crates (B.c. 532), under whom its power and splendour reached their highest pitch, and Samos would probably have become mistress of the Ægean, but for the treacherous murder of Polycrates by a Persian satrap. (For details of the romantic life of Polycrates see Herodotus.) At this period the Samians had extensive commercial relations with Egypt, and they obtained from Amasis the privilege of a separate temple at Naucratis. The Samians became subject to the Persian empire, under which they were governed by tyrants, with a brief interval at the time of the Ionian revolt, until the battle of Mycale, which restored them to freedom. They now joined the Athenian confederacy, of which they continued independent members until B.C. 440, when an opportunity arose for reducing them to entire subjection, and depriving them of their fleet, which was effected by Pericles, after an obstinate resistance of 9 months' duration. In the Peloponnesian war Samos held firm to Athens till the last. Transferred to Sparta in B.C. 405, after the battle of Egospotami, it was soon restored to Athens by that of Cnidus in 394. Soon after, it fell into the hands of the Persians, but it was recovered by Timotheus for Athens. In the Social war the Athenians successfully defended it against all attacks, and placed in it a body of 2000 cleruchi, B.C. 352. After the death of Alexander, Samos seems to have owed a nominal allegiance to the GræcoSyrian kingdom. After many vicissitudes of fortune, it was united by the Romans to their province of Asia in B.C. 84. Meantime it had greatly declined, and had been wasted by war and the incursions of pirates. Its prosperity was partially restored by the residence here of Antony and Cleopatra, B.C. 32, and afterwards of Octavianus, who made it a free state. It was deprived of its freedom by Vespasian, and sank into insignificance as early as the 2nd centy., although its departed glory is found still recorded, under the Emperor Decius, by the inscription on its coins Zapíwv πρώτων Ιωνίας. [Greece.]

Samos may be regarded as having of old constituted the centre of Ionian manners, luxury, art, and science. In very early times it had a native school of statuary, at the head of which was Rhocus, to whom tradition ascribed the invention of casting in metal. In the hands of the same school architecture flourished: the Heræum, one of the most magnificent of Greek temples, was erected on the W. side of the city of Samos; and the city itself, especially under the government of Polycrates, was adorned with many splendid works. Amongst painters, the island produced Timanthes, and it was illustrious as the birthplace of Pythagoras, and of several famous artists, philosophers, poets, and historians. The ancient capital, also called Samos, stood on the S.E. side of the island, partly on the shore, and partly rising on the hills behind in the form of an amphitheatre. In the time of Herodotus, it was reckoned one of the finest cities of the world. Its ruins are still so considerable as to allow of its plan being traced; there are remains of its walls and towers, and of the theatre and aqueduct. The Heræum, the chief centre of the worship of Here (Juno) among the Ionian Greeks, stood about 2 m. W. of the city. It was burnt by the Persians, but soon rebuilt, probably in the time of Polycrates. This second temple was of the Ionic order, and is spoken of by Herodotus as the largest which he knew. It was gradually filled with works of sculpture and painting, of which it was plundered by the Romans. Nothing is left of it but traces of the foundations and a single capital and base.

The modern history of Samos presents few remarkable events. It fell under the power of the Ottomans in the 16th centy. The Samians were among the first to join the Greek Revolution, when they massacred the Turks of the island, which they put into a state of defence. A Senate and government were formed, and an army disciplined in the European fashion. The Christians of Asia found safety here, while the Samians made several

R

successful expeditions to the continent, returning home laden with booty and stores. Having thus preserved their liberty during the war, they were grievously disappointed on finding themselves excluded by the allied sovereigns from the new kingdom of Greece. The island is governed on a system analogous to that pursued in the Danubian Principalities, the Sultan appointing a Governor (a Phanariot Greek), with the title of Prince of Samos (Ἡγεμὼν τῆς Σάμου). The island pays a tribute to the Porte, but is otherwise virtually independent, and has recovered its former prosperity. In antiquity it was celebrated for its extraordinary fertility; it was then cultivated with the utmost care, and traces exist of the walls which were built to form the sides of the mountains into terraces, and to facilitate their culture. Samos is now one of the most productive islands of the Egean. It annually exports considerable quantities of corn, grapes, oil, valonia, &c.; and its muscadel wine is much esteemed. Its mountains furnish quarries of marble and forests of timber; and its well-watered valleys supply abundance of grain and fruit. The present capital, called Khora (Xapa, the Town) is on its S. side, about 2 m. from the sca, on the lower extremities of a mountain, on which the ancient acropolis (Astypalæa) was placed. It is a miserable town, with stony, steep, unpaved streets. Bathy, on the N. side of the island, possesses a safe and deep port, and is larger than Khora; but it likewise is a wretched place, with streets narrow, badly paved, and steep. The population of the island was estimated at the beginning of the present centy. at 60,000; but since the Revolution there has been a good deal of emigration.

