International congress of byzantine studies belgrade, 22 27 august 2016

Dimitrios Liakos
Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports, 
Ephorate of Antiquities of Chalkidike and Mt Athos, Thessaloniki, Greece; 
[e-mail]
Excavations on Mt Athos: Shedding Light on the Building History of Some 
Athonite Foundations during the Byzantine and the Early Ottoman Period
In this paper I will summarize the results of the old and recent excavation works which was 
carried out in the monasteries of Vatopedi, Philotheou and St Paul. 
In Vatopedi, the part of the courtyard between the bell-tower and the refectory, the chadler’s 
workshop, the south wing and the surrounding area in the kyriakon of the skete of St Dimitrios were 
excavated. In the courtyard it was revealed a part of a strong precinct that closed the monastery’s 
complex from the south side (probably from the 10
th
c.). Next to the bell-tower the foundation of the 
kitchens, which, according to the sources, was built by the Wallachian ruler Neagoe Basarab, came 
in the light. In the south wing the remains of a building dated in the early Ottoman era, which, as 
it seems, had auxiliary use, were revealed. In the skete of St Demetrios (the former old monastery 
of Chalkeos, mentioned in the sources from the early 11
th
c.), in the south side of the kyriakon the 
remains of a porch which can be dated in the older phase of the church (11
th
c.), before the narthex 
added, as well as three shaft graves, were revealed.
In the monastery of Philotheou the surrounding area of the katholikon and the west wing were 
researched. In the east side of the katholikon a part of the conch of the pre-existed middle-Byzantine 
church was revealed. In the west wing a part of the foundations of the Byzantine south precinct and 
the south wing, the remains of the old kitchens (17
th
- early 18
th
c.) but also a parts of the foundation of 
the north lost part of the edifice (with the refectory on the upper floor), constructed in the first half of 
the 16
th
c. under the patronage of the king of Kachetia Leon, were revealed. At the same period can be 
dated the auxiliary structures fragmentary revealed next to the 16
th
c. building (north side). The latter 
was founded above the older building, such as a tower and an older circular building with uncertain 
use, probably related to the early monastic extensions from the 11
th
c. onwards. 
In the St Paul the south part of the courtyard and the sea side fort were excavated. The 
excavation’s results in the courtyard were recently published.
In the sea side fort the older constructional phases came in light. In the tower one more 
underground level with saucer dome and an entrance with semicircular lintel in the south side 
(with enigmatic interpretation), closed in uncertain period, were revealed. In the enclosure added 
in the west side, a well, but also the wall with the ladder leading to the entrance of the tower and the 

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entrance leading in an underground space with auxiliary use, were revealed. Taking into account 
the archaeological data as well as the documentation of the study of the monument’s architecture 
the construction of the tower in the first decades of the 16
th
c. but also a not much later erection of 
the enclosure (also in the 16
th
c.) can be proposed. So, I believe that the known removed dedicatory 
Cyrillic inscription kept in the monastery can be recognized as the dedicatory inscription of the sea 
side fort: the sea side tower could be built by Neagoe Basarab and the enclosure could be added by 
the Wallachian Petru de la Arges or the Moldavian Petru Rareş.
The small findings came in the light by the disturbed archaeological layers in the above-
mentioned excavations doesn’t help obviously to the dating and the interpretation of the revealed 
architectural remnants. This lack can be covered as much as possible by the co-evaluation of the given 
information of the written sources, the Vasilji Barskij drawings and the old photograph depictions.