About
Edward Lear had wanted to visit Mount Athos in Greece since the 1840s. He was frustrated by illness, weather and
quarantines from travelling there earlier, but finally made the journey at the end of August 1856.
To get to Athos, Lear left Corfu in mid August and travelled with Giorgio, his servant, across Northern Greece, stopping at Philates, Ioannina, Meteora, Trikala, Larissa and finally Salonika. These travels are described and pictured on a complementary site developed by Dr. Rowena Fowler - http://www.rowenafowler.com/362750979
This site picks up the story as he leaves Salonika on 28 August 1856.
Editor’s Note to Lear and Mount Athos
Much of the text on this website reproduces Lear’s letters to his sister Ann Lear, and this provides an excellent descriptive account of his journey on Mount Athos. He made a diary during his travels but this has been lost, so the letters to Ann and to some friends (referenced where quoted) are the only accounts we have.
The originals of almost all Lear's letters to Ann are now lost. Typed transcriptions were made in the 1930s, and the text is based on one of these copies, by kind permission of the present owner, Dr David Michell. The transcriptions were reputedly made with some care and include handwritten corrections and insertions (for instance of Greek script where Lear had used it) and ink copying of the maps and sketches. They nevertheless introduce errors in spelling and, in particular, in proper names.
In transcribing what is already a transcription I have tried to be as faithful as possible to Lear's style as we know it from his autograph letters. The following notes also refer :
- Lear uses commas and dashes interchangeably and not always consistently. I have retained his usage except where a change can make better sense or reading.
- Lear uses acute, circumflex and grave accents over syllables in the names of monasteries and villages to indicate a stress. I have retained his usage.
- Lear’s spelling of the monasteries and villages is sometimes inconsistent. I have used his spelling as shown except in the case of the Lávra monastery where he spells it in this form in the list of monasteries he provides early in his letter of 8 October 1856 to Ann, but then spells it as Láura later. I have used Lávra throughout.
- [.......] represents an omission of (a less relevant) part of the letter at that point.
- [Lear] represents my insertion for clarlty.
- Lear does not use paragraph spacing. I have introduced paragraphs at appropriate points.
Monastery names and numbers
Lear uses various spellings for some of the twenty main Athos monasteries which he visited and these spellings as noted above are largely retained in the letters quoted. However in the website text elsewhere I have taken his usage, that of another 19th century traveller and varying modern usages into account in settling on the following list of monasteries, using Lear’s numbering. Acute angles over syllables indicate the stress.
The numbering of the monasteries follows the order of Lear's journey and also the numbering on the map of Athos on this website.
- Koutloumoúsi
- Pantokrátor
- Stavronikíta
- Ivíron
- Philothéou
- Karakálou
- Lávra
- St Paul
- Dionysíou
- Gregoríou
- Simópetra
- Xeropotámou
- St Panteleímon
- Xenophóntos
- Dochiaríou
- Konstanmonítou
- Zográfou
- Chilandári
- Esphigménou
- Vatopédi
I should like to thank Dr. Rowena Fowler for her help in the preparation of this webpage. Latest revision June 2023.