Patras
city in Greece
Patras (; Greek: Πάτρα, romanized: Pátra pronounced [ˈpatra] ; Katharevousa and Ancient Greek: Πάτραι; Latin: Patrae) is the capital and largest city of Western Greece, in the northern Peloponnese, 215 km (134 mi) west of Athens. It is Greece's third-largest city. The city is built at the foot of Mount Panachaikon, overlooking the Gulf of Patras.
As of the 2021 census, the municipality of Patras has a population of 215,922, while the urban population is 173,600. The core settlement has a history spanning four millennia. In the Roman period, it had become a cosmopolitan centre of the eastern Mediterranean whilst, according to the Christian tradition, it was also the place of Saint Andrew's martyrdom.
Dubbed as Greece's "Gate to the West", Patras is a commercial hub, while its busy port is a nodal point for trade and communication with Italy and the rest of Western Europe. The city has three public universities, hosting a large student population and rendering Patras an important scientific centre with a field of excellence in technological education. The Rio-Antirrio Bridge connects Patras's easternmost suburb of Rio to the town of Antirrio, connecting the Peloponnese peninsula with mainland Greece.
Every year, in February, the city hosts one of Europe's largest carnivals.
“Patras” enters the record as city in Greece. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Patras, city and Greece can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Patras” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Patras, city and Greece provides the most credible route into that argument.
Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 22, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q133123. VIAF identifies the subject as 129029351. The Library of Congress control number is n82106250. Authority coordinates are 38.246, 21.735. 1 of 5 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 1 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2021.
A single description cannot reconcile every naming convention, rebuilding phase or administrative transfer associated with a place. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Patras”, its source revision and the description used here.
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Questions for further research
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This entry incorporates text from “Patras” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.