Mount Galesios

Mount Galesios
Galesion
Highest point
Elevation	764 m (2,507 ft)[1]
Coordinates	38.0455778°N 27.3939555°E / 38.0455778; 27.3939555[1]
Geography
Location	İzmir Province
Country	Turkey

Mount Galesios or Galesion (Greek: όρος Γαλήσιος/Γαλήσιον), today known as Alamandağ or Gallesion in Turkish,[2] is a mountain north of Ephesus in modern-day Turkey. The mountain is located on the northern bank of the Küçükmenderes River (ancient Kaystros), on the western coast of Asia Minor.[3] It is notable as the seat of a large Eastern Orthodox monastic community in late Byzantine times, from the 11th century to the area's conquest by the Turks in the 14th century.[3]

History

The first monastic community on the mountain was established by the stylite monk Lazaros of Mount Galesios, who died there in 1053.[4] Already during his lifetime, three monasteries were established near his pillar: the Saviour, reserved for 12 eunuchs; the Theotokos, for 12 monks, and the Resurrection (Anastasis) of 40 monks.[3] Each had its own hegoumenos (abbot).[3] A fourth monastery, the Theotokos of Bessai, was established by the imperial family and housed up to 300 monks, but it rapidly declined after the 11th century.[3] There was also a female convent, that of Eupraxia, where the monks' female relatives could stay.[3]

The death of Lazaros deprived the community of much of its prestige, but it re-emerged into prominence in the 13th century, with the establishment of the Empire of Nicaea,[3] when the neighbouring city of Nymphaion became the favourite winter residence of the Nicaean emperors.[5] The patriarchs Joseph I of Constantinople (1266–1275 and from 1282 to 1283), Gregory II of Constantinople (1283–1289) and Athanasius I of Constantinople (1289–1293 and 1303–1309) were all monks of the "monastery of Galesios"; Gregory II even wrote a new version of the hagiography of St. Lazaros.[3] The monastery featured a considerable library and a scriptorium.[3]

The area's history as a monastic centre ended when it was captured by the Turks in the early 14th century.[3]

References

1. "Node: 2733585599". OpenStreetMap. 2021-04-22. Retrieved 2022-06-13.
2. Della Dora, Veronica (2016). Landscape, Nature, and the Sacred in Byzantium. Cambridge. ISBN 978-1-316-48838-6. OCLC 938434170.
3. ODB, "Galesios, Mount" (A.-M. Talbot), p. 817
4. Gregory the Cellarer; Greenfield, Richard P. H. (2000). The life of Lazaros of Mt. Galesion: an eleventh-century pillar saint. Washington, D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.112.3630. ISBN 0-88402-272-2. OCLC 41445690.
5. ODB, "Nymphaion" (C. Foss), pp. 1505–1506.

Sources

• Kazhdan, Alexander, ed. (1991). The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-504652-8.