The Monastery of Zygos is an old Athonite monastery that was founded in the mid-10th century and was destroyed shortly before 1198. It is located about 2 km east of Ouranoupolis, just outside the boundaries of Mount Athos, in a position known as Frangokastro (just 40 meters outside the current boundary of Mount Athos). According to available information, it seems to be one of the oldest monastic establishments on the Athonian peninsula. It was uncovered through archaeological excavation led by Ioakeim Papangelos after research in 1984. The responsibility for the archaeological research lies with the 10th Ephorate of Byzantine Antiquities.
As noted by the scientific supervisor of the excavation “Mount Athos has been continuously renewed since it began to be inhabited. Thus, if someone wishes to study the monasteries within Mount Athos from an archaeological, architectural, and liturgical organization perspective, they must look elsewhere. The Monastery of Zygos was founded in the 10th century and by 1198 it was already deserted. It was scarcely constructed in stone—so whatever remains there are from the ancient Mount Athos.”
In the excavation, visitors will see the castle, the towers, and especially the catholicon of the Monastery of Zygos, which the archaeologists are bringing to light. The castle consists of five construction phases, all of which are older than 1211. The area inside the walls covers 5.5 acres, and the walls had 11 towers—some of which are being restored.
HISTORICAL DETAILS
When Saint Athanasius the Athonite, founder of the Monastery of Great Lavra, first arrived at Mount Athos around 958, he settled in the area of the Monastery of Zygos and underwent his first ascetic trials under the supervision of an elder monk from the region. However, the first reference to the name Zygos appears in a document from 942, in which it is not specified whether this name refers to a location, a monastery, or a settlement. The first clear reference to the existence of the Monastery of Zygos is made in 992, when it was already an important monastic center with a clear role in the functioning of the Athonite polity.
In 1018, when Niphon was the abbot, the monastery’s wealth increased with the granting of lands from the Athonite community. During this period, the monastic complex was expanded, and the new Catholicon (main church) was built, which has been identified and is the focus of the archaeological and restoration efforts.
During the 11th century, the Monastery of Zygos was one of the most important Athonite monasteries, holding a high position in the hierarchy of monasteries. It seems that within a century, the monastic complex was completed as seen today after the archaeological research. It is a pentagonal castle, reinforced by ten or eleven towers. For reasons unknown, by the end of the 12th century, the monastery was deserted and, with a chrysobull (golden bull) of Emperor Alexios Angelos Komnenos, it was granted, along with its dependencies, to the newly reestablished Monastery of Chilandariou.
Around 1206, it seems that a Frankish lord settled in the castle of Zygos, who would raid Mount Athos—this activity ceased in 1211 with the intervention of the Pope of Rome. As a result, the ruins of the monastery became widely known in the area and are often referred to in maps as Frangokastro.
ARCHAEOLOGICAL-EXCAVATION RESEARCH
The abandonment and the removal of stones for building material turned the monastery into a sad heap of ruins, which continued to be a source of construction materials for the local population until 1980. Six lime kilns operated inside and around the monastery. Notably, the lime needed to build the Xenia hotel in Ouranoupolis in 1960 was sourced from here.
Valuable information about the monastery is derived from the archives of the 10th Ephorate of Byzantine Antiquities, which is responsible for the archaeological research. The latest excavation works have revealed that the monastery was built on a site that had existing installations from the 4th century BC to the 6th century AD. The architectural complex consists of the old core (the western part), which was doubled with an expansion to the east.
The Catholicon is in the extension and began to take shape during the first half of the 11th century. It consists of four clearly distinguishable building phases: Initially, the complex tetrastyle main church was constructed, with its narrow narthex. In the second phase, the northern chapel with the founder’s tomb was added, followed by the exonartex in the third phase, and in the fourth phase, the southern single-chamber domed chapel with another founder’s tomb. Three official tombs were then constructed in contact with the southern wall of the Catholicon. The church is a cross-shaped, inscribed structure with two funerary chapels.
The walls of the church are preserved to a height of 2-4 meters. Its marble architectural elements, intricate works, were partially looted in an early phase, and most of the remaining ones are fragmented. The four columns that supported the dome are missing, but the marble partition of the northern bifoliate opening of the main church remains almost intact. The interior of the church was coated with fine-grain lime plaster and was decorated with frescoes. In the narthex, parts of a large depiction of the Annunciation and cross-like motifs are preserved. In the apse of the southern chapel’s prothesis, two layers of frescoes were uncovered, depicting the same image of a full-body hierarch, possibly Saint Nicholas.
On the floors of the Catholicon and the northern chapel, excellent-quality marble mosaic floors have been found, likely from the 11th century, and are in satisfactory condition. During the 16th-17th centuries, when the Catholicon was partially in ruins, an oil mill was installed in the narthex. Another oil mill was installed in a already-ruined building in the monastery courtyard, but their operation ceased before 1858.
The archaeological digging has uncovered many valuable finds, and the excavation and restoration work is ongoing. Among the most significant mobile finds from the Monastery of Zygos are the marble architectural decorations and the marble mosaic floors, characteristic of Byzantine architecture. Additionally, notable excavation finds include three lead seals from the 11th century, book clasps, a silver-gilded medal with an image of Saint Paraskevi, a small seal, a pendant with an image of an Archangel, glass tesserae from wall mosaics, bronze needles, and thimbles, knives, 11th and 12th-century coins, glazed ceramics, and glass vessels from the same period.
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