnut is consumed in processed form, which has an impact on the nutrient composition. Its naturally high concentration of organic acids
792-506: A grafted cultivar such as 'Marron de Lyon' or 'Paragon' may start production within five years of being planted. Both cultivars bear fruits with a single large kernel, rather than the usual two to four smaller kernels. The fruit yield per tree is usually between 30–100 kilograms (66–220 pounds), but can get as high as 300 kilograms (660 pounds). Harvest time is between middle of September and middle of November. There are three harvesting techniques: The most widespread treatment before storage
891-404: A net-shaped (retiform) pattern with deep furrows or fissures running spirally in both directions up the trunk. The trunk is mostly straight with branching starting at low heights. The oblong-lanceolate , boldly toothed leaves are 16–28 centimetres (6–11 inches) long and 5–9 cm (2–4 in) broad. The flowers of both sexes are borne in 10–20 cm (4–8 in) long, upright catkins ,
990-523: A paradise and a haven of salvation for those seeking to be saved"). From that moment the mountain was consecrated as the garden of the Mother of God and was out of bounds to all other women. Historical documents on ancient Mount Athos history are very few. Monks have certainly been there since the fourth century, and possibly since the third. During Constantine I 's reign (324–337) both Christians and followers of traditional Greek religion were living there. During
1089-433: A popular remedy for whooping cough. A hair shampoo can be made from infusing leaves and fruit husks. The fat content is low and dominated by unsaturated fatty acids . Sweet chestnut is a good source of starch . The energy value per 100 g (3.5 oz) of C. sativa amounts to 891 kJ (213 kcal) (table). C. sativa is characterized by high moisture content which ranges from 41% to 59%. The chestnut provides
SECTION 10
#17328522031021188-480: A precise origin history. A newer but more reliable source are the literary works of Ancient Greece, with the richest being Theophrastus 's Historia plantarum , written in the third century B.C. Theophrastus focuses mainly on the use of sweet chestnut wood as timber and charcoal, only mentioning the use of the fruit once when commenting on the digestive difficulties it causes, but praising its nourishing quality. Several Greek authors wrote about medicinal properties of
1287-428: A skin which is astringent and unpleasant to eat when still moist; after drying for a time the thin skin loses its astringency but is still better removed to reach the white fruit underneath. Cooking dry in an oven or fire normally helps remove this skin. Chestnuts are traditionally roasted in their tough brown husks after removing the spiny cupules in which they grow on the tree, the husks being peeled off and discarded and
1386-515: A trunk often 2 m (7 ft) in diameter. Around 20 trees are recorded with diameters over 4 m (13 ft) including one 7.5 m (25 ft) in diameter at breast height . A famous ancient tree known as the Hundred Horse Chestnut in Sicily was historically recorded at 18 m (59 ft) in diameter (although it has split into multiple trunks above ground). The bark often has
1485-406: Is a key factor influencing the organoleptic characteristics of fruits and vegetables, namely flavor. Organic acids are thought to play an important role against diseases as an antioxidant . Heat appears to be the most influencing factor when it comes to decreasing the organic acid content. However, even after heating sweet chestnuts, antioxidant activity remains relatively high. On the other hand,
1584-429: Is also affected by the high temperatures. Four processes are decisive for the degrading process of sugar while cooking: hydrolysis of starch to oligosaccharide and monosaccharide, decomposition of sucrose to glucose and fructose, caramelization of sugars and degradation of sugars. Organic acids are also affected by high temperatures: their content decreases about 50% after frying, and 15% after boiling. Responsible for
1683-766: Is also found in Bulgaria near the Greek-Bulgarian border. Greek is also spoken worldwide by the sizable Greek diaspora which has notable communities in the United States , Australia , Canada , South Africa , Chile , Brazil , Argentina , Russia , Ukraine , the United Kingdom , and throughout the European Union , especially in Germany . Historically, significant Greek-speaking communities and regions were found throughout
1782-742: Is an Indo-European language, constituting an independent Hellenic branch within the Indo-European language family. It is native to Greece , Cyprus , Italy (in Calabria and Salento ), southern Albania , and other regions of the Balkans , Caucasus , the Black Sea coast, Asia Minor , and the Eastern Mediterranean . It has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning at least 3,400 years of written records. Its writing system
1881-474: Is an Indo-European language, but also includes a number of borrowings from the languages of the populations that inhabited Greece before the arrival of Proto-Greeks, some documented in Mycenaean texts ; they include a large number of Greek toponyms . The form and meaning of many words have changed. Loanwords (words of foreign origin) have entered the language, mainly from Latin, Venetian , and Turkish . During
