First inhabited during the Prehistoric Age. Here it was exiled by Domitianus the disciple of Jesus John and it was here that he wrote down the "Apokalypse" in the homonym cavern. Later Alexios A’ Komninos donated the island of Patmos to the monk Christodoulos who founded the monastery. Thus the sacred Monastery of Patmos was built. In 1713 it was established the Patmiada School. Patmos is located between Ikaria and Leros, a mountainous island with rocky ground and many small bays. It is extended in an area of 34 sq.km. and in a distance of 163 n.m.(11 hours) from Piraeus. In the capital Patmos or Hora the white houses, the chapels, the narrow streets, the stone sills, the squares with view to the Aegean sea embrace the courtyard of the castle-monastery reaching the hill sides, at the top of which there is situated the magnificent monastery. The most signifiant sightseeing is the monastery of st.John Theologos that refers to the Patriarch Authority of Constantinople. It has the shape of a castle with middle-age elements. It was founded in 1088 by the monk Christodoulos Letrinos by authority-golden –seal act of the Byzantine Emperor Alexios A’ Komninos. The Ecclessiastical Museum of the Monastery includes precious ecclessiastical objects, jewels and sacred vestments, while the books and the manuscripts kept in the library of the monastery are very rare. The Cavern of Apokalypse is located in the middle of the road leading from Hora to Scala. According to the tradition, here St.John Theologos wrote down the "Apokalypse" when he arrived in 95 A.D. exiled by the Roman emperor Domitianus. In front of the monastery there is situated the chapel of St.Anna founded by the monk Christodoulos. Groikos is a coastal settlement in a small valley, 5 km. south-west of Hora. The enclosed bay looks alike a lake. Ipressive is Petra, a sandy narrow ground land ending to a huge rock. The carved in the rock stairs, the sunk foundations of the temple and the column that probably supported the altar, prove that the rock had been used for worshipping purposes si nce ancient times. Scala, 3 km. north-east of Hora, is the harbour of the island since antiquity. Here the ships making the transportation are anchored, while buses and boats as well set off for the various locations of the island. In the hillside of Kasteli there are ruins of the ancient acropole and foundations of the temple of Apollo near the church of St.Constantine.