Editing Patras (section)

==History==
For the Ancient Greek, Roman and Byzantine history of Patras see: [[History of Patras]].
[[File:The recently restored Roman Odeon of Ancient Patrai, built before 160 AD, Patras, Greece (14244629163).jpg|thumb|View of the recently restored Roman Odeon (2015)|left]]

=== Middle Ages and early modern ===
{{See also|Byzantine Greece|Frankokratia|Principality of Achaea|Ottoman Greece|Kingdom of the Morea}}
[[File:Greece in 1278.svg|thumb|The Principality of Achaea in southern Greece, 1278|left]]
In 1205, the city was captured by [[William of Champlitte]] and [[Geoffrey I of Villehardouin|Villehardouin]], and became a part of the [[principality of Achaea]]. It became the seat of the [[Barony of Patras]], and its [[Latin Archbishop of Patras|Latin archbishop]] primate of the principality. In 1408, Patras became [[Republic of Venice|Venetian]], until it was recaptured in 1430 by the [[Despotate of Morea]] and its despot [[Constantine XI|Constantine Palaiologos]], who thus succeeded in recovering for the [[Byzantine Empire]] the whole of the [[Morea]], apart from Venetian possessions. The administration of Patras was given to [[George Sphrantzes]], while Constantine was immediately contested by the [[Ottoman Empire]] and later, in 1449, became emperor of the Byzantine empire.<ref>''Patras. From Antiquity to Today'', ed. by Triantafyllos E. Sklavenitis and Konstantinos Sp. Staikos (Athens: Kotinos A.E. Editions, 2005)</ref>

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, it was known as "Baliabadra", from the {{Langx|el|Παλαιά Πάτρα}} ('Old Patras'), as opposed to {{Lang|el|Νέα Πάτρα}} ('new Patra'), the town of [[Ypati]] in [[Central Greece (geographic region)|Central Greece]]. Though Mehmet granted the city special privileges and tax reductions, it never became a major centre of commerce. [[Republic of Venice|Venice]] and [[Republic of Genoa|Genoa]] attacked and captured it several times in the 15th and 16th centuries, but never re-established their rule effectively, except for a period of [[Kingdom of the Morea|Venetian rule]] in 1687–1715 after the [[Morean War]].<ref>''[[Encyclopaedia of Islam]]'' ''s.v.'' Baliabadra</ref>

It has been noted that during and in the aftermath of the suppressed 1770 [[Orlov revolt]] "when the Greeks got the upper hand they settled old scores; when the Turks and Albanians reasserted themselves they were merciless: recapturing Patras, they left scarcely anyone alive."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Constantine David |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bGGJDwAAQBAJ |title=In the Footsteps of the Gods: Travellers to Greece and the Quest for the Hellenic Ideal |publisher=Tauris Parke Paperbacks |year=2011 |isbn=9780857719478 |pages=169 |quote=Readers were thus enabled to follow and visualize the campaign as it was reported, almost daily but after a time-lag of about four weeks, in despatches from Italy and Turkey. They read accounts — as confused, contradictory, exaggerated or downright false as such accounts generally are — of the Sieges of Coron and Modon, of the taking and Ioss of Mistra, the rout at Tripolis and the victory off Tchesmé. And it was repeatedly noted that both sides were conducting the war with great savagery: ' the ravages committed by both armies ... are dreadful ... horrid cruelties perpetrated in cold blood, shocking to human nature, 'the war is carried on with much Bloodshed and Horror'. When the Greeks got the upper hand they settled old scores; when the Turks and Albanians reasserted themselves they were merciless: recapturing Patras, they left scarcely anyone alive.}}</ref>

In 1772, a [[Battle of Patras (1772)|naval battle]] took place off the city between the Russians and Ottomans.

=== Modern era ===
Patras was one of the first cities in which the [[Greek Revolution]] began in 1821;<ref>{{cite web|author=Strategus Makrygiannis|title="Memoirs", Book A, Chapter I, Athens, 1849|url=http://www.snhell.gr/testimonies/writer.asp?id=102|access-date=2012-10-02|archive-date=13 July 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060713010850/http://www.snhell.gr/testimonies/writer.asp?id=102|url-status=live}}</ref>  the Ottoman garrison, confined to the citadel, [[Siege of Patras (1821)|held out]] until 1828. After the war, most of the city and its buildings were completely destroyed.

Patras developed quickly into the second-largest urban centre in late-19th-century Greece.<ref>Triantafyllou, Κ.Ν., ''Historic Lexicon of Patras''</ref> The city benefited from its role as the main export port for the agricultural produce of the Peloponnese.<ref>{{cite web|author=Kounenaki Pegy|title=19th Century Patras: how the character of the city changed with the development of the port after 1828|url=http://news.kathimerini.gr/4dcgi/_w_articles_civ_491371_14/10/2001_3252|publisher=News.kathimerini.gr|access-date=2012-10-02|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120215003502/http://news.kathimerini.gr/4dcgi/_w_articles_civ_491371_14/10/2001_3252|archive-date=2012-02-15}}</ref>

In the early 20th century, Patras developed fast and became the first Greek city to introduce public streetlights and electrified tramways.<ref>Thomopoulos</ref> In the Second World War, the city was a major target of Italian [[airstrike|air raids]]. In the Axis occupation period, a German military command was established and German and Italian troops stationed in the city. After the liberation in 1944, the city recovered, but in later years was increasingly overshadowed by the urban pole of Athens.{{citation needed|date=January 2022}} Since 2014, the city's mayor is [[Kostas Peletidis]].