1980-519: Is covered with mixed broadleaf deciduous and evergreen forests. Black pine ( Pinus nigra ) forests are found at higher elevations. Sclerophyllous scrub vegetation is also found throughout Mount Athos. Typical forest trees are sweet chestnut ( Castanea sativa ), holm oak ( Quercus ilex ), kermes oak ( Quercus coccifera ), Hungarian oak ( Quercus frainetto ), oriental plane ( Platanus orientalis ), black pine ( Pinus nigra ), and cedar ( Calocedrus decurrens ). Other common plant species include
2079-482: Is leading to a revival in C. sativa cultivation. Three different cultivation systems for the sweet chestnut can be distinguished: The field management is dependent on the cultivation system. While cleaning the soil from the leaves and pruning is the norm, the use of fertilizer, irrigation and pesticides is less common and reserved for more intensive cultivation. The sweet chestnut tree grows well on limestone -free, deeply weathered soil. The optimal pH value of
SECTION 20
#17328522031022178-486: Is made with sweet chestnut flour. A local variety of Corsican beer also uses chestnuts. The product is sold as a sweetened paste mixed with vanilla, crème de marrons [ fr ] , sweetened or unsweetened as chestnut purée or purée de marron , and candied chestnuts as marrons glacés . In Switzerland, it is often served as Vermicelles . Roman soldiers were given chestnut porridge before going into battle. Leaf infusions are used in respiratory diseases and are
2277-587: Is more commonly found in the northern part of the peninsula. Broadleaf maquis is found further south. Deciduous broadleaf forest dominated by sweet chestnut lies above the broadleaf maquis zone. There are also mixed forests consisting of deciduous oak trees, as well as limes , aspen , hop hornbeam , and maple . Black pine and stinking juniper can be found at higher elevations. Some herbaceous plants with tubers and bulbs include crocus , anemone , cyclamen , and fritillary species. At least 35 plant species are endemic to Mount Athos, most of which are found in
2376-510: Is protected and promoted officially as a regional and minority language in Armenia, Hungary , Romania, and Ukraine. It is recognized as a minority language and protected in Turkey by the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne . The phonology , morphology , syntax , and vocabulary of the language show both conservative and innovative tendencies across the entire attestation of the language from the ancient to
2475-810: Is sometimes called aljamiado , as when Romance languages are written in the Arabic alphabet. Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Greek: Transcription of the example text into Latin alphabet : Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in English: Proto-Greek Mycenaean Ancient Koine Medieval Modern Castanea sativa The sweet chestnut ( Castanea sativa ), also known as
2574-518: Is spoken by at least 13.5 million people today in Greece, Cyprus, Italy, Albania, Turkey , and the many other countries of the Greek diaspora . Greek roots have been widely used for centuries and continue to be widely used to coin new words in other languages; Greek and Latin are the predominant sources of international scientific vocabulary . Greek has been spoken in the Balkan peninsula since around
2673-758: Is still used internationally for the writing of Ancient Greek . In Greek, the question mark is written as the English semicolon, while the functions of the colon and semicolon are performed by a raised point (•), known as the ano teleia ( άνω τελεία ). In Greek the comma also functions as a silent letter in a handful of Greek words, principally distinguishing ό,τι ( ó,ti , 'whatever') from ότι ( óti , 'that'). Ancient Greek texts often used scriptio continua ('continuous writing'), which means that ancient authors and scribes would write word after word with no spaces or punctuation between words to differentiate or mark boundaries. Boustrophedon , or bi-directional text,
2772-630: Is the Greek alphabet , which has been used for approximately 2,800 years; previously, Greek was recorded in writing systems such as Linear B and the Cypriot syllabary . The alphabet arose from the Phoenician script and was in turn the basis of the Latin , Cyrillic , Coptic , Gothic , and many other writing systems. The Greek language holds a very important place in the history of the Western world. Beginning with
2871-674: Is the name of one of the Gigantes that challenged the Greek gods during the Gigantomachia . Athos threw a massive rock at Poseidon which fell in the Aegean Sea and became Mount Athos. According to another version of the story, Poseidon used the mountain to bury the defeated giant. Homer mentions the mountain Athos in the Iliad . Herodotus writes that during the Persian invasion of Thrace in 492 BC,
