Seeking classical manuscripts at Mount Athos and seiches at ancient chalkis

The author became aware of Mount Athos (Agios Oros, Holy Mountain or Ancient Acte in classical times), by chance at the end of W.W.II. Some 30 years later the opportunity arose to gain an insight into the searching for classical ancient manuscripts on Athos that went on at the time of the Reformation in Europe. Athos was founded in 963 A.D. in the Easternmost Chalkidikian promontary of Greece (40 miles long and 4–7 miles wide) which is within sight of Istanbul and consists of about 24 individual monasteries. It has changed little since that date and is still, a millenium later, largely mediaeval. It is Orthodox Greek Christian and devoted only to the male sex, all forms of female life being denied access. Intrepid western European scholars of the 16/17th century sought to buy Greek manuscripts after the fall of Constantinople, at Athos. One such adventurer was Gresham Professor of Geometry, John Greaves of Oxford University and we outline the classical and scientific interests of this scholar-traveller. As the ancient Greek city of Chalkis is en route to Athos, the opportunity is taken to remark on the seiches in the straits between island Evvia (Euboea) and the Greek mainland — a phenomenon well noted in ancient Greek literature.