Medieval Mount Athos Between Wealth and Poverty

These collected studies dedicated to the Orthodox monastic center of Mount Athos during the Middle Ages paint a compelling picture of the Holy Mountain’s monastic communities as economic actors.
Mount Athos’ rich archival holdings allow both for the minute scrutiny of economic activity and the tracing of long-term trends. Not only were Hagiorite monasteries major players on a local level, but they were also embedded within trans-Mediterranean networks of patronage. The unique status of Mount Athos as a semi-autonomous monastic polity also influenced attitudes towards landholding as well as wealth and poverty more generally.
Contributors are Tinatin Chronz, Zachary Chitwood, Stefan Eichert, Martina Filosa, Mihai-D. Grigore, Michel Kaplan, Vladimer Kekelia, Kirill A. Maksimovič, Zisis Melissakis, Nicholas Melvani, Vanessa R. de Obaldía, Daniel Oltean, Nina Richards, Kostis Smyrlis, Apolon Tabuashvili, and Alexander Watzinger.

Zachary Chitwood, Ph.D. (2012), Princeton University, is Professor of Byzantine Studies at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich. He is the Principal Investigator of the ERC-Starting Grant MAMEMS (＂Mount Athos in Medieval Eastern Mediterranean Society: Contextualizing the History of a Monastic Republic (ca. 850-1550)＂).