The monastery of St. Simeon Stylites the younger was said to stand on the "miraculous mountain", possibly because it was near Mt. Cassius which was a pagan holy mountain. Even today there is an Alawite shrine further down the mountain from the ruins of the monastery. Simeon the younger was a sixth century imitator of his fifth century namesake, Simeon the elder, and a complex of buildings appears to have sprung up around his pillar even during his lifetime. In his vita there is mention of Georgian followers settling at the site and later on they appear to have run their own monastery-within-a-monastery at the site. The modern name for the ruins translates as "Simeon's mountain."
Creator
Emma Loosley
Date of Visit
29th January 1997
Contributor
Emma Loosley
Rights
Metadata and all media released under Creative Commons
unless otherwise indicated
Type
Architecture
Tags
Architecture, C6th, Church, Monastery, Pillar, Semandaǧ, Simeon Stylites the Younger, Stylite, Turkey
Collection
Citation
Emma Loosley, “Semandağ,” Architecture and Asceticism, accessed December 22, 2024, https://architectureandasceticism.exeter.ac.uk/items/show/208.