PATMOS
Patmos. One writer describes it as ‘the Alcatraz of the First Century’, where the worst criminals were incarcerated. The remoteness of the island meant that the normal protocols about the treatment of prisoners (especially Romans citizens) that Roman law demanded could be ignored. On arrival, prisoners were usually scourged, a cruel welcome that made it absolutely clear that any poor behaviour would be punished mercilessly. Prisoners were divided into two categories - common criminals and political offenders.
John was no stranger to suffering. In 93AD, he was arrested and forced to stand before the power crazed emperor Domitian. According to the early Christian apologist Tertullian, Domitian insisted that John burn pagan incense, and when the old apostle refused, he was thrown into a vat of boiling oil - which he survived, a miracle. Now he found himself on Patmos, and as a political prisoner, he would not have been provided with clothes, food or water, but had to fend for himself. According to some early writings, he lived in a cave. Patmos was one of the worst places on earth - but it was while John was there that Jesus appeared to him with the message that we know as the book of Revelation.