2970-578: Is to be distinguished from the horse chestnut Aesculus hippocastanum , to which it is only distantly related. The horse chestnut bears similar looking seeds (conkers) in a similar seed case, which are not palatable to humans. Other common names include "Spanish chestnut" or "marron" (French for "chestnut"). The generic name Castanea is the old Latin name for the plant species, while the specific epithet sativa means "cultivated by humans". Some selected varieties are smaller and more compact in growth yielding earlier in life with different ripening time:
3069-464: Is water curing, a process in which the sweet chestnuts are immersed in water for nine days. The aim of this practice is to limit the main storage problems threatening the sweet chestnut: fungi development and the presence of insect worms. As an alternative to water curing, hot water treatment is also commercially used. After water treatment, the sweet chestnuts are stored in a controlled environment with high carbon dioxide concentrations. In contrast to
Mount Athos - Misplaced Pages Continue
3168-481: The Aegean Sea at a width of between 7 and 12 km (4.3 and 7.5 mi) and covers an area of 335.6 km (130 sq mi). The actual Mount Athos has steep, densely forested slopes reaching up to 2,033 m (6,670 ft). The Athos peninsula, unlike Sithonia and Kassandra , is a geological continuation of the Rhodope Mountains of northern Greece and Bulgaria. The surrounding seas, especially at
3267-559: The Byzantine era . Because of its long history of religious importance, the well-preserved agrarian architecture within the monasteries, and the preservation of the flora and fauna around the mountain, the monastic community of Mount Athos was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1988. In the classical era , Mount Athos was called Athos and the peninsula Acté or Akté ( Koinē Greek : Ἀκτή ). In modern Greek,
3366-486: The Eastern Mediterranean , in what are today Southern Italy , Turkey , Cyprus , Syria , Lebanon , Israel , Palestine , Egypt , and Libya ; in the area of the Black Sea , in what are today Turkey, Bulgaria , Romania , Ukraine , Russia , Georgia , Armenia , and Azerbaijan ; and, to a lesser extent, in the Western Mediterranean in and around colonies such as Massalia , Monoikos , and Mainake . It
3465-937: The Iberian peninsula in the first century A.D. suggests the spreading of cultivated sweet chestnut trees by the Romans. Contrary to that notion, other scientists found no indication of the Romans spreading C. sativa before the fifth century. While the husks of sweet chestnuts, dated to the third or early fourth century, have been identified from the bottom of a Roman well at Great Holts Farm, in Boreham in Essex , England; this deposit includes remains of other exotic food plants and provides no evidence that any of them originated locally. No other evidence of sweet chestnut in Roman Britain has been confirmed. Indeed, no centre of sweet chestnut cultivation outside
3564-510: The Indo-Iranian languages (see Graeco-Aryan ), but little definitive evidence has been found. In addition, Albanian has also been considered somewhat related to Greek and Armenian, and it has been proposed that they all form a higher-order subgroup along with other extinct languages of the ancient Balkans; this higher-order subgroup is usually termed Palaeo-Balkan , and Greek has a central position in it. Linear B , attested as early as
3663-647: The Netherlands . The tree requires a mild climate and adequate moisture for good growth and a good nut harvest. Its year-growth (but not the rest of the tree) is sensitive to late spring and early autumn frosts; it is also intolerant of lime . Under forest conditions, it will tolerate moderate shade well. It can live to more than 2,000 years of age in natural conditions, such as the Hundred Horse Chestnut near Mount Etna in eastern Sicily. The leaves provide food for some animals, including Lepidoptera such as
3762-452: The Spanish chestnut or just chestnut , is a species of tree in the family Fagaceae , native to Southern Europe and Asia Minor , and widely cultivated throughout the temperate world . A substantial, long-lived deciduous tree, it produces an edible seed, the chestnut, which has been used in cooking since ancient times. Castanea sativa attains a height of 20–35 metres (66–115 feet) with
3861-485: The case-bearer moth Coleophora anatipennella and North American rose chafer Macrodactylus subspinosus . The two major fungal pathogens of the sweet chestnut are the chestnut blight ( Cryphonectria parasitica ) and the ink disease caused by Phytophthora cambivora and P. cinnamomi . In North America as well as in Southern Europe Castanea parasitica destroyed most of the chestnut population in
3960-565: The eruption of Mount Vesuvius in A.D. 79. Clues in art and literature indicate a dislike of the sweet chestnut by the Roman aristocracy. Like Theophrastus, Latin authors are sceptical of the sweet chestnut as a fruit, and Pliny the Elder even goes as far as admiring how well nature has hidden this fruit of apparently so little value. In the beginning of the Christian era, people probably started to realize
4059-492: The nominal and verbal systems. The major change in the nominal morphology since the classical stage was the disuse of the dative case (its functions being largely taken over by the genitive ). The verbal system has lost the infinitive , the synthetically -formed future, and perfect tenses and the optative mood . Many have been replaced by periphrastic ( analytical ) forms. Pronouns show distinctions in person (1st, 2nd, and 3rd), number (singular, dual , and plural in
