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PATMOS

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Originally appearing in Volume V20, Page 929 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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PATMOS , an See also:

island in the See also:east of the See also:Aegean See also:Sea, one of the See also:group of the See also:Sporades, about 28 m. S.S.W. of See also:Samos, in 370 20' N. See also:lat. and 26° 35' E. See also:long. Its greatest length from N. to S. is about ro m., its greatest breadth 6 m., its circumference, owing to the winding nature of the See also:coast, about 37 M. The island, which is volcanic, is See also:bare and rocky throughout; the hills, of which the highest rises to about 800 ft., command magnificent views of the neighbouring sea and islands. The skill of the natives as See also:seamen is proverbial in the See also:archipelago. The deeply indented coast, here falling in huge cliffs sheer into the sea, there retiring to See also:form a See also:beach and a See also:harbour, is favourable to See also:commerce, as in former times it was to piracy. Of the numerous bays and harbours the See also:chief is that of Scala, which, See also:running far into the See also:land on the eastern See also:side, divides the island into two nearly equal portions— a See also:northern and a See also:southern. A narrow See also:isthmus separates Scala from the See also:bay of Merika on the See also:west coast. On the See also:belt of land between the two bays, at the junction between the northern and southern See also:half of the island, stood the See also:ancient See also:town. On the See also:hill above are still to be seen the massive remains of the citadel, built partly in polygonal See also:style. The See also:modern town stands on a hill See also:top in the southern half of the island. A steep paved road leads to it in about twenty minutes from the See also:port of Scala.

The town clusters at the See also:

foot of the monastery of St See also:John, which, crowning the hill with its towers and battlements, resembles a fortress rather than a monastery. Of the boo See also:MSS. once possessed by the library of the monastery only 240 are See also:left. The houses of the town are better built than those of the neighbouring islands, but the streets are narrow and winding. The See also:population is about 4000. The port of Scala contains about 140 houses, besides some old well-built magazines and some See also:potteries. Scattered over the island are about 300 chapels. Patmos is mentioned first by See also:Thucydides (iii. 33) and after- wards by See also:Strabo and See also:Pliny. From an inscription it has been inferred that the name was originally Patnos. Another ancient inscription seems to show that the See also:Ionians settled there at an See also:early date. The chief, indeed the only, See also:title of the island to fame is that it was the See also:place of banishment of St John the Evangelist, who according to See also:Jerome (De scr. See also:ill. c. 9) and others, was exiled thither under See also:Domitian in A.U.

95, and released about eighteen months afterwards under See also:

Nerva. Here he is said to have written the See also:Apocalypse; to the left of the road from Scala to the town, about half-way up the hill, a grotto is still shown (16 eiri7XcuovTrlr'A1rouaMnf'ews) in which the apostle is said to have received the heavenly See also:vision. It is reached through a small See also:chapel dedicated to St See also:Anne. The Acts of St John, attributed to Prochorus, narrates the miracles wrought by the apostle during his stay on the island, but, strangely enough, while describing how the See also:Gospel was revealed to him in Patmos, it does not so much as mention the Apocalypse. During the dark ages Patmos seems to have been entirely deserted, probably on See also:account of the pirates. In ro88 the See also:emperor See also:Alexis Cornnenus, by a See also:golden See also:bull, which is still preserved, granted the island to St Christodulus for the purpose of See also:founding a monastery. This was the origin of the monastery of St John, which now owns the greater See also:part of the southern half of Patmos, as well as farms in See also:Crete, Samos and other neighbouring islands. The embalmed See also:body of the saintly founder is to be seen to this See also:day in a side chapel of the See also:church. The number of the monks, which amounted to over a See also:hundred at the beginning of the 18th See also:century, is now much reduced. The See also:abbot (i iyoNaevos) has the See also:rank of a See also:bishop, and is subject only to the See also:patriarch of See also:Constantinople. There is a school in connexion with the monastery which formerly enjoyed a high reputation in the See also:Levant. The modern town was recruited by refugees from Constantinople in 1453, and from Crete in 1669, when these places See also:fell into the hands of the See also:Turks.

The island is subject to See also:

Turkey; the See also:governor is the See also:pasha of See also:Rhodes. The population is See also:Greek. The See also:women are chiefly engaged in See also:knitting See also:cotton stockings, which, along with some pottery, form the chief exports of the island. See See also:Tournefort, Relation d'un voyage du Levant (See also:Lyons, I717); See also:Walpole, See also:Memoirs (See also:relating to Turkey) (See also:London, 1820) ; See also:Ross, Reisen auf den griechischen Inseln (See also:Stuttgart and See also:Halle, 1840—1852) ; See also:Guerin, Description de l' tie de Patmos (See also:Paris, 1856); H. F. Tozer, Islands of the Aegean, pp. 178-195.

End of Article: PATMOS

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