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109-704: It is named for Naupaktos ( Ναύπακτος , Latinized as Naupactus ), an important Athenian naval station in the Peloponnesian war . As a strategically crucial possession controlling access to the Gulf of Corinth, Naupaktos changed hands many times during the Crusades and the Ottoman–Venetian Wars . It was under Venetian control in the 15th century, and came to be known by the Venetian form of its name, Lepanto . It fell to

218-573: A Second Athenian League . Finally Thebes defeated Sparta in 371 BC in the Battle of Leuctra . But then the Greek cities (including Athens and Sparta) turned against Thebes, whose dominance was stopped at the Battle of Mantinea (362 BC) with the death of its military-genius leader Epaminondas . By the mid-4th century BC, however, the northern Greek kingdom of Macedon was becoming dominant in Athenian affairs. In

327-460: A battle against Eumenes in 320 BC, leaving Antipater alone to rule for a year, until his death in 319 BC. Athens had a central role in the struggle for his succession, when Antipater's son, Cassander , secured the Piraeus leaving Athens without a source of supplies, to contest Antipater's successor, Polyperchon . To consolidate power against Cassander, Polyperchon restored Athens's democracy, as it

436-565: A center of paganism. Christian items do not appear in the archaeological record until the early 5th century. The sack of the city by the Herules in 267 and by the Visigoths under their king Alaric I ( r.  395–410 ) in 396, however, dealt a heavy blow to the city's fabric and fortunes, and Athens was henceforth confined to a small fortified area that embraced a fraction of the ancient city. The emperor Justinian I ( r.  527–565 ) banned

545-664: A failed attempt at the mortifications of cenobitic life at the Hosios Loukas monastery in Boetia set sail in the spring of 1094 on a pilgrimage to Rome for the Solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul. His pious habit of evangelizing the sailors with constant proclamations (in Greek kerygma from κηρύσσω, meaning "to cry or proclaim as a herald") of the phrase Kyrie Eleison according to legend, led them to throw him overboard. He made it ashore in Italy, but

654-404: A fertile valley surrounded by rivers. To the east lies Mount Hymettus , to the north Mount Pentelicus . Ancient Athens, in the first millennium BC, occupied a very small area compared to the sprawling metropolis of modern Greece. The ancient walled city encompassed an area measuring about two kilometres (1.5 mi) from east to west and slightly less than that from north to south, although at its peak

763-660: A major Angevin base on the Greek mainland. In 1304 or 1305, the Epirotes recovered Naupactus during a war with the Angevins, but handed it back when peace was concluded in 1306. The town briefly became part of the Serbian Empire during the 1350s. In 1361 the town was captured by the Catalans of the Duchy of Athens . In 1376 or 1377 it fell to John Bua Spata , an Albanian despot of Arta . It

872-453: A natural advantage over inland rivals such as Thebes and Sparta . According to legend, Athens was formerly ruled by kings , a situation which may have continued up until the 9th century BC. From later accounts, it is believed that these kings stood at the head of a land-owning aristocracy known as the Eupatridae (the 'well-born'), whose instrument of government was a Council which met on

981-474: A period of sharp decline under the rule of the Ottoman Empire , Athens re-emerged in the 19th century as the capital of the independent and self-governing Greek state . The name of Athens , connected to the name of its patron goddess Athena , originates from an earlier Pre-Greek language. The origin myth explaining how Athens acquired this name through the legendary contest between Poseidon and Athena

1090-527: Is called Psani, while the Eastern part Gribovo. Naupactus sits on a shoulder of a mountain range on the north while farmlands dominate the western part. It used to be on the GR-48/E65 linking Antirrio and Amfissa ; now it is bypassed to the north at the elevation of 150 to 200 m (492 to 656 ft) above sea level . The bypass has contributed significantly in lowering the number of heavy trucks passing through