Mount Athos - Misplaced Pages Continue
4158-417: The 20th century, due to depopulation of the countryside and the abandonment of the sweet chestnut as a staple food as well as the spread of chestnut blight and ink disease, C. sativa cultivation has dramatically decreased. Nowadays, sweet chestnut production is sometimes seen at a turning point again, because the development of high-value sweet chestnut products combined with changing needs of an urban society
4257-405: The 20th century. With biological control, the population of the sweet chestnut is not threatened anymore by the chestnut blight and is regenerating. Ink disease is infesting trees mostly in humid soils, with the mycelium invading the root and resulting in wilting of the leaf. Absence of fruit formation leads to die back of the petal . The ink disease is named after the black exudates at the base of
4356-491: The 38 substances used to prepare Bach flower remedies , a kind of alternative medicine promoted for its supposed effect on health. However, according to Cancer Research UK , "there is no scientific evidence to prove that flower remedies can control, cure or prevent any type of disease, including cancer". The species' large genetic diversity and different cultivars are exploited for uses such as flour, boiling, roasting, drying, and sweets. The raw nuts, though edible, have
4455-465: The 3rd millennium BC, or possibly earlier. The earliest written evidence is a Linear B clay tablet found in Messenia that dates to between 1450 and 1350 BC, making Greek the world's oldest recorded living language . Among the Indo-European languages, its date of earliest written attestation is matched only by the now-extinct Anatolian languages . The Greek language is conventionally divided into
4554-564: The Eastern Orthodox world use this name: in the East Slavic languages ( Russian , Ukrainian , and Belarusian ) it is simply called Афон ( Afon , meaning "Athos"), while in Romanian it is called "Mount Athos" ( Muntele Athos or Muntele Atos ). The peninsula, the easternmost "leg" of the larger Chalkidiki peninsula in central Macedonia , protrudes 50 km (31 mi) into
4653-486: The Greek alphabet since approximately the 9th century BC. It was created by modifying the Phoenician alphabet , with the innovation of adopting certain letters to represent the vowels. The variant of the alphabet in use today is essentially the late Ionic variant, introduced for writing classical Attic in 403 BC. In classical Greek, as in classical Latin, only upper-case letters existed. The lower-case Greek letters were developed much later by medieval scribes to permit
4752-425: The Greek language are often emphasized. Although Greek has undergone morphological and phonological changes comparable to those seen in other languages, never since classical antiquity has its cultural, literary, and orthographic tradition been interrupted to the extent that one can speak of a new language emerging. Greek speakers today still tend to regard literary works of ancient Greek as part of their own rather than
4851-491: The Greek language was the Cypriot syllabary (also a descendant of Linear A via the intermediate Cypro-Minoan syllabary ), which is closely related to Linear B but uses somewhat different syllabic conventions to represent phoneme sequences. The Cypriot syllabary is attested in Cyprus from the 11th century BC until its gradual abandonment in the late Classical period, in favor of the standard Greek alphabet. Greek has been written in
4950-629: The Greek verb have likewise remained largely the same over the course of the language's history but with significant changes in the number of distinctions within each category and their morphological expression. Greek verbs have synthetic inflectional forms for: Many aspects of the syntax of Greek have remained constant: verbs agree with their subject only, the use of the surviving cases is largely intact (nominative for subjects and predicates, accusative for objects of most verbs and many prepositions, genitive for possessors), articles precede nouns, adpositions are largely prepositional, relative clauses follow
5049-661: The Greek-Albanian border. A significant percentage of Albania's population has knowledge of the Greek language due in part to the Albanian wave of immigration to Greece in the 1980s and '90s and the Greek community in the country. Prior to the Greco-Turkish War and the resulting population exchange in 1923 a very large population of Greek-speakers also existed in Turkey , though very few remain today. A small Greek-speaking community
SECTION 50
#17328522031025148-455: The Italian peninsula in Roman times has been detected. Widespread use of chestnut in western Europe started in the early Middle Ages and flourished in the late Middle Ages. In the mid-seventh-century Lombard laws, a composition of one solidi is set for felling a chestnut tree (or, also, hazel, pear or apple) belonging to another person ( Edictum Rothari , No. 301, 643 AD). Since the beginning of
