Patmos [antikvár]

MYTHOLOGY Patmos, that wonderful island of Leto's (an adjunct name of Diana, daughter of Leto) was «seated» at the bottom of the sea, as we are informed from an inscription of the 5th century B.C. which can be read in the Assembly Hall of the Monastery of the Theologian « Patmos, Holiest Isle of Leto, solidly seated in the Sea depths». Diana frequently visited her Temple, sited on Mount Latmos, at Caria (in present day Asia Minor-Turkey) on the large Land Mass across. At this location she was meeting Selene (=The Moon) who, according to Hesiod, was in love with Endymion who was sleeping inside the Temple. Selene was shedding her light, lighting the island submerged under the sea and was urging Diana to pull it up to the surface of the Sea. Diana then sought the assistance of her twin brother Apollo who mediated the case before Zeus. Before long, the beautiful island emerged to the surface of the sea. After the Sun had dried it, warmed it and given life to it, many inhabitants of the area around Mount Latmos, as well as other parts, on the urging of Diana, came and settled in the island. These settlers, in order to honour the Goddess, named the island Letois. THE NAMING OF THE ISLAND According to Mythology: It appears that Letois was the name that the island had from the day when Mythology was all-pervasive, since its inhabitants then believed that the island owed its existence to Letois, an adjunct name of the Goddess Diana, daughter of Leto. According to Meletios, the name Patnos —as written in many old texts— was taken up from the fact that Neptune set (=from the Greek word 'pato') his foot on the island. According to Etymology: A few, like Bohar, believe that the word originated in Caria or Phoenecia, and means a conifer tree, i.e. a place with conifer trees (for example the Pine Tree). According to History: Patnos or Patmos. The most prevalent views on the origin of the name are: a) from an erroneous rendition of the word fatni, and b) from the name of the Mount Latmos of Caria, situated on Asia Minor, across the Aegean Sea, whence the worship of Diana, it is thought, came.