1199-626: Is evidence that the site on which the Acropolis ('high city') stands was first inhabited in the Neolithic period, perhaps as a defensible settlement, around the end of the fourth millennium BC or a little later. The site is a natural defensive position which commands the surrounding plains. It is located about 20 km (12 mi) inland from the Saronic Gulf , in the centre of the Cephisian Plain ,

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1308-646: Is known as Hellenistic Greece . The period from the end of the Persian Wars to the Macedonian conquest marked the zenith of Athens as a center of literature, philosophy, and the arts. In Athens at this time, the political satire of the Comic poets at the theatres had a remarkable influence on public opinion . Some of the most important figures of Western cultural and intellectual history lived in Athens during this period:

1417-416: Is known to have existed during the 10th millennium BC . In addition, no evidence exists of any possible cultural or other ties between Egypt and any part of present-day Greece at such early a date. During the 1st millennium BC , Athens succeeded in bringing the other towns of Attica under its rule. This process of synoikismos  – the bringing together into one home – created

1526-570: Is recorded as having departed for Otranto in 1094 from the port. 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. Following the dissolution of the Byzantine Empire after the Fourth Crusade , it became part of the Despotate of Epirus . Under its metropolitan, John Apokaukos ,

1635-511: Is unclear whether Athens suffered destruction in about 1200 BC, an event traditionally attributed to a Dorian invasion (though now commonly attributed to a systems collapse, part of the Late Bronze Age collapse ). The Athenians always maintained that they were 'pure' Ionians with no Dorian element. However, Athens, like many other Bronze Age settlements, went into economic decline for around 150 years following this. Iron Age burials, in

1744-438: The Battle of Aegospotami which ended Athenian naval supremacy. Due to its poor handling of the war, the democracy in Athens was briefly overthrown by a coup in 411 BC; however, it was quickly restored. The Peloponnesian War ended in 404 BC with the complete defeat of Athens. Since the loss of the war was largely blamed on democratic politicians such as Cleon and Cleophon , there was a brief reaction against democracy, aided by

1853-525: The Battle of Chaeronea (338 BC) , Philip II 's armies defeated an alliance of some of the Greek city-states including Athens and Thebes, forcing them into a confederation and effectively limiting Athenian independence. Philippides of Paiania , one of the wealthiest Athenian aristocratic oligarchs, campaigned for Philip II during the Battle of Chaeronea and proposed in the Assembly decrees honoring Alexander

1962-699: The Battle of Salamis and routed the Persians, a great turning point in the war. In 479 BC, the Athenians and Spartans, with their allies, defeated the Persian army conclusively at the Battle of Plataea . Athens then took the war to Asia Minor. These victories enabled it to bring most of the Aegean and many other parts of Greece together in the Delian League , an Athenian-dominated alliance. The resentment felt by other cities at

2071-613: The Burgundian family called De la Roche , it replaced Athens as the capital and seat of government, although Athens remained the most influential ecclesiastical centre in the duchy and site of a prime fortress. Under the Burgundian dukes, a bell tower was added to the Parthenon, known as the Frankish Tower . The Burgundians brought chivalry and tournaments to Athens; they also fortified

2180-473: The Byzantine possessions in southern Italy. A rebellion of the local populace, which led to the death of the local strategos George, is recorded during the early reign of Constantine VIII (r. 1025–28). In 1040, the town did not take part in the uprising of Peter Delyan , and although attacked by the rebel army, alone among the towns of the theme of Nicopolis, it resisted successfully. St. Nicholas of Trani

2289-410: The Eupatridae was reduced by forbidding the enslavement of Athenian citizens as a punishment for debt ( debt bondage ), by breaking up large landed estates and freeing up trade and commerce, which allowed the emergence of a prosperous urban trading class. Politically, Solon divided the Athenians into four classes, based on their wealth and their ability to perform military service. The poorest class,

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2398-655: The First Mithridatic War , Athens was ruled by Aristion , a tyrant installed by Mithridates the Great . In 88–85 BC, most Athenian fortifications and homes were leveled by the Roman general Sulla after the Siege of Athens and Piraeus , although many civic buildings and monuments were left intact. The Macedonian astronomer Andronicus of Cyrrhus subsequently designed the Tower of