5247-824: The Marigoule, the Marisol and the Maraval. The species is native to Southern Europe and Asia Minor . It is found across the Mediterranean region , from the Caspian Sea to the Atlantic Ocean . It is thought to have survived the last ice age in several refuges in Southern Europe, on the southern coast of the Black Sea with a main centre on the southern slope of the Caucasus and in
5346-404: The acute during the late 20th century, and it has only been retained in typography . After the writing reform of 1982, most diacritics are no longer used. Since then, Greek has been written mostly in the simplified monotonic orthography (or monotonic system), which employs only the acute accent and the diaeresis. The traditional system, now called the polytonic orthography (or polytonic system),
5445-402: The ancient language; singular and plural alone in later stages), and gender (masculine, feminine, and neuter), and decline for case (from six cases in the earliest forms attested to four in the modern language). Nouns, articles, and adjectives show all the distinctions except for a person. Both attributive and predicative adjectives agree with the noun. The inflectional categories of
5544-687: The area of the main summit in the south. Isatis tinctoria ssp. athoa , a woad subspecies, and Viola athois are named after Mount Athos. Mount Athos is also home to 350 species of mushrooms. Mammals include the grey wolf ( Canis lupus ), wild boar ( Sus scrofa ), red fox ( Vulpes vulpes ), jackal ( Canis aureus ), European badger ( Meles meles ), beech marten ( Martes foina ), stoat ( Mustela erminea ), weasel ( Mustela nivalis vulgaris ), European hedgehog ( Erinaceus concolor ), shrews ( Crocidura spp.), and Mediterranean monk seal ( Monachus monachus ). Other mammal species include roe deer , hares , and red squirrels . Birds include
5643-489: The aromatic characteristics of cooked chestnuts is the effect of degradation of saccharides, proteins and lipids, the caramelization of saccharides and the maillard reaction that is reducing sugar and amino acids. This tree responds very well to coppicing , which is still practised in Britain, and produces a good crop of tannin -rich wood every 12 to 30 years, depending on intended use and local growth rate. The tannin renders
5742-433: The black stork ( Ciconia nigra ), short-toed snake-eagle ( Circaetus gallicus ), golden eagle ( Aquila chrysaetos ), lesser kestrel ( Falco naumanni ), capercaillie ( Tetrao urogallus ), eagle owl ( Bubo bubo ), yelkouan shearwater ( Puffinus yelkouan ), and Audouin's gull ( Larus audouinii ). Other bird species include swifts , swallows , martins , nightingales , and hoopoes . In Greek mythology , Athos
5841-512: The cities of Dion (Dium) and Akrothoon. Eretria also established colonies on Akte. At least one other city was established in the Classical period: Akanthos (Acanthus). Some of these cities minted their own coins. The peninsula was on the invasion route of Xerxes I , who spent three years excavating the Xerxes Canal across the isthmus to allow the passage of his invasion fleet in 483 BC. After
5940-410: The consumer must consider that roasting, boiling or frying has a big impact on the nutritional profile of chestnut. Vitamin C significantly decreases between 25 and 54% when boiled and 2–77 % when roasted. Nevertheless, roasted or boiled chestnuts may still be a solid vitamin C source, since 100 grams still represent about 20% of the recommended daily dietary intake. The sugar content
6039-494: The death of Alexander the Great , the architect Dinocrates (Deinokrates) proposed carving the entire mountain into a statue of Alexander. Pliny the Elder stated in 77 AD that the inhabitants of Mount Athos could "live to their four hundredth year" due to the fact that they eat the skin of vipers. The lack of historical accounts shrouds the history of the peninsula during the later ages. Archaeologists have not been able to determine
SECTION 60
#17328522031026138-560: The direct jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople . The remainder of the peninsula forms part of the Aristotelis municipality. Women are prohibited from entering the area governed by the monastic community by Greek law and by religious tradition. Mount Athos has been inhabited since ancient times and is known for its long Christian presence and historical monastic traditions, which date back to at least 800 AD during
6237-404: The early 19th century that was used for literary and official purposes in the newly formed Greek state. In 1976, Dimotiki was declared the official language of Greece, after having incorporated features of Katharevousa and thus giving birth to Standard Modern Greek , used today for all official purposes and in education . The historical unity and continuing identity between the various stages of
6336-539: The end of the peninsula, can be dangerous. In ancient Greek history, two fleet disasters in the area are recorded: Herodotus claimed that in 492 BC, Darius , the king of Persia , lost 300 ships under general Mardonius . In 411 BC the Spartans lost a fleet of 50 ships under the admiral Epicleas. Mount Athos has an extensive network of footpaths , many of which date back to the Byzantine period . Many are typically not accessible to motor vehicle traffic. Much of Mount Athos
