Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/574

 558 PATKAE. theia, Bolina, Arsyra, and Arba. (Pol. v. 2, 3, 28, &c.; Paus. vii. 18. § 6; Pol. xl. 3.) Of these places we know only the position of Bolina and .Vrgyra. Bolina was a little S. of the promontory Drepanum, and gave its name to the river Bolinaeus. (Paus. vii. 24. § 4.) Argvra was a little S. of the promontory Khium. (Paus. vii. 23. § 1 .) Patrae continued an insignificant town down to the time of Augustus, although it is frequently mentioned as the place at •which persons landed going from Italy to Greece. rCic. ad Fam. vii. 28, xvi. 1, 5, 6, ad Ait. v. 9, vii. 2.) After the battle of Pharsalia (b.c. 48) Patrae was taken possession of by Cato, but shortly after- wards surrendered to Calenus, Caesar's lieutenant. It was here also that Antony passed the winter j (32—31) when preparing for the war against Au- gustus; and it was taken by Agrippa siiortly before : the battle of Actium. (Dion Cass. xlii. 13, 14, 1. 9, j 13.) It owed its restoration to Augustus, who re- ] solved after the battle of Actium to establish two, Eoman colonies on the western coast of Greece, and 1 for this purpose made choice of Nicopolis and Patrae. ! Augustus colonised at Patrae a considerable body of _ his soldiers, again collected its inhabitants from the surrounding villages, and added to them those of Ehypes. (Paus. vii. 18. § 7; Plin. iv. 5.) He not, only gave Patrae dominion over the neighbouring towns, such as Pharae (Paus. vii. 22. § 1), Dyme : (Paus. vii. 17. § .5), Tritaea (Paus. vii. 23. § 6), but even over Locris. (Paus. x. 38. § 9.) On oins it appears as a Roman colony with the name of Colonia Augusta Aroe Patrensis. Strabo describes it in his time as a populous place with a good anchorage, and Pausanias lias devoted four chapters to an account of its public buildings. (Strab. viii. p. 387 ; Paus. vii. 18 — 21.) Of these the most important appear to liave been a temple of Artemis Laphria, on the acro- polis, with an ancient statue of this goddess, removed from Calydon to Patrae by order of Augustus, and in whose honour an annual festival was celebrated; the Odeum, which was the most magnificent build- ing of the kind in Greece, after the Odeum of He- rodes at Athens; the theatre; and on the seaside a temple of Demeter, which was remarkable on account of a well in front of it, which was supposed to fore- tell the fate of sick persons ; a mirror was suspended on the water, and on this mirror there were certain appearances indicating whether the person would live or die. In the time of Pausanias Patrae was noted for its manufacture of byssus or flax, which was grown inElis, and waswoven at Patrae into head- dresses (^K€Kpv<paoi) and garments. Women were employed in this manufacture, and so large was their number that the female population was double that of tiie male; and as a natural consequence there was great immorality in the town. (Paus. vii. 21. § 14.) Patrae has continued down to the present day to be one of the most important towns in the Morea, being admirably situated for communicating with Italy and the Adriatic, and with eastern Greece by means of the gulf of Corinth. It is frequently men- tioned in the Byzantine writers. In a.d. 347 there was an archbishop of Patrae at the council of Sar- dica. In the sixth century it was destroyed by an earthquake. (Piocop. Goth. iv. 25.) It is subse- quently mentioned as a dukedom of the Byzantine empire ; it was sold to the Venetians iu 1408 ; was taken by the Turks in 1446; was recovered by the Yecetians in 1533 ; but was shortly afterwards taken again by the Turks, and remained in their Itiinds till the Greek revolution. PATTALA. The country around Patras is a fine and fertile plain, and produces at present a large quantity of currants, which form an article of export. The modern town occupies the same site as the ancient city. It stands upon a ridge about a mile long, the summit of which furmed the acropolis, and is now occupied by the ruins of the Turkish citadel. From the town there is a beautiful sea-view. '■ The out- line of the land on the opposite side of the gulf, ex- tends from the snowy tops of Parnassus in the east, to the more distant mountains of Acarnania in the same direction, while full in front, in the centre of the prospect, are the colossal pyramids of Kahiscala (the ancient Taphiassus) and Vardsova (the ancient Chalcis), rising in huge perpendicular masses from the brink of the water." (Mure, Tour in Greece, vol. ii. p. 300.) There are very few remains of an- tiquity at Patras. The modern citadel contains some pieces of the walls of the ancient acropolis, and there are ruins of the Koman aqueduct of brick. The well mentioned ijy Pausanias is still to be seen about three quarters of a mile from the town under a vault belonging to the remains of a church of St. Andrew, the patron saint of Patras. Before the Greek revo- lution, in which Patras suflfered greatly, its popula- tion was about 10,000; but its present population is probably somewhat less. (Leake, Morea, vol. ii. p. 123, seq.) COIN OF pati;ak. PATRAEUS (narpaevs), a place in the Cim- merian Bosporus, 130 stadia from Corocondame, and near the monument of Satyrus, the ruler of the Bosporus. Klaproth places Patraeus at Akhiirun, 5 versts S. of Kertch. (Strab. xi. p. 494 ; Bockh, Inscr. vol. ii. p. 163, n. 2127 ; Klaproth, Nouv. Journal Asiatique, vol. i. pp. 67, 290 ; Ukert, vol. iii. pt. ii. p. 488.) PATROCLI INSULA (UaTp6Kov vwoi, Paus. i. 1. § 1, i. 35. § 1 ; Steph. B. s. v. ; UaTp6Kov X^-po-^i Strab. ix. p. 398), a small island off the southern coast of Attica, west of the promontory Sunium, so called from Patroolus, one of the gene- rals of Ptolemy Philadelphus, who was sent by this king to assist the Athenians against the Mace- donians, and who built a fortress in the island. It is now called Gaidharonisi. (Leake, Demi of At- tica, p. 62, 2nd ed.) PATTALA (to XiarTaXa, Arrian, v. 4, vi. 17; 7} TldraXri, Ptol. vii. 1. § 59), a town in Western India, situated at the point of land where the western stream of the Indus is divided off into two chief branches, which, flowing to the sea, enclose what has been popularly called the delta of that river. There can be no doubt that this place is re- presented by the present Tatta. Arrian states that it derives its name from an Indian word, which sig- nifies delta (v. 4; Ind. c. 2.) Alexander the Great appears to have spent some time there, and to have built a castle and docks ; and it was from this place that he made his first unfortunate but ultimately successful expedition in ships to the month of the Indus (Arrian, vL 18). The real Indian meaning of Patala appearK to be the West, in opposition to