Nafpaktos

Coordinates: 38°23′38″N 21°49′50″E / 38.39389°N 21.83056°E / 38.39389; 21.83056
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
(Redirected from
Naupactus
)
Nafpaktos
Ναύπακτος
UTC+3 (EEST)
Postal code
303 00
Area code(s)26340
Vehicle registrationME
Websitewww.nafpaktos.gr

Nafpaktos (

West Greece, situated on a bay on the north coast of the Gulf of Corinth, 3 km (2 mi) west of the mouth of the river Mornos
.

It is named for Naupaktos (Ναύπακτος, Latinized Naupactus), an important

Greek independence
in 1829.

The modern municipality was incorporated in 1946, and later merged into the larger

2010 reform. Nafpaktos is now both the name of a municipal unit within Nafpaktia and of the town proper within the Nafpaktos unit.[2]
The municipal district has an area of 159,947 square kilometres (61,756 square miles), with a population close to 20,000 as of 2011.[3]

The town is 9 km (6 mi) northeast of Antirrio, 18 km (11 mi) northeast of Patras, 35 km (22 mi) east of Missolonghi and 45 km (28 mi) southeast of Agrinio. The Greek National Road 48/E65 (Antirrio – Nafpaktos – DelphiLivadeia) passes north of the town. It is the second largest town of Aetolia-Acarnania, after Agrinio.

Name

The ancient name Naupaktos (Ναύπακτος) means "boatyard" (from ναύς naus "ship" and πήγ- pêg- "to fix, fasten"). It was later Latinized as Naupactus. By the late medieval period, the local name had evolved into Nepahtos (Νέπαχτος), Epaktos or Epahtos (Έπακτος, Έπαχτος). By the "Franks" (Latins) it was called Neopant, Nepant or Lepant. French sources of the 14th century give Nepant or Neopant; Venetian sources have Nepanto or Lepanto.[4]

The name was adapted in

Ottoman Turkish from Greek Νέπαχτος as Aynabahti or İnebahtı.[5]

The original ancient name was revived in

modern Greece
in the 19th century.

History

Antiquity

In Greek legend, Naupactus is the place where the

Heraclidae built a fleet to invade the Peloponnese
.

In

Though Naupactus was indebted for its historical importance to its harbour at the entrance of the Corinthian gulf, it was probably originally chosen as a site for a city on account of its strong hill, fertile plains, and copious supply of running water. After the

Aetolians,[12][13] and hence it is frequently called a town of Aetolia.[14][15][16] The Aetolians vigorously defended Naupactus against the Romans for two months in 191 BCE.[17][18] Ptolemy calls it a town of the Locri Ozolae,[19]
to whom it must therefore have been assigned by the Romans after Pliny's time.

Miles Gloriosus
as the destination of an Athenian master (Pleusicles) who is on a diplomatic mission to the city.

Naupactus is mentioned in the 6th-century list of Hierocles,[21] but it was destroyed by an earthquake in 551/2, during the reign of Justinian I.[22][23]

Medieval and early modern history

The town and its hinterland were hit by an epidemic coming from Italy in 747/8 and almost deserted.

metropolis. During the 9th–10th centuries, the town was an important harbour for the Byzantine navy and a strategic point for communication with the Byzantine possessions in southern Italy.[23][24]

A rebellion of the local populace, which led to the death of the local

uprising of Peter Delyan, and although attacked by the rebel army, alone among the towns of the theme of Nicopolis, it resisted successfully.[25] St. Nicholas of Trani is recorded as having departed for Otranto in 1094 from the port.[26] The history of the town over the next two centuries is obscure; during the visit of Benjamin of Tudela in 1165, there was a Jewish community of about 100 in the town.[25]

Following the dissolution of the Byzantine Empire after the Fourth Crusade, it became part of the Despotate of Epirus.[25][27] Under its metropolitan, John Apokaukos, the see of Naupactus gained in importance and headed the local synod for the southern half of the Epirote domains.[28] In 1294, the town was ceded to Philip I, Prince of Taranto as part of the dowry of Thamar Angelina Komnene. The ruler of Thessaly, Constantine Doukas, attacked Epirus in the next year and captured Naupactus, but in 1296 handed most of his conquests back to the Angevins, and Naupactus became a major Angevin base on the Greek mainland.[29]

In 1304 or 1305, the Epirotes recovered Naupactus during a war with the Angevins, but handed it back when peace was concluded in 1306.[30] The town briefly became part of the Serbian Empire during the 1350s.

The Venetian fortress.

In 1361 the town was captured by the

John Bua Spata, an Albanian despot of Arta
. It was briefly occupied

After 1449, the town was an isolated Venetian exclave in Ottoman territory, as the Ottomans completed their conquest of the rest of Epirus and Aetolia-Acarnania.

