PATRAS (Gr. Patrai), the chief seaport on the west coast of Greece, and capital of the province of Achaea and Elis, on a gulf of the same name, 7o m. W.N.W. of Corinth. Pop. 61,278. It has been rebuilt since the War of Independence, is the seat of a Greek archbishop and an appeal court, and has railway com munications with Athens via Corinth and with Kalamata via Pyrgos. It is the port from which the great bulk of currant crop is despatched. The port, formed by a mole and a breakwater, begun in 188o, offers a fair harbour for vessels drawing up to 22 ft. Other exports are sultanas, valonea, tobacco, olive oil, olives in brine, figs, citrons, wine, brandy, cocoons, and lamb, goat, and kid skins. The imports consist chiefly of colonial produce, manufactured goods and sulphate of copper for the vineyards. The castle is a mediaeval structure on the site of the ancient acropolis. The cathedral of St. Andrew is highly popular as the reputed burial-place of the saint.
In Greek legend, Eumelus, taught by Triptolemus how to grow grain, established three townships, Aroe (i.e., ploughland), Antheia (the flowery), and Mesatis (the middle settlement), united by common worship of Artemis Triclaria at her shrine on the river Meilichus. The Achaeans, because the ruling families (patrai) lived there, enlarged Aroe, called it Patrae, and recognized it as one of the twelve Achaean cities. In 419 B.C. the town was, by the advice of Alcibiades, connected with its harbour by long walls in imitation of those at Athens. After the defeat of the Achaeans
at Scarpheia its whole armed force was destroyed by Metellus, but after Actium, Augustus restored the ancient name Aroe, introduced a military colony of veterans from the loth and 12th legions and bestowed the rights of coloni on Rhypae, Dyme, and the Locri Ozolae except those of Amphissa. Thus Colonia Augusta Aroe Patrensis became one of the most populous towns of Greece; its colonial coinage extends from Augustus to Gordian III. The scene of the martyrdom of St. Andrew is apocryphal, but, like Corinth, Patras was an early and effective centre of Christianity; its archbishop attended the Council of Sardica in 347. In 551 it was laid in ruins by an earthquake. In 807 it defeated the Avars. Captured in 1205 by William of Champlitte and Ville hardouin, the city became the capital and its archbishop the primate of the principality of Achaea. In 1387 De Heredia, grand master of the order of the Hospital at Rhodes, endeavoured to master Achaea and took Patras by storm. Later the city was governed by the archbishop in the name of the pope; but in 1428 Constantine, son of John VI., held it for a while. Captured by the Turks, it was surrendered in 1687 to the Venetians, who made it the seat of one of the seven fiscal boards for the Morea. In 1714 it again fell into Turkish hands. It was at Patras that the Greek revolution began in 1821; but the Turks held out till 1828.