6435-602: The epics of Homer , ancient Greek literature includes many works of lasting importance in the European canon . Greek is also the language in which many of the foundational texts in science and philosophy were originally composed. The New Testament of the Christian Bible was also originally written in Greek. Together with the Latin texts and traditions of the Roman world , the Greek texts and Greek societies of antiquity constitute
6534-583: The exact location of the cities reported by Strabo. It is believed that they must have been deserted when Athos's new inhabitants, the monks, started arriving sometime before the ninth century AD. According to the Athonite tradition, the Blessed Virgin Mary was sailing accompanied by St John the Evangelist from Joppa to Cyprus to visit Lazarus . When the ship was blown off course to then-pagan Athos, it
6633-476: The first spreading of Castanea sativa due to human activity started around 2100–2050 B.C. in Anatolia , northeastern Greece and southeastern Bulgaria . Compared to other crops, the sweet chestnut was probably of relatively minor importance and distributed very heterogeneously throughout these regions. The first charcoal remains of sweet chestnut only date from around 850–950 B.C., making it very difficult to infer
6732-447: The fleet of the Persian commander Mardonius was wrecked with losses of 300 ships and 20,000 men, by a strong North wind while attempting to round the coast near Mount Athos. Herodotus also states that Pelasgians from the island of Lemnos populated the peninsula, then called Akte, and names five cities thereon, Sane , Kleonai (Cleonae), Thyssos (Thyssus), Olophyxos (Olophyxus), and Akrothoon (Acrothoum). Strabo also mentions
6831-452: The following periods: In the modern era, the Greek language entered a state of diglossia : the coexistence of vernacular and archaizing written forms of the language. What came to be known as the Greek language question was a polarization between two competing varieties of Modern Greek: Dimotiki , the vernacular form of Modern Greek proper, and Katharevousa , meaning 'purified', a compromise between Dimotiki and Ancient Greek developed in
6930-456: The fruit. The maximal altitude is strongly dependent on the climate. In general, the climate should be similar to viticulture . Optimal precipitation is between 400 and 1,600 millimetres (16 and 63 in). Before planting, seeds must be stratified at 2–3 °C (36–37 °F) so germination can start 30–40 days later. After a year, the young trees are transplanted. A tree grown from seed may take 20 years or more before it bears fruits, but
7029-406: The hot chestnuts dipped in salt before eating them. Roast chestnuts are traditionally sold in streets, markets and fairs by street vendors with mobile or static braziers . The skin of raw peeled chestnuts can be relatively easily removed by quickly blanching the nuts after scoring them by a cross slit at the tufted end. Once cooked, chestnuts acquire a sweet flavor and a floury texture similar to
7128-439: The infinitive entirely (employing a raft of new periphrastic constructions instead) and uses participles more restrictively. The loss of the dative led to a rise of prepositional indirect objects (and the use of the genitive to directly mark these as well). Ancient Greek tended to be verb-final, but neutral word order in the modern language is VSO or SVO. Modern Greek inherits most of its vocabulary from Ancient Greek, which in turn
7227-463: The late 15th century BC, was the first script used to write Greek. It is basically a syllabary , which was finally deciphered by Michael Ventris and John Chadwick in the 1950s (its precursor, Linear A , has not been deciphered and most likely encodes a non-Greek language). The language of the Linear B texts, Mycenaean Greek , is the earliest known form of Greek. Another similar system used to write
7326-475: The male flowers in the upper part and female flowers in the lower part. In the Northern Hemisphere , they appear in late June to July, and by autumn, the female flowers develop into spiny cupules containing 3–7 brownish nuts that are shed during October. The female flowers eventually form a spiky sheath that deters predators from the seed. The sweet chestnut is naturally self incompatible , meaning that
7425-621: The membership of Greece and Cyprus in the European Union, Greek is one of the organization's 24 official languages . Greek is recognized as a minority language in Albania, and used co-officially in some of its municipalities, in the districts of Gjirokastër and Sarandë . It is also an official minority language in the regions of Apulia and Calabria in Italy. In the framework of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages , Greek
7524-441: The modern period. The division into conventional periods is, as with all such periodizations, relatively arbitrary, especially because, in all periods, Ancient Greek has enjoyed high prestige, and the literate borrowed heavily from it. Across its history, the syllabic structure of Greek has varied little: Greek shows a mixed syllable structure, permitting complex syllabic onsets but very restricted codas. It has only oral vowels and