2507-517: The Greek War of Independence . It was suppressed in 1900, replaced by the see of Acarnania and Naupactia, whose seat is at Missolonghi . Today the population is about 19,768 people according to the 2011 census. Residential homes align with the Gulf of Corinth over a length of about 3 km (2 mi) and a width of about 1 km (0.6 mi). The port divides the beachfront in two parts. The Western part

2616-554: The Gulf of Lepanto was the scene of the great sea battle in which the naval power of the Ottoman Empire was nearly completely destroyed by the united Spanish, Papal, and Venetian forces ( 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

2725-604: The Kerameikos and other locations, are often richly provided for and demonstrate that from 900 BC onwards Athens was one of the leading centres of trade and prosperity in the region; as were Lefkandi in Euboea and Knossos in Crete. This position may well have resulted from its central location in the Greek world, its secure stronghold on the Acropolis and its access to the sea, which gave it

2834-780: The Peace of Apamea , and the Third Macedonian War (171–168), after which Macedonian territory was divided into four client republics and Macedonia was formally annexed to the Roman Republic after the Fourth Macedonian War (150–148). The Achaean League was defeated and dissolved by the Romans in the Achaean War in 146. Greece was divided into the Roman provinces of Macedonia and Achaea ; thus, Athens came under Roman rule. During

2943-640: The Peloponnese . In Classical Antiquity , it was an important town of the Locri Ozolae and the best harbour on the northern coast of the Corinthian Gulf . The town was situated just within the entrance of this gulf, a little east of the promontory Antirrhium . It is said to have derived its name from the Heracleidae having here built the fleet with which they crossed over to Peloponnesus . Though Naupactus

3052-825: The Pyrrhic War (280–275 BC) Rome asserted its hegemony over Magna Graecia and became increasingly involved in Greece and the Balkans peninsula. The First Macedonian War (214–205 BC) between the Roman Republic and the Kingdom of Macedon ended with the Treaty of Phoenice . During the Second Macedonian War (200–197), the Romans declared "the freedom of Greece" from the Macedonian Kings. The Roman–Seleucid War (192–188) ended with

3161-473: The Sack of Athens , the city to the north of the Acropolis was hastily refortified on a smaller scale, with the agora left outside the walls. Athens remained a centre of learning and philosophy during its 500 years of Roman rule, patronized by emperors such as Nero and Hadrian. In the early 4th century AD, the eastern Roman empire began to be governed from Constantinople , and with the construction and expansion of

3270-570: The Thetai , (Ancient Greek Θήται ) who formed the majority of the population, received political rights for the first time and were able to vote in the Ecclesia (Assembly). But only the upper classes could hold political office. The Areopagus continued to exist but its powers were reduced. The new system laid the foundations for what eventually became Athenian democracy , but in the short-term it failed to quell class conflict and after twenty years of unrest

3379-759: The Third Messenian War in 464 BCE, and during the Peloponnesian War it was the headquarters of the Athenians in all their operations in Western Greece, and the scene of the Battle of Naupactus in 429 BCE. After the Battle of Aegospotami the Messenians were expelled from Naupactus, and the Locrians regained possession of the town. Afterwards it passed into the hands of the Achaeans , from whom, however, it

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3488-511: The iconophile position, chiefly due to the role played by Empress Irene of Athens in the ending of the first period of Iconoclasm at the Second Council of Nicaea in 787. A few years later, another Athenian, Theophano , became empress as the wife of Staurakios (r. 811–812). Invasion of the empire by the Turks after the Battle of Manzikert in 1071, and the ensuing civil wars, largely passed

3597-459: The olive tree , symbolizing peace and prosperity. The Athenians, under their ruler Cecrops , accepted the olive tree and named the city after Athena. (Later the Southern Italian city of Paestum was founded under the name of Poseidonia at about 600 BC.) A sacred olive tree said to be the one created by the goddess was still kept on the Acropolis at the time of Pausanias (2nd century AD). It

