Abstract
PBOF. DAWKINS, whose knowledge of the eastern Mediterranean now extends over more than thirty years, has long been known to students not only as an archaeologist, but also as a diligent collector of the folk-lore and legends current, or recently current, among the modern Greeks of the mainland and the islands. In the course of four visits to Athos, he has made a gathering of the legends current among the members of the remarkable monastic communities of the peninsula, to which he has added a gleaning from the literature relating to it. His purpose, however, has been inspired by a deeper motive than that of collection merely: his aim has been to test the value of folk-memory as preserved in these legends a purpose for which Athos is better fitted than most localities. It is somewhat remarkable to find that, in communities which are notoriously anti-feminine, the Virgin Mary holds a place no less prominent than in other parts of the Mediterranean. It is also to be noted, the author points out, that theological controversy, which has raged here on more than one occasion, appears to have been forgotten almost immediately after settlement, and has left little or no mark on tradition.
The Monks of Athos
By Prof. R. M. Dawkins. Pp. 408 + 6 plates. (London: George Allen and Unwin, Ltd., 1936.) 15s. net.
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The Monks of Athos. Nature 138, 228 (1936). https://doi.org/10.1038/138228c0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/138228c0