7623-479: The mountain is Oros Athos ( Greek : Όρος Άθως ) and the peninsula Hersonisos tou Atho ( Greek : Χερσόνησος του Άθω ), while the designation Agio Oros ( Greek : Άγιο Όρος ) translating to 'Holy Mountain' is also used. Some languages of Orthodox tradition use names that translate to 'Holy Mountain', including Bulgarian , Macedonian and Serbian ( Света Гора , Sveta Gora ), and Georgian ( მთაწმინდა , mtats’minda ). However, not all languages spoken in
7722-399: The noun they modify and relative pronouns are clause-initial. However, the morphological changes also have their counterparts in the syntax, and there are also significant differences between the syntax of the ancient and that of the modern form of the language . Ancient Greek made great use of participial constructions and of constructions involving the infinitive, and the modern variety lacks
7821-466: The objects of study of the discipline of Classics . During antiquity , Greek was by far the most widely spoken lingua franca in the Mediterranean world . It eventually became the official language of the Byzantine Empire and developed into Medieval Greek . In its modern form , Greek is the official language of Greece and Cyprus and one of the 24 official languages of the European Union . It
7920-706: The older periods of Greek, loanwords into Greek acquired Greek inflections, thus leaving only a foreign root word. Modern borrowings (from the 20th century on), especially from French and English, are typically not inflected; other modern borrowings are derived from Albanian , South Slavic ( Macedonian / Bulgarian ) and Eastern Romance languages ( Aromanian and Megleno-Romanian ). Greek words have been widely borrowed into other languages, including English. Example words include: mathematics , physics , astronomy , democracy , philosophy , athletics , theatre, rhetoric , baptism , evangelist , etc. Moreover, Greek words and word elements continue to be productive as
8019-502: The plant cannot pollinate itself, making cross-pollination necessary. Some cultivars only produce one large seed per cupule , while others produce up to three seeds. The nut itself is composed of two skins: an external, shiny brown part, and an internal skin adhering to the fruit. Inside, there is an edible, creamy-white part developed from the cotyledons . Sweet chestnut trees live to an age of 500 to 600 years. In cultivation they may even grow as old as 1,000 years or more. The tree
8118-516: The region of north-western Syria , possibly extending into Lebanon . The species is widely distributed throughout Europe, where in 2004 Castanea sativa was grown on 2,250,000 hectares (5,600,000 acres) of forest, of which 1,780,000 ha (4,400,000 acres) were mainly cultivated for wood and 430,000 ha (1,100,000 acres) for fruit production. In some European countries, C. sativa has only been introduced recently, for example in Slovakia or
8217-473: The reign of Julian (361–363), the churches of Mount Athos were destroyed, and Christians hid in the woods and inaccessible places. Later, during Theodosius I 's reign (379–395), the temples of the traditional Greek religion were destroyed. The lexicographer Hesychius of Alexandria states that in the fifth century, there was still a temple and a statue of " Zeus Athonite". After the Islamic conquest of Egypt in
8316-555: The seventh century, many Orthodox monks from the Egyptian desert tried to find another calm place; some of them came to the Athos peninsula. An ancient document states that monks "built huts of wood with roofs of straw ... and by collecting fruit from the wild trees were providing themselves improvised meals." Greek language Greek ( Modern Greek : Ελληνικά , romanized : Elliniká , [eliniˈka] ; Ancient Greek : Ἑλληνική , romanized : Hellēnikḗ )
8415-529: The soil is between 4.5 and 6, and the tree cannot tolerate soil compaction. The tolerance to wet ground and to clay-rich soils is very low. It is a heat-loving tree which needs a long vegetation period. The optimal average temperature is between 8 and 15 °C (46 and 59 °F) and in January the temperature should preferably not be below −1 °C (30 °F) but it may tolerate temperatures as low as −15 °C (5 °F). Low temperature in autumn can damage
8514-432: The strawberry tree ( Arbutus unedo and Arbutus andrachne ), cypress ( Cupressus sempervirens ), laurel ( Laurus nobilis ), lentisk ( Pistacia lentiscus ), phillyrea ( Phillyrea latifolia ), wild olive ( Olea europea ), and heather ( Erica spp.). Deciduous trees that are primarily found alongside streams include white willow , laurel , Oriental plane , and alder trees. Aleppo pine ( Pinus halepensis )
8613-437: The stressed vowel; the so-called breathing marks ( rough and smooth breathing ), originally used to signal presence or absence of word-initial /h/; and the diaeresis , used to mark the full syllabic value of a vowel that would otherwise be read as part of a diphthong. These marks were introduced during the course of the Hellenistic period. Actual usage of the grave in handwriting saw a rapid decline in favor of uniform usage of
