DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4326#0150
84
PATARA.
The imperial coins of Lycia were confined by Eckhel to those of Gordian ; but Sestini quotes
those of Claudius, Domitian, Nerva and Trajan. One of those of the time of Gordian presents
a quadruped standing between two figures in a distyle temple, on the pediment of which is an
eagle; the two figures are explained by the legend nocnzqeov Mu^iav 6y.omoe., shewing that the
people of these two maritime cities had found it advisable to form an alliance for mutual protection;
leaving no doubt therefore that the ancient Lycian confederacy was then dissolved, and that
these were the two principal cities, a fact sufficiently testified also by their extant monuments.
Some other coins of Patara of this reign represent on the reverse a figure of Apollo in a long
dress, holding a branch of laurel in his right hand; it represented probably his statue in that
oracular temple, for which Patara had been distinguished during more than a thousand years, giv-
ing reason to infer that when this coin was struck, the oracle was not yet extinct. We know that
the oracle of Delphi, to which alone that of Patara was inferior in fame, continued occasionally
to give responses as late as the partition of the Empire.*
From the tabular itinerary called the Theodosian or Peutinger Table, a document of the latter
part of the fourth or beginning of the fifth century, it appears that a Roman road passed cir-
cuitously along the sea coast from Miletus to Phaselis through Myndus, Gnidus and Loryma, and
that Cnidus and Patara were the only two fortified places on this route.-f
In the beginning of the fourth century, Patara was already converted to Christianity, its bishop
Eudemus having subscribed to the Nicene council in the year 325 ; from the signature of
another bishop of Patara, who lived about this time, it appears that Olympus was comprehended
in his diocese, whence it would seem, that town having been at the opposite extremity of the
Lycian coast, that the spiritual authority of the bishop of Patara then extended over the
greatest part of Lycia. The bishopric of Myra, however, was of equal or of greater antiquity
than that of Patara, if we may trust to the traditions of the Greek church, for according to these
authorities the martyr Nicander, bishop of Myra was ordained by Titus first bishop of Crete who
was said to have been a disciple of St. Paul; in the early part of the fifth century, in the reign
of the Emperor Theodosius the younger, Myra became the seat of government in Lycia, as well
as the ecclesiastical metropolis,X in which capacity its bishop, in a subsequent age, numbered
thirty-six suffragans under his authority.§
No mention of the bishops of Patara occurs in the acts of the Councils later than the sixth cen-
tury, so that about that time the decline of Patara was probably as rapid as that of Xanthus had
been in the two first centuries of the Roman empire. The present aspect of Patara sufficiently
* See Van Dale de Orac. Ethn.—Plutarch who about half a
century before the reign of Gordian wrote on the cessation of
the Oracles, and who shews the Delphic to have been then in
activity, gives us no light as to that of Patara : but this writer
had very little information respecting the oracles of Asia,
for he leaves us in doubt whether Mopsus and Amphilochus
still delivered responses in Cilicia.
\ Tab. Peuting. segm. IX. X.
+ Jo. Malal. p. 69.—Hierocl. Synecd. p. 684.—Basil. Se-
leuc. in vita S. Theclae, p. 272.
^ Not. Episc. Gr. p. 387, ed. Paris.
PATARA.
The imperial coins of Lycia were confined by Eckhel to those of Gordian ; but Sestini quotes
those of Claudius, Domitian, Nerva and Trajan. One of those of the time of Gordian presents
a quadruped standing between two figures in a distyle temple, on the pediment of which is an
eagle; the two figures are explained by the legend nocnzqeov Mu^iav 6y.omoe., shewing that the
people of these two maritime cities had found it advisable to form an alliance for mutual protection;
leaving no doubt therefore that the ancient Lycian confederacy was then dissolved, and that
these were the two principal cities, a fact sufficiently testified also by their extant monuments.
Some other coins of Patara of this reign represent on the reverse a figure of Apollo in a long
dress, holding a branch of laurel in his right hand; it represented probably his statue in that
oracular temple, for which Patara had been distinguished during more than a thousand years, giv-
ing reason to infer that when this coin was struck, the oracle was not yet extinct. We know that
the oracle of Delphi, to which alone that of Patara was inferior in fame, continued occasionally
to give responses as late as the partition of the Empire.*
From the tabular itinerary called the Theodosian or Peutinger Table, a document of the latter
part of the fourth or beginning of the fifth century, it appears that a Roman road passed cir-
cuitously along the sea coast from Miletus to Phaselis through Myndus, Gnidus and Loryma, and
that Cnidus and Patara were the only two fortified places on this route.-f
In the beginning of the fourth century, Patara was already converted to Christianity, its bishop
Eudemus having subscribed to the Nicene council in the year 325 ; from the signature of
another bishop of Patara, who lived about this time, it appears that Olympus was comprehended
in his diocese, whence it would seem, that town having been at the opposite extremity of the
Lycian coast, that the spiritual authority of the bishop of Patara then extended over the
greatest part of Lycia. The bishopric of Myra, however, was of equal or of greater antiquity
than that of Patara, if we may trust to the traditions of the Greek church, for according to these
authorities the martyr Nicander, bishop of Myra was ordained by Titus first bishop of Crete who
was said to have been a disciple of St. Paul; in the early part of the fifth century, in the reign
of the Emperor Theodosius the younger, Myra became the seat of government in Lycia, as well
as the ecclesiastical metropolis,X in which capacity its bishop, in a subsequent age, numbered
thirty-six suffragans under his authority.§
No mention of the bishops of Patara occurs in the acts of the Councils later than the sixth cen-
tury, so that about that time the decline of Patara was probably as rapid as that of Xanthus had
been in the two first centuries of the Roman empire. The present aspect of Patara sufficiently
* See Van Dale de Orac. Ethn.—Plutarch who about half a
century before the reign of Gordian wrote on the cessation of
the Oracles, and who shews the Delphic to have been then in
activity, gives us no light as to that of Patara : but this writer
had very little information respecting the oracles of Asia,
for he leaves us in doubt whether Mopsus and Amphilochus
still delivered responses in Cilicia.
\ Tab. Peuting. segm. IX. X.
+ Jo. Malal. p. 69.—Hierocl. Synecd. p. 684.—Basil. Se-
leuc. in vita S. Theclae, p. 272.
^ Not. Episc. Gr. p. 387, ed. Paris.