On the west coast of the Agios Oros peninsula, at the spot where the steep slope of Mt. Antiathos abruptly plunges, the Dionysiou Monastery stands on the top of a rocky outcrop about 80 meters above the sea. According to tradition, in the 14th century St Dionysios chose this location to establish his monastery, which he dedicated to St John the Baptist. It was called the Monastery of Petra or Nea Petra, meaningfully similar to the names of both the famous monastery of St John the Baptist at Petra in Konstantinople, and the other great Petra on Agios Oros, that of St Simon.
