New Athos ახალი ათონი, Афон Ҿыц, Новый Афон, Νέος Άθως Akhali Atoni, Afon Ch'yts, Novy Afon, Neos Athos |
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New Athos Monastery
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Location of New Athos in Abkhazia |
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Coordinates: 43°05′3.3″N 40°49′2.64″E / 43.084250°N 40.8174000°ECoordinates: 43°05′3.3″N 40°49′2.64″E / 43.084250°N 40.8174000°E | |
Country | Georgia |
Partially recognized independent country |
Abkhazia |
District | Gudauta |
Government | |
• Mayor | Feliks Dautia |
Population (2011) | |
• Total | 1,518 |
Time zone | MSK (UTC+3) |
New Athos or Akhali Atoni (Georgian: ახალი ათონი, Akhali Atoni; Abkhaz: Афон Ҿыц, Afon Ch'yts; Russian: Новый Афон; Novy Afon, Greek: Νέος Άθως, Neos Athos) is a town in the Gudauta raion of Abkhazia, situated some 22 km (14 mi) from Sukhumi by the shores of the Black Sea. The town was previously known under the names Nikopol, Acheisos, Anakopia, Nikopia, Nikofia, Nikopsis, Absara, and Psyrtskha.
New Athos Cave is one of the tourist attractions of Abkhazia,/Georgia.
A large ancient Greek port town of Anacopia was recorded there in the 3rd century. Its ruins are still visible. In the 5th century, Georgians built a fortress on the top of the Iverian Mountain. Anacopia was the capital of the Abkhazian princedom in the orbit of the Byzantine Empire and then of the Abkhazian Kingdom after the archon Leon II declared himself a king in the late 8th century. Later, the capital was moved to Kutaisi.
Anacopia was ceded to Byzantine Empire by Demetre in 1033 but was retaken by Georgians in 1072 among the other territories Georgia gained as a result of the Empire's defeat at Manzikert at the hands of Seljuks.
Located between the Black Sea and the Iverian Mountain, New Athos is 17 km far from Gudauta, 22 from Sukhumi and 84 from the Russian borders at Vesyoloye, a village near the city of Sochi.