21:1 Cos . . . Rhodes . . . Patara. They sailed on a direct course through the islands off the coast of Asia Minor to the port of Patara. The small island of Cos was a free state in the province of Asia. Rhodes, the capital on the north end of the island of Rhodes, was famous and prosperous in the earlier Greek period. Patara, a port on the southwest coast of Asia Minor, was an important harbor for ancient ships sailing the eastern Mediterranean, thus bringing Syria, Palestine, and Egypt into contact with Asia Minor, Macedonia, and Achaia.