8712-591: The sweet chestnut, specifically as a remedy against lacerations of the lips and of the oesophagus. Similar to the introduction of grape vine and olive cultivation to the Latin world, C. sativa is thought to have been introduced during the colonisation of the Italian peninsula by the Greeks . Further clues pointing to this theory can be found in the work of Pliny the Elder , who mentions only Greek colonies in connection with sweet chestnut cultivation. Today's phylogenetic map of
8811-426: The sweet chestnut, while not fully understood, shows greater genetic similarity between Italian and western Anatolian C. sativa trees compared to eastern Anatolian specimen, reinforcing these findings. Nonetheless, until the end of the pre-Christian era, the spread and use of the chestnut in Italy remained limited. Carbonised sweet chestnuts were found in a Roman villa at Torre Annunziata near Naples , destroyed by
8910-414: The sweet potato. The cooked nuts can be used for stuffing poultry, as a vegetable or in nut roasts. They can also be used in confections, puddings, desserts and cakes. They are used for flour, bread making, a cereal substitute, coffee substitute, a thickener in soups and other cookery uses, as well as for fattening stock. A sugar can be extracted from them. The Corsican variety of polenta (called pulenta )
9009-548: The trunk. Nowadays there are cultivars that are resistant to the ink disease. Phytophthora cambivora caused serious damage in Asia and the US, and it still continues to destroy new plantations in Europe. Another serious pest which is difficult to control is the gall wasp ( Dryocosmus kuriphylus ) which was recently introduced in Southern Europe, originating in Asia. Pollen data indicates that
9108-468: The value and versatility of sweet chestnut wood, leading to a slow spread of the cultivation of C. sativa trees, a theory that is supported by pollen data and literary sources, as well as the increased use of sweet chestnut wood as poles and in supporting structures, wood works and pier building between A.D. 100 and 600. Increasing sweet chestnut pollen appearances in Switzerland , France , Germany and
9207-522: The young growing wood durable and weather resistant for outdoor use, thus suitable for posts, fencing or stakes. The wood is of light colour, hard and strong. It is used to make furniture, barrels (sometimes used to age balsamic vinegar ), and roof beams notably in southern Europe (for example in houses of the Alpujarra , Spain, in southern France and elsewhere). The timber has a density of 560 kg per cubic meter, and due to its durability in ground contact
9306-568: Was a distinct dialect of Greek itself. Aside from the Macedonian question, current consensus regards Phrygian as the closest relative of Greek, since they share a number of phonological, morphological and lexical isoglosses , with some being exclusive between them. Scholars have proposed a Graeco-Phrygian subgroup out of which Greek and Phrygian originated. Among living languages, some Indo-Europeanists suggest that Greek may be most closely related to Armenian (see Graeco-Armenian ) or
9405-549: Was also used as the official language of government and religion in the Christian Nubian kingdoms , for most of their history. Greek, in its modern form, is the official language of Greece, where it is spoken by almost the entire population. It is also the official language of Cyprus (nominally alongside Turkish ) and the British Overseas Territory of Akrotiri and Dhekelia (alongside English ). Because of
9504-498: Was also used in Ancient Greek. Greek has occasionally been written in the Latin script , especially in areas under Venetian rule or by Greek Catholics . The term Frankolevantinika / Φραγκολεβαντίνικα applies when the Latin script is used to write Greek in the cultural ambit of Catholicism (because Frankos / Φράγκος is an older Greek term for West-European dating to when most of (Roman Catholic Christian) West Europe
9603-453: Was forced to anchor near the port of Klement, close to the present monastery of Iviron. The Virgin walked ashore and, overwhelmed by the mountain's wonderful and wild natural beauty, she blessed it and asked her Son for it to be her garden. A voice was heard saying, " Ἔστω ὁ τόπος οὗτος κλῆρος σὸς καὶ περιβόλαιον σὸν καὶ παράδεισος, ἔτι δὲ καὶ λιμὴν σωτήριος τῶν θελόντων σωθῆναι" (Translation: "Let this place be your inheritance and your garden,
9702-566: Was under the control of the Frankish Empire ). Frankochiotika / Φραγκοχιώτικα (meaning 'Catholic Chiot') alludes to the significant presence of Catholic missionaries based on the island of Chios . Additionally, the term Greeklish is often used when the Greek language is written in a Latin script in online communications. The Latin script is nowadays used by the Greek-speaking communities of Southern Italy . The Yevanic dialect
9801-653: Was written by Romaniote and Constantinopolitan Karaite Jews using the Hebrew Alphabet . In a tradition, that in modern time, has come to be known as Greek Aljamiado , some Greek Muslims from Crete wrote their Cretan Greek in the Arabic alphabet . The same happened among Epirote Muslims in Ioannina . This also happened among Arabic-speaking Byzantine rite Christians in the Levant ( Lebanon , Palestine, and Syria ). This usage
#101898