PATMOS (anc. geog.), one of the Sporades (Dio-
nyssus); 30 miles in compass (Pliny); concerning which
we read very little in authors. It was rendered famous
by the exile of St John and the Revelation showed him
there. The greatest part of interpreters think that
St John wrote them in the same place during the two
years of his exile; but others think that he did not
commit them to writing till after his return to Epe-
sus. The island of Patmos is between the island of Ica-
ria and the promontory of Miletus. Nothing has done
it more honour than to have been the place of the la-
nishment of St John. It is now called Patmos, or Pa-
tino, or Patmos, or Palmosa. Its circuit is five and
twenty or thirty miles. It has a city called Pat-
mos, with a harbour, and some monasteries of Greek
monks. It is at present in the hands of the Turks.
It is considerable for its harbours; but the inhabitants
derive little benefit from them, because the corsairs
have obliged them to quit the town and retire to a hill
on which St John's convent stands. This convent is a
citadel consisting of several irregular towers, and is a
substantial building seated on a very steep rock. The whole island is very barren, and without wood; however, it abounds with partridges, rabbits, quails, turtles, pigeons, and snipes. All their corn does not amount to 1000 barrels in a year. In the whole island there are scarce 300 men: but there are above 20 women to one man, who expect that all strangers who land in the island should carry some of them away. To the memory of St John is an hermitage on the side of a mountain, where there is a chapel not above eight paces long and five broad. Over head they show a chink in the rock, through which they pretend that the Holy Ghost dictated to St John. E. Long. 26. 84. N. Lat. 37. 24.