PATMOS
PATMOS (
Πάτμος:
Patmo), one of the Sporades Insulae, in the south-east of the Aegean, to the west of Lepsia and south of Samos, is said to have been 30 Roman miles in circumference. (Pliny,
4.23;
Strab. x. p.488;
Thuc. 3.23; Eustath.
ad Dion. Per. 530.) On the north-eastern side of the island there was a town with a harbour of the same name as the island, and the southernmost point formed the promontory Amazonium (
Stadiasm. Mar. Mag. p. 488, ed. Hoffmann).
This little island is celebrated as the place to which St. John was banished towards the close of the reign of Domitian, and where he is said to have composed the Apocalypse (
Revel. 1.9).
A cave is still shown in Patmos where the apostle is believed to have received his revelations. (Comp. Iren. 2.22; Euseb.
Hist. Eccl. 3.18;
D. C. 58.1.)
The island contains several churches and convents, and a few remains of the ancient town and its castle. (Walpole,
Turkey, tom. ii. p. 43; Ross,
Reisen auf den Griech. Inseln, vol. ii. p. 123, foll.)
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