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The Vigour
Following the
occupation of the island by the Romans, Patmos fell into decadence!
Most of its inhabitants abandon the island and the Romans thereafter
use it as a place of exile!
In the year 95 a.C,
Jesus Christ's favourite student, John (Ioannis), was sent to Patmos
in exile by the emperor Domitianus. This is how the meta-Christ
history of Patmos begins. Yet, from that time until the 11th
century there is a historical gap. During the 11th century,
the presence of monk Christodoulos Latrinos, as well as the building
of the Holy Monastery of Saint John the Theologian changed the
situation and formed the civilization that developed in the time that
followed. His eagerness for learning led to the formation of the first
library of the Monastery, and settlements were created in the north of
the island. In the 13th century, a licence was issued to
build houses near the Monastery, so that inhabitants could be
protected from the attacks of pirates that were tormenting the Aegean
Sea. The first houses were built in the southern part, only with a
ground floor at the beginning and as the desirable "anokatoga" houses
of upper and lower basement later.
The conquest of Constantinople by the Turks in 1453, was to bring a
different "air" to Chora of Patmos, through the quarter of "Allotina"
(Bygones) on the western side of the Monastery.
Houses were adjacent to the walls of the
Monastery, in order for the inhabitants to be able protect themselves
from the pirates, by climbing up to their rooftops and in the
Monastery. Although the inhabitants travelled far in the seas and
brought wealth back to the island, the society of Chora was forced to
live in the enclave under the town's "kamarika" (arches). The pirates
from the East and Europe, if they managed to get through the five-door
wall of the town, they would then lose their way in the mazy, dark
alleys of it. So, the urban society of Constantinople transfers its
civilization and organizes transit trade. Children studied in cities
of the West. The manpower of the Monastery developed with almost 60
educated monks. Big and luxury houses were built and decorated with
engraved furniture and embroidery. The end of the Venetian-Turkish
wars and the decline of the pirates' attacks, the exploitation of the
nautical tradition and the absence of the Turks, who only received
taxes, yet still supported the Monastery, all created an excellent
city. The port of the island was a bypass of traders from Venice,
France, England, Italy and Holland. The Patmians built mansions on the
most northern part of Chora, new, big churches and monasteries such as
the one of "Zoodochos Pigi" and of "Evangelism".
According to the
traveller STOCHOVE, in 1630 the island already had a big, secure port.
This was the first evidence of the existence of Skala, which gradually
developed into a settlement.
The traveller A.
De la Monraye mentions that during that period, Patmos had
approximately 4,000 inhabitants, 93 monks and over 100 churches, and
another traveller counted 800 houses and 250 churches in Chora. The
squares of Saint Levia and the Town Hall were formed. The trade centre
was created, starting from the entrance of the Monastery, passing
trough the Cretian area and reaching Saint Levia. Also, from the
mansion of Calligas to the mansion of the Natalides family.
The Hellenist and
lover of the Hellenic civilization, Jacgues Lacarriere who praises
Patmos in his book "The Greek summer" (L été grec Une Grèce
guotidienne de 4000 ans) read by millions, admirably notes: "In some
of the houses I saw well worked chests, painted separates, old
portraits, and opal lamps, a world of past luxury that reminds me of
aged salons of Athos?". As for the landscape, he says: "Worry bids of
freshness that are nicely warmed up in the aroma of musty incense?".
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