- PATARA a city on the south-west coast of Lycia at which Paul landed on
his return from his third missionary journey (Acts 21:1, 2). Here he found
a larger vessel, which was about to sail across the open sea to the coast of
Phoenicia. In this vessel he set forth, and reached the city of Tyre in
perhaps two or three days. - PATHROS the name generally given to Upper Egypt (the Thebaid of the
Greeks), as distinguished from Matsor, or Lower Egypt (Isaiah 11:11;
Jeremiah 44:1, 15; Ezekiel 30:14), the two forming Mizraim. After the
destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, colonies of Jews settled “in
the country of Pathros” and other parts of Egypt. - PATMOS a small rocky and barren island, one of the group called the
“Sporades,” in the AEgean Sea. It is mentioned in Scripture only in
Revelation 1:9. It was on this island, to which John was banished by the
emperor Domitian (A.D. 95), that he received from God the wondrous
revelation recorded in his book. This has naturally invested it with the
deepest interest for all time. It is now called Patmo. (See JOHN.) - PATRIARCH a name employed in the New Testament with reference to
Abraham (Hebrews 7:4), the sons of Jacob (Acts 7:8, 9), and to David
(2:29). This name is generally applied to the progenitors of families or
“heads of the fathers” (Joshua 14:1) mentioned in Scripture, and they are
spoken of as antediluvian (from Adam to Noah) and post-diluvian (from
Noah to Jacob) patriachs. But the expression “the patriarch,” by way of
eminence, is applied to the twelve sons of Jacob, or to Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob.
“Patriachal longevity presents itself as one of the most striking of the facts
concerning mankind which the early history of the Book of Genesis places
before us...There is a large amount of consentient tradition to the effect
that the life of man was originally far more prolonged than it is at present,
extending to at least several hundred years. The Babylonians, Egyptians,
and Chinese exaggerated these hundreds into thousands. The Greeks and
Romans, with more moderation, limited human life within a thousand or
eight hundred years. The Hindus still farther shortened the term. Their
books taught that in the first age of the world man was free from diseases,
and lived ordinarily four hundred years; in the second age the term of life
was reduced from four hundred to three hundred; in the third it became