![[Flag of Patras]](../images/g/gr-pw-pa.gif)
![[Former flag of Patras]](../images/g/gr-pw-p1.gif)
Last modified: 2014-12-20 by ivan sache
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Flag of Patras, left, current flag, right, former flag - Images by Olivier Touzeau, 3 October 2012
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Patras is Greece's third largest urban area and the regional capital of Western Greece. The municipality of Patras (213,984 inhabitants in 2011; 33,310 ha) was formed in the 2011 local government reform by the merger of
five municipalities situated in the urban area of the city, Messatida (Μεσσάτιδα, 13,852 inh.), Paralia (Παραλία, 9,987 inh.), Patras (171,484 inh.), Rio (Ρίο, 14,034 inh.), and Vrachnaiika (Βραχνέικα, 4,627 inh.).
The city is built at the foothills of Mount Panachaïkó, overlooking the Gulf of Patras. Every year, in February, the city hosts one of Europe's largest carnivals.
The first settlements in Patras date to the third millennium BC. Patras
flourished for the first time in the Mycenean period. According to
mythology, after the Dorian invasion, a group of Achaeans from Laconia led
by the eponymous Patreus established a colony.
After 280 BC and before the Roman occupation of Greece, Patras played a
significant role in the foundation of the second Achaean League. Following
the Roman occupation of Greece in 146 BC, Patras played a key role, and
Augustus founded a Roman colony in its area. In addition, Patras has been a
Christian centre since the early days of Christianity, and it is the city
where St. Andrew was crucified.
In the Byzantine era Patras was an important port as well as an industrial
centre. In 1205 the city was captured by William of Champlitte and
Villehardouin, and became a part of the principality of Achaea. In 1387
Juan Fernández de Heredia, Grand Master of the Order of the Knights
Hospitaller at Rhodes, endeavoured to make himself master of Achaea and took
Patras by storm. In 1408, Patras became Venetian, until it was recaptured in
1430 by the Despotate of Morea and its despot Constantine Palaiologos, who
succeeded in recovering for the Byzantine Empire the whole of the Morea,
apart from Venetian possessions. Patras remained a part of the Despotate of
Morea until 1458, when it was conquered by the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire,
Mehmet II.
Under the Ottomans, Patras was known as Baliabadra, from the Greek
Παλαιά Πάτρα (Old Patras), as opposed to Νέα Πάτρα (New Patras), the town of Ypati in
Central Greece. Venice and Genoa attacked and captured Patras several times
in the 15th and 16th centuries, but never re-established their rule
effectively, except for a period of Venetian rule in 1687Ð1715.
Patras was one of the first cities where the Greek Revolution began in 1821;
the Turks, confined to the citadel, held out until 1828. The city was
liberated on 7 October 1828 by the French expeditionary force in the
Peloponnese, under the command of General Maison. Patras developed quickly
into the second largest urban centre in late 19th century Greece.
Olivier Touzeau, 14 June 2014
The flag of Patras (photo, photo) is blue with the golden emblem of the municipality, showing the head of Patreus, the mythical founder of the town.
The Kokkonis website shows the flag with a slightly different emblem, where the writing is placed in the inner disk of the logo, and not outside it. The emblem might
have been changed in 2011.
Tomislav Šipek & Olivier Touzeau, 14 June 2014
The flag of the University of Patras (Πανεπιστήμιο Πατρών) is yellow with the university's seal (in brown and yellow) in the middle (video).
Jan Mertens, 20 November 2008