3706-460: The 12th century. The agora or marketplace, which had been deserted since late antiquity, began to be built over, and soon the town became an important centre for the production of soaps and dyes. The growth of the town attracted the Venetians , and various other traders who frequented the ports of the Aegean, to Athens. This interest in trade appears to have further increased the economic prosperity of

3815-514: The Acropolis. They were themselves influenced by Byzantine Greek culture. In 1311, Athens was conquered by the Catalan Company , a band of mercenaries called Almogavars . It was held by the Catalans until 1388. After 1379, when Thebes was lost, Athens became the capital of the duchy again. The history of Aragonese Athens, called Cetines (rarely Athenes ) by the conquerors, is obscure. Athens

3924-461: The Acropolis—according to Benizelos, if the pasha did not treat them well and heed their opinion, he was liable to be removed before his annual term of office was out—particularly through the influence at Constantinople of the two Athenian-born patriarchs of Jerusalem , Parthenius (1737–1766) and Ephram II (1766–1770). Taxation was also light, with only the haraç tax payable to

4033-462: The Areopagus. Most public offices were filled by lot, although the ten strategoi (generals) were elected. This system remained remarkably stable and, with a few brief interruptions, it remained in place for 170 years, until Philip II of Macedon defeated Athens and Thebes at the Battle of Chaeronea in 338 BC. Prior to the rise of Athens, Sparta considered itself to be the leader (or 2 ) of

4142-478: The Athenian base at Naupactus , from which the Athenians had been harassing Corinthian shipping. That offensive, however, suffered a severe setback when Cnemus was turned back on land by the Acarnanians at Stratus , while a Peloponnesian fleet of forty-seven ships was routed by Phormio's twenty ships at Rhium . The Spartan government, dismayed by this unexpected reversal, dispatched several advisors (including

4251-715: The Corinthian gulf and the Northwest, and secured Athens' dominance at sea. At Naupactus, the Athenians' backs had been against the wall; a defeat there would have lost Athens its foothold in the Corinthian gulf and encouraged the Peloponnesians to attempt further aggressive operations at sea. In 428 BC, the Spartans would be so cowed by the memory of their defeats at Phormio's hands that they sent no aid to Athens' rebellious subject Mytilene in that year. In 427, when they finally did send

4360-414: The Great for the Macedonian victory. Philippides was prosecuted in trial by Hypereides , who detested his pro-Macedonian sympathies. Subsequently, the conquests of Alexander the Great widened Greek horizons and made the traditional Greek city state obsolete. Athens remained a wealthy city with a brilliant cultural life, but ceased to be a leading power. The period following the death of Alexander in 323 BC

4469-406: The Greeks . In 499 BC, Athens sent troops to aid the Ionian Greeks of Asia Minor , who were rebelling against the Persian Empire (the Ionian Revolt ). This provoked two Persian invasions of Greece by the Achaemenid Empire . In 490 BC, the Athenians, led by the soldier-statesman Miltiades , defeated the first invasion of the Persians under Darius I at the Battle of Marathon . In 480 BC,

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4578-453: The Hill of Ares , called the Areopagus and appointed the chief city officials, the archons and the polemarch (commander-in-chief). The most famous king of Athens was Theseus , a prominent figure in Greek Mythology who killed the Minotaur . A slightly different mythical version of Athens' past is given in Plato's dialogue Timaeus . In this dialogue, a story is told about information given to Athenian leader Solon from Egyptian priests of

4687-403: The Hymettos aqueduct; many sections had round, oval or square access holes on top of about 10 cm × 10 cm (4  in × 4 in). Pipe segments of this system are displayed at the Evangelismos and Syntagma Metro stations. Peisistratos died in 527 BC and was succeeded by his sons Hippias and Hipparchus . They proved to be much less adept rulers and in 514 BC, Hipparchus

