Menoikio

Menoikio (Greek: Μενοίκιο, also known to the local populations as "Bozdakas" and "Bozdas", Greek corruptions of the Turkish name "Boz Dag", which was applied to the mountain by the Turks in Ottoman time, Bulgarian: Змийница, Zmiynitsa) is a mountain range in the eastern Serres and western Drama regional units of eastern Macedonia, Greece. The highest peak of the mountain is Mavromata at 1,963 m.

Menoikio
Μενοίκιο
Menoikio viewed from Orvilos (Slavyanka)
Highest point
Elevation1,963 m (6,440 ft)[1]
Coordinates41°03′22″N 23°45′00″E
Naming
PronunciationGreek: [meˈnikio]
Geography
Menoikio is located in Greece
Menoikio
Menoikio
Eastern Serres and western Drama regional unit, Greece

Geography
A close view of Mount Menoikio, from its foothills 8 km to the north-east of Emmanouil Pappas.

To the west, it is connected with the Vrontous mountain range and to the north via the Mavro Vouno mountain to Orvilos. Menoikio is mostly composed of marble and is almost entirely deforested.[2]

The nearest significant settlements are Serres, Nea Zichni, Emmanouil Pappas and Agio Pnevma to the south and Alistrati and Mikropoli to the west and north. Otherwise the mountain is among the least populated in the Balkans.

History

On the mountain is testified the existence, in the Roman (imperial) times, of marble quarries and iron mines.[3][4]

A notable landmark of the mountain is the Byzantine monastery of John the Baptist (founded in 1270), 8 km to the north of the city of Serres. Gennadius, the first Ecumenical Patriarch after the Fall of Constantinople, after his resignation in 1465 lived as monk in the monastery, ended his days and was buried there in 1473.[5][6] His relics were exhumed in 1854 and the following epigram was erected in the place where his grave stood:

Ἣδε μεν ἡ Προδρόμοιο Μονή τήν κόσμος αείδει
ἡ πολιή μήτηρ Μακεδόνων ζαθέων
ἥδε δε Γενναδίου πατριάρχεω, τοῦ κλέος εὐρύ,
νεκροδόχος λάρναξ ἀθανάτου φθιμένου.[7]

This is the monastery of Prodromus, which is praised with hymns by the people
the hoary mother of sacred Macedonians
and this is the coffin of Patriarch Gennadius, whose glory was great,
the immortal deceased.

See also

References
  1. Iordan Nikolov Ivanov, The local names between lower Struma and lower Mesta: Contribution to the research of Bulgarian toponimy in the Aegean region., Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, 1982, p.7 (in Bulgarian)]
  2. Georgi Georgiev, The iron ore mining industry in Marvashko (Alibotush mountain and the surrounding mountains), Sofia, 1953, p.14 (in Bulgarian)
  3. Dimitrios C. Samsaris, A History of Serres (in the Ancient and Roman Times) (in Greek), Thessaloniki 1999, p.222-228 (Website of Municipality of Serres)
  4. Dimitrios C. Samsaris,The marble quarry of ancient Monoikos, "Makedonika" 18(1978), p. 226-240
  5. "Monastery of St John Prodromos (Forerunner) – Ecotourism Greece".
  6. "Mount Menoikeion Seminar |".
  7. "Αι Σέρραι μετά των προαστείων, τα περί τας Σέρρας και η Μονή Ιωάννου του Προδρόμου" ("Serres with its suburbs, the vicinity and the monastery of Saint John Prodromus by Petros N. Papageorgiou", 1894, page 91)
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