The Battle of Lepanto, National Maritime Museum, Greenwich/London.

Under the Ottomans, Naupactus was known as Aynabahtı, İnebahtı and was the seat of

Battle of Lepanto, October 7, 1571). In 1687 it was recaptured by the Venetians, but was again restored to the Ottomans in 1699, by the Treaty of Karlowitz. Among those who fought in the Battle of Lepanto was Miguel de Cervantes
, the most famous Spanish writer; there is a statue located at the port, in his honour.

Modern history

Nafpaktos became part of independent Greece in March 1829. It was incorporated as a commune in 1912 and as an independent municipality in 1946. In the 1997 reform, Nafpaktos municipality was enlarged by the incorporation of 13 communes.

2010 reform, Nafpaktos municipality was merged with five other municipalities to form Nafpaktia
municipality, and the town of Nafpaktos proper is now a communal district within the Nafpaktos municipal district of Nafpaktia municipality.

Naupactus suffered damage from the 2007 Greek forest fires.

Ecclesiastical history

The

Patriarchate of Constantinople.[35]

The zealous youth

Kyrie Eleison according to legend, led them to throw him overboard. He made it ashore in Italy, but was not hospitably received and died some months later aged just 19. Miraculous cures led to him being publicly acclaimed as worthy of veneration by the Bishop of Trani at the Council of Bari in 1098.[36]

Under

The see was attached to the Church of Greece after the Greek War of Independence. It was suppressed in 1900, replaced by the see of Acarnania and Naupactia, whose seat is at Missolonghi.[35]

Residents

View of the port.

Today the population is about 19,768 people according to the 2011 census. Residential homes align with the

above sea level
. The bypass has contributed significantly in lowering the number of heavy trucks passing through the narrow streets of the town.

Landmarks

  • The port and castle provide the main attraction for the town, both with well kept Venetian vestiges. Shops, cafés and bars dot the immediate area, while two cafes are also located within the castle walls.
  • The port also includes monuments commemorating the Battle of Lepanto (1571), and there is also a statue of Miguel de Cervantes by the Mallorcan artist Jaume Mir.
  • Playgrounds can be found in Psani and Gribovo, along with a beach volleyball court (with spectator stands), and a soon-to-be-completed skateboard park.
  • Nafpaktos is also home to a local museum.
  • The
    Fethiye Mosque
    , the city's largest Ottoman-era mosque.
Panoramic view of the port.

Subdivisions

Houses by the port.

The municipal unit Nafpaktos is subdivided into the following communities (constituent villages in brackets):

Nearest places

  • Antirrio (west)
  • Mountainous Nafpaktia
    .
  • Ano Chora (north): One of the traditional villages of Mountainous Nafpaktia
  • Kentriki (north): One of the traditional villages of Mountainous Nafpaktia
  • Aspria (north): One of the traditional villages of Mountainous Nafpaktia
  • Chomori
    : One of the traditional villages of Mountainous Nafpaktia
  • Elatovrisi: One of the traditional villages of Mountainous Nafpaktia with famous natural spring water.
  • Skala: Village found in the hills minutes from the town centre; overlooks the town itself
  • Skaloma: beaches
  • Hiliadou: Part of the strip of beachside villages outside of Nafpaktos (Hiliadou-Monastiraki-Skaloma); sandy beach makes it a popular destination for residents of Nafpaktos and tourists
  • Klepa: One of the villages in Mountainous Nafpaktia
  • Platanos
  • Ampelakiotissa: One of the traditional villages in Mountainous Nafpaktia
  • Eleftheriani: Another one of the traditional villages of Mountainous Nafpaktia, which is renowned for its wonderful "Panegiri" a festival for Agia Paraskevi

Historical population

Year Town population Municipal unit population
1981 9,012
1991 10,854 15,045
2001 12,924 18,231
2011 13,415 17,701
2021 12,950 17,154

Media

Television

Notable people

Gallery

  • View from the fortress
    View from the fortress
  • A square
    A square
  • View from the port towards the fortress
    View from the port towards the fortress
  • Statue of Miguel de Cervantes at the port (he took part at the Battle of Lepanto)
    Statue of Miguel de Cervantes at the port (he took part at the Battle of Lepanto)
  • View of the old harbour
    View of the old harbour
  • Botsaris tower museum
    Botsaris tower museum
  • Fortifications of the port
    Fortifications of the port
  • Fortifications along the sea wall
    Fortifications along the sea wall

International relations

Nafpaktos is

twinned
with:

Note: the American town of Lepanto, Arkansas takes its name from the Battle of Lepanto rather than directly from the Greek town.