11. PATMOS (PATINO),

called San Giovanni di Patino by the Italian mariners of the Levant, is 20 m. S. of the W. extremity

of Samos. It is a solid irregular mass of rock, bleak and barren. Its shores are indented with several good harbours, and its principal port, or scala, on the E. side, is one of the safest in the Greek islands. Patmos is about 10 m. in length, 5 in breadth, and 28 in circumference. Its name is scarcely mentioned in history, but some traces remain of a town. The island was used by the Romans as a place of banishment, and here, according to universal tradition, St. John wrote the Apocalypse, during the exile to which he was condemned, A.D. 94, by the Emperor Domitian, for preaching the Gospel.

At the landing-place is a small village, comprising about 50 houses and shops. On the ridge of a mountain, overlooking the port, stands the town, which is reached by a steep and rugged ascent of half an hour. A still higher ridge is crowned by the celebrated monastery of St. John the Divine, presenting the appearance of a fortress of the middle ages. It was built by the Byzantine emperors in the 12th centy., and endowed with lands in several of the neighbouring islands. There are here about 50 Caloyers. They are subject immediately to the jurisdiction of the patriarch of Constantinople, and are exempt from episcopal visitation. The church and library should be visited; the latter contains about 300 MSS. and about 1000 printed volumes. They were examined by Ross in 1841, who discovered nothing of importance, Dr. Clarke and other preceding travellers having bought or abstracted all that was valuable. The famous grotto or cavern where St. John is said to have written the Apocalypse, is situated on the face of the hill, about half-way between the town and the port. It is covered by a chapel, where numerous lamps are kept constantly burning, and on whose walls are rudely depicted various subjects relating to the Apocalypse. The monks point out the localities assigned by tradition as the scene where the Revelations were delivered, and some fissures in the roof are shown as those through which

masses, united in the centre by ant isthmus, which, in the narrowest part, is only 500 ft. across. On the N. and S. the sea enters two deep bays between the two halves of the island; and the town, which bore the same name, stood on the western side of the southern bay. To the S. and E. of this bay lie several desert islets, to which Ovid alludes in the line, "cinctaque piscosis Astypalea vadis" (Ar. Am., ii. 82). The modern town contains about 1500 inhabitants, who are tributary to the Pasha of Rhodes. Here is a stately mediæval castle, which commands a splendid prospect, extending in clear weather to Crete. This little town contains an extraordinary number of churches and chapels, sometimes as many as six in a row. They are built to a great extent from the ruins of the ancient temples, and in every part of the town are seen capitals of columns and other remains. The favourite hero of the island was an athlete, named Cleomedes.

Hegesander related that a couple of hares having been brought into Astypalæa from Anaphe, the island became so overrun with them that the inhabitants were obliged to consult the Delphic oracle, which gave them the profound advice to hunt them down with dogs (Athen., ix.). This tale is a counterpart to one about a brace of partridges introduced into Anaphe. Pliny (viii. 59) says that the muscles of Astypalea were very celebrated; they are still taken off the coast.

15. Cos (STANCO)

is one of the most renowned of that beautiful chain of islands which covers the western shore of Asia Minor. Among its earlier names were Meropis and Nymphæa. It appears from an inscription mentioned by Ross that it was called Lango in the time of the Knights of Rhodes. It is nearly opposite the gulf of Halicarnassus, and is separated by a narrow strait from Cnidus and the Triopian Promontory. The Turkish name of Halicarnassus

is Budrum, and some fragments of marbles discovered there were procured by Lord Stratford de Redcliffe for the British Museum. Cos is about 23 m. in length from N.E. to S.W., and about 65 in circuit. The principal city, bearing the name of the island, was near the N.E. extremity. The relation of Cos to the neighbouring coast and islands is vividly illustrated by such voyages as those which are described in Livy, xxxvii. 16; Lucan, viii. 244-250: and, above all, in the Acts of the Apostles, xx. xxi.

Tradition connects the earliest Greek inhabitants of Cos with a migration from Epidaurus; and the common worship of Esculapius seems to have maintained a link between the two down to a late period. In Homer we find the people of the island fighting against the Carians (Il., ii. 677, 867). As we approach the period of distinct history, the city of Cos appears as a member of the Dorian Pentapolis, whose sanctuary was on the Triopian Promontory (Herod., i. 144). Under the Athenian rule it had no walls, and it was first fortified by Alcibiades at the close of the Peloponnesian war (Thucyd., viii. 108). In subsequent times it shared the general fate of the neighbouring coasts and islands. The Emperor Claudius bestowed upon it the privileges of a free state, and Antoninus Pius rebuilt the city after it had been destroyed by an earthquake (Paus., viii. 43). The ancient constitution of the island seems to have been monarchical, and traces of its continuance are observed in an inscription as late as the time of Vespasian. It was illustrious as the birthplace of the painter Apelles, and of the physician Hippocrates. An interesting inscription associates it with Herod the Tetrarch, whose father, as we learn from Josephus, had conferred many favours on Cos.

Besides Cos there were other ancient towns in the island, of which the chief were Halisarna and Astypalea; there are remains of both on the S.E. coast.

The present population of Greeks and Turks amounts to about 8000; the latter being congregated in the