74 Athanasius of Alexandria, Saint
One of the most important developments for
Asturian society and culture was the rise of the cult of
Saint James the greater or (SANTIAGO) at Compostela. The
early support of the cult of Saint James by the Asturian
kings made Compostela an important religious focus for
Christian Spain and CHRISTENDOMin general. From the
midninth century, the number of pilgrimages to the apos-
tle’s tomb grew until its peak in the 12th and 13th cen-
turies. With Toledo held by Muslims and discredited by
adoptionist heresy, Asturias-León developed its own
liturgy and church organization, the Mozarabic rite.
See also AL-MANSUR, MUHAMMED IBNABUAMR.
Further reading: Roger Collins, Early Medieval
Spain: Unity in Diversity, 400–1000(London: Macmillan,
1983); Roger Collins, The Arab Conquest of Spain,
710–797(Oxford: Blackwell, 1989); Joseph O’Callaghan,
A History of Medieval Spain(Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell Univer-
sity Press, 1975).
Athanasius of Alexandria, Saint (ca. 295–373)bishop
of Alexandria
Born about 295 into an Alexandrian family of modest
means, Athanasius as a boy was adopted by Alexander (d.
328), the bishop of ALEXANDRIAabout 313 who raised
him as his successor. Athanasius was present at the
Council of NICAEAin 325 as a deacon. He was conse-
crated bishop of Alexandria after a disputed election on
June 8, 328, but deposed from the see by councils of east-
ern bishops meeting outside EGYPTin 335, 338, 339, 349,
and 351, for tyrannical and violent behavior and for
intimidation of his flock as bishop. He spent many years
in exile in the West or hiding out in rural Egypt.
Athanasius’s troubled episcopal career can only be
partially reconstructed. His own writings probably mis-
represent many important points. Near the end of this
episcopacy his political power within Egypt was so strong
that the emperors Constantius II (r. 337–361) and Valens
(364–378) had to cooperate with him when their own
rule was challenged by rivals in 350–351 and 365–366.
Athanasius always wrapped himself with that of the
threatened orthodoxy of Nicaea. Likewise the creed of the
Council of Nicaea became the standard of orthodoxy
despite a strong and growing challenge in the Eastern
Empire in the 340s. Athanasius might himself have put it
at the center of theological debate in the 350s by encour-
aging his supporter Pope Liberius (r. 352–366), the
bishop of ROME, and other Western bishops to use it in
their refusal to accept ARIANdefinitions of the relation-
ship between GODthe Father and God the Son.
Athanasius’s most influential writings are the Ora-
tions against the Arians,composed in exile (probably in
Rome, about 340), works composed for his political and
theological struggles against Arianism; the pastoral
Letters he wrote for Easter Sundays from 329 to 373; and
the Life of Anthony,though he probably was not its actual
author. Athanasius’s theological significance was tied to
his ardent and dogmatic defense of the orthodox posi-
tions of the Council of Nicaea and his support of early
monasticism. He died on May 2/3, 373.
Further reading:Athanasius: The Life of Anthony and
the Letter to Marcellinus,trans. R. C. Gregg (New York:
Paulist Press, 1980); E. P. Meijering, Athanasius, Contra
Gentes: Introduction, Translation, and Commentary(Lei-
den: E. J. Brill, 1984); T. D. Barnes, Athanasius and Con-
stantius: Theology and Politics in the Constantinian Empire
(Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1993).Athens, city and duchy of This famous ancient city,
site of the glorious fifth-century intellectual culture that
wielded extensive influence on the Western world, lies on
the plain of Attica in east-central GREECE. It experienced
a decline in the BYZANTINEera, beginning in 267 with a
barbarian raid that did great damage. More damage
occurred when ALARIChad to be fought off in 396. Nev-
ertheless, Athens remained a center of learning, where
great minds such as the emperor JULIAN,BASILthe Great,
and GREGORY Nazianzus studied. In the fifth century
(Athenais) Eudokia (ca. 400–460), the daughter of a
pagan philosopher and teacher of rhetoric from Athens,
was chosen as bride for Theodosios II (r. 408–450), who
had closed the pagan temples in the city. The closing of
the famed Academy of Athens in 529 by JUSTINIANI, as
well as the Slavic migrations into Greece in 579, acceler-
ated the city’s economic and intellectual decline. It
remained in Greek hands until the Fourth CRUSADE,
when it was incorporated into the duchy of Athens and
Thebes under Otho de la Roche (d. 1234). In the early
14th century, it was taken over by the Catalan Grand
Company, and ruled successively for short periods by
Florentines, Venetians, and Byzantines from 1446 to
1456, when it fell to the OTTOMANS.
See alsoLATIN STATES INGREECE.
Further reading:Alison Frantz, The Middle Ages in
the Athenian Agor(Princeton, N.J.: American School of
Classical Studies at Athens, 1961); Kenneth Meyer Set-
ton, Athens in the Middle Ages(London: Variorum, 1975);
Kenneth Meyer Setton, Catalan Domination of Athens,
1311–1388,rev. ed. (London: Variorum, 1975).Athos, Mount (Holy Mountain, Hagion Oros)These
famous Athonian monasteries are located in a rugged and
picturesque peninsula on the easternmost of the three
promontories of Chalkidike, southeast of Thessaloniki.
There are now some 20 monasteries, of which 17 are
Greek, one Russian, one Serbian, and one Bulgarian. At
the end of the peninsula is Mount Athos, hence the name
Ayion Orosin Greek or “Holy Mountain.” When exactly
such activity began on Athos is unclear, but certainly by
the ninth century monks were living in what was a dese-
crated region as hermits and in communities. Euthymios