Sports teams

See also

References

  1. ^ "Απογραφή Πληθυσμού - Κατοικιών 2011. ΜΟΝΙΜΟΣ Πληθυσμός" (in Greek). Hellenic Statistical Authority.
  2. ^ "ΦΕΚ B 1292/2010, Kallikratis reform municipalities" (in Greek). Government Gazette.
  3. ^ "Population & housing census 2001 (incl. area and average elevation)" (PDF) (in Greek). National Statistical Service of Greece.
  4. ^ Studi bizantini, Volume 2, Istituto romane editoriale, 1927, p. 307. Abraham bar Hiyya Savasorda, La obra Forma de la tierra (1956), p 48.
  5. ^ Molto importanti le forme turche, le quali si confermano magnificamente il Νέπαχτος greco." Abraham bar Hiyya Savasorda, La obra Forma de la tierra (1956), p 48
  6. ^ Strabo. Geographica. Vol. ix. p.426. Page numbers refer to those of Isaac Casaubon's edition.
  7. ^ a b Pausanias (1918). "38.10". Description of Greece. Vol. 10. Translated by W. H. S. Jones; H. A. Ormerod. Cambridge, Massachusetts; London: Harvard University Press; William Heinemann – via Perseus Digital Library.
  8. ^ Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus), 2.8.2.
  9. ^ Pausanias (1918). "24.7". Description of Greece. Vol. 4. Translated by W. H. S. Jones; H. A. Ormerod. Cambridge, Massachusetts; London: Harvard University Press; William Heinemann – via Perseus Digital Library.
  10. ^ Thucydides. History of the Peloponnesian War. Vol. 1.103, 2.83, et seq.
  11. ^ Diodorus Siculus. Bibliotheca historica (Historical Library). Vol. 15.75.
  12. ^ Strabo. Geographica. Vol. ix. p.427. Page numbers refer to those of Isaac Casaubon's edition.
  13. ^ Dem. Phil. iii. p. 120.
  14. ^ Periplus of Pseudo-Scylax, p. 14
  15. ^ Pomponius Mela. De situ orbis. Vol. 2.3.
  16. ^ Pliny. Naturalis Historia. Vol. 4.2.3.
  17. Ab urbe condita Libri
    [History of Rome]. Vol. 36.30, et seq.
  18. ^ Polybius. The Histories. Vol. 5.103.
  19. ^ Ptolemy. The Geography. Vol. 3.15.3.
  20. ^ Pausanias (1918). "38.12". Description of Greece. Vol. 10. Translated by W. H. S. Jones; H. A. Ormerod. Cambridge, Massachusetts; London: Harvard University Press; William Heinemann – via Perseus Digital Library.-13.
  21. ^ Hierocles. Synecdemus. Vol. p. 643.
  22. ^ Procop. B. Goth. 4.25.
  23. ^ a b c Veikou 2012, pp. 466–468.
  24. ^ Nesbitt & Oikonomides 1994, pp. 9–10, 18.
  25. ^ a b c d e f g Gregory 1991, pp. 1442–1443.
  26. ^ Testimony of his companion on the voyage Bartholomew the Monk Archived 2014-05-04 at the Wayback Machine excerpted from "San Nicola Pellegrino - Vita, Critica Storica e Messaggio Spirituale" by Gerardo Cioffari (published to coincide with the 900th anniversary of his death in 1994) – at TraniViva city web portal (Italian); access date: 30 January 2017
  27. ^ Fine 1994, p. 65.
  28. ^ Fine 1994, p. 115.
  29. ^ Fine 1994, pp. 236–237.
  30. ^ Fine 1994, pp. 239–240.
  31. ^ Fine 1994, pp. 352, 356, 401.
  32. ^ Fine 1994, p. 544.
  33. ISSN 0041-4255
    – via BELLETEN.
  34. ^ Κεντρική Ένωση Δήµων και Κοινοτήτων Ελλάδας (ΚΕΔΚΕ), Ελληνική Εταιρία Τοπικής Ανάπτυξης και Αυτοδιοίκησης (ΕΕΤΑΑ) (Hrsg.): Λεξικό Διοικητικών Μεταβολών των Δήµων και Κοινοτήτων (1912–2001). 2 (Τόμος Β', λ–ω), Athens 2002, p. 185.
  35. ^ a b c Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Lepanto" . Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
  36. ^ Archdiocese of Trani, Barletta, Bisceglie and Nazareth (publ.), (2004) Trani "San Nicola il Pellegrino: Atti, testimonianze e liturgie in occasione dei festeggiamenti del IX centenario della sua morte. 10 anni dopo"

Sources

External links