Ararat is known as the holy mountain of the Armenian people. It was principal to the pre-Christian Armenian mythology, where it was the home of the gods. With the rise of Christianity, the mythology associated with pagan worship of the mountain was lost. Ararat was the geographical center of ancient Armenian kingdoms. One scholar defined the historic Greater Armenia (Armenia Major) as the area about 200 miles [320 km] in every direction from Mount Ararat. In 19th-century era of romantic nationalism, when an Armenian state did not exist, Mt. Ararat symbolized the historical Armenian nation-state. In 1861 Armenian poet Mikael Nalbandian, witnessing the Italian unification, wrote to Harutiun Svadjian in a letter from Naples: Etna and Vesuvius are still smoking; is there no fire left in the old volcano of Ararat?