Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/573

 PATAVIUM. celebrated city of Venice. (Gibbon, ch. 35, note 55.) But Patavium did not cease to exist, and must have partially at least recovered from tliis calamity, as it is mentioned as one of tlie chief towns of Venetia when that province was overrun by the Lombards under Alboin, in A. d. 568. (P. Diac. Hist. Lang. ii. 14.) It did not fall into the hands of that people till near 40 years afterwards, when it was taken by Agilulf, kinc; of the Lom- bards, and burnt to the ground, (/rf. iv. 24.) But it once more rose fiom its ashes, and in the middle ages again became, as it has continued ever since, one of the most con.siderabIe cities in this part of Italy, though no longer enjoying its ancient pre- eminence. It is probably owing to the calamities thus suffered by Patavium, as well as to the earthquakes by which it has been repeatedly visited, that it has now scarcely any relics of its ancient splendour, except a few inscriptions; and even these are much less nu- merous than might have been expected. One of them is proeiTed with great care in the town-hall as containing the name of T. Livius, which has been supposed to refer to the great historian of the name, ■who, as is well known, was a native of Patavium. But this is clearly a mistake; the inscription in question refers only to an obscure freedman ; nor is there the slightest foundation for regarding the sar- cophagus preserved with it as the totnb of the cele- brated historian. {Biogr. Diet. Vol. II. p. 790.) But at least the suppcsition was more plausible than that which assigns another ancient sarcophagus (discovered in 1274, and still preserved in the church of 5. Lorenzo) as the sepulchre of Antenor! Besides these sarcophagi and inscriptions, the found- ations of ancient buildings have been discovered in various parts of the modern city, but nothing now remains above ground. Patavium was the birthplace also of Thrasea Paetus, who was put to death by Nero in A. d. 66. One of the causes of offence which he hail given was by assisting as a tragedian in certain games, which were celebrated at Patavium every 30 years in honour of Antenor, a custom said to be derived from the Trojan founders of the city. (Tac. Ann. xvi. 21; Dion Cass. Ixii. 26.) We learn also from Livy that in his time the memory of the defeat of the Spartan Cleonymus was preserved by an annual niock fight on the river which flowed through the midst of the town. (Liv. x. 2.) [E. H. B.] PATA'VIUM (rioTaowoi'), a town of Bithynia on the south of Lake Ascania, between the Sinus Astacenus and the Sinus Cianus. (Ptol. v. 1. § 13.) [L.S.] PATERNUM, a town on the E. coast of the Bruttian peninsula, mentioned only in the Itinerary of Antoninus (p. 114); from which we learn that it was situated 27 miles from Roscianum (Rossano), probably in the neighbourhood of the Capo dell' Alice, the ancient Cape Crimissa; but the suppo- sition that it was the same place with the more an- cient city of Crimissa is a mere conjecture ; as is also its identification with the modern town of Cirb. The name of Paternum again occurs in early eccle- siastical records as the see of a bishop, but after- wards wholly disappears. (Holsten. Not. ad Cluv. p. 207; Romanelh, vol. i. p. 213.) [E. H. B.l PATHISCUS. [TiBiscus.] PATIGRAN (Ammian, xxiii. 6), one of the three principal towns mentioned by Ammianus Mar- cellinus in Media. This place is nowhere else PATRAE. 557 noticed; but it is not impossible that the name is a barbarous corruption of the Tigrana of Ptolemy (vi. 2. § 9). ^ [V.] PATMOS (riaTyuoj : Patmo), one of the Sporades Insutae, 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, iv. 23 ; Strab. X. p. 488; Thucyd. iii. 23; Eustath. ad Uum. Per. 530.) On the north-eastern side of the island there was a town with a harbour of the same namo as the island, and the southernmost point formed the promontory Amazonium {Stadiasm. Mar. Mag. y. 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, i. 9). A cave is still shown in Patmos where the apostle is believed to have received his revelations. (Comp. Iren. ii. 22; Euseb. Eist. Eccl. iii. 18; Dion Cass. Iviii. 1.) The island contains several churches and convents, and a few remains of the ancient town and its castle. (Walpole, Turkey^ torn. ii. p. 43; Ross, Reisen auf den Gricch. Jnseln, vol. ii. p. 123, foil.) [L. S.] PATRAE (ITaTpai; in Herod, i. 145, Uarphs, properly the name of the inhabitants: Eth. Xlarpivs, Thuc. ; Uarpaievs, Pol. iv. 6; Patrensis: Patrasso, Patras, Pati'a), a town of Achaia, and one of thu twelve Achaean cities, was situated on the coast, W. of the promontory Rhium, near the opening of thu Corinthian gulf. (Herod, i. 145; Pol. ii. 41; Strab. viii. p. 386.) It stood on one of the outlying spurs of Mount PanachaVcus ( Voidhid). which rises imme- diately behind it to the height of 6322 feet. It is said to have been formed by an union of three small places, named Aroe ("ApoTj), Antheia ( AvBeia), and Jlesatis (Meo-dns), which had been founded by the lonians, when they were in the occupation of the country. After the expulsion of the lonians, the Achaean hero Patreus withdrew the inhabitants from Antheia and Mesatis to Aroe, which he enlarged and called Patrae after himself. The acropolis of the city probably continued to bear the name of Aroe, which was often used as synonymous with Patrae. Strabo says that Patrae was formed by a coalescence of seven demi ; but this statement perhaps refers to the restoration of the town mentioned below. (Paus. vii. 1 8. § 2, seq. ; Strab. viii. p. 337.) In the Pelopon- nesian War Patrae was the only one of the Achaean cities which espoused the Athenian cause; and in B.C. 419, the inhabitants were persuaded by Alci- biades to connect their city by means of long walls with its port. (Thuc. v. 52; Plut. ^fc. 15.) After the death of Alexander the city fell into the hands of Cassander, but his troops were driven out of it by Aristodemus, the general of Antigonus, B.C. 314. (Diod. xix. 66.) In b.c. 280 Patrae and Dyme were the first two Achaean cities which expelled the Mace- donians, and their example being shortly afterwards followed by Tritaea and Pharae, the.Achaean League was renewed by these four towns. [See Vol. I. p. 15.] In the following year (b.c. 279) Patrae was the only one of the Achaean cities which sent as- sistance to the Aetolians, when their country was invaded by the Gauls. In the Social War Patrae is frequently mentioned as the port at wiiich Philip landed in his expedition into Peloponnesus. In the war between the Achaeans and the Romans Patrae ■suffered so severely, that the greater part of the inhabitants abamioned the city and took up their abodes in the surrounding villages of Mesatis, An-