4796-408: The Ottoman Empire in 1499 and was used as a naval station by the Ottoman Navy in the 16th century, being the site of the decisive victory by the Holy League in the Battle of Lepanto in 1571. Except for a brief period of Venetian control in 1687–1699, Lepanto remained under Ottoman control until Greek independence in 1829. The modern municipality was incorporated in 1946, and later merged into

4905-437: The Ottoman government, as well as the salt tax and a water-tax for the olive yards and gardens. Battle of Naupactus (429 BC) The Battle of Naupactus was a naval battle in the Peloponnesian War . The battle, which took place a week after the Athenian victory at Rhium , set an Athenian fleet of twenty ships, commanded by Phormio , against a Peloponnesian fleet of seventy-seven ships, commanded by Cnemus . In

5014-427: The Parthenon and Propylaea . In 1640, a lightning bolt struck the Propylaea, causing its destruction. In 1687, during the Morean War , the Acropolis was besieged by the Venetians under Francesco Morosini , and the temple of Athena Nike was dismantled by the Ottomans to fortify the Parthenon. A shot fired during the bombardment of the Acropolis caused a powder magazine in the Parthenon to explode (26 September), and

5123-429: The Peloponnesians; some rowers in leading ships dropped their oars to allow the main body to catch up with them—thus leaving themselves immobile and vulnerable in the face of an enemy force; other ships ran aground as a result of their captains' ignorance of the coastline. The ten Athenian ships in the harbor rushed out and joined the attack, and the Peloponnesians were instantly routed. The Athenians captured six ships in

5232-400: The Persians returned under Darius's son Xerxes . When a small Greek force holding the pass of Thermopylae was defeated , the Persians proceeded to capture an evacuated Athens. The city of Athens was twice captured and sacked by the Persians within one year after Thermopylae. Subsequently, the Athenians (led by Themistocles ), with their allies, engaged the much larger Persian navy at sea in

5341-613: The Roman Empire (" Rhomaioi "). The conversion of the empire from paganism to Christianity greatly affected Athens, resulting in reduced reverence for the city. Ancient monuments such as the Parthenon, Erechtheion and the Hephaisteion (Theseion) were converted into churches. As the empire became increasingly anti-pagan, Athens became a provincial town and experienced fluctuating fortunes. The city remained an important center of learning, especially of Neoplatonism —with notable pupils including Gregory of Nazianzus , Basil of Caesarea and emperor Julian ( r.  355–363 )—and consequently

5450-453: The Spartan army (the rule of the Thirty Tyrants ). In 403 BC, however, democracy was restored by Thrasybulus and an amnesty was declared. Sparta's former allies soon turned against her, due to her imperialist policy, and soon Athens' former enemies Thebes and Corinth had become her allies; they fought with Athens and Argos against Sparta in the indecisive Corinthian War (395 – 387 BC). Opposition to Sparta enabled Athens to establish

5559-447: The Venetians abandoned Athens again to the Ottomans. In the 18th century, the city recovered much of its prosperity. During Michel Fourmont 's visit in the city in the 1720s, he witnessed much construction going on, and by the time the Athenian teacher Ioannis Benizelos wrote an account of the city's affairs in the 1770s, Athens was once again enjoying some prosperity, so that, according to Benizelos, it "could be cited as an example to

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5668-459: The Winds for the Roman forum , which mostly survives to the present day. Under Roman rule, Athens was given the status of a free city because of its widely admired schools. The Roman emperor Hadrian ( r.  117–138 AD ), constructed the Library of Hadrian , a gymnasium , an aqueduct which is still in use, several temples and sanctuaries, a bridge, and finally completed the Temple of Olympian Zeus . The Arch of Hadrian commemorates

5777-491: The aggressive and talented Brasidas ) to oversee Cnemus as he resumed the offensive. Phormio, meanwhile, sent to Athens for reinforcements, and twenty ships were sent out to him; these were ordered to first sail to Crete to attack Cydonia , and as a result did not arrive in time to participate in the battle. Cnemus and the advisors, combining the ships that Cnemus had taken with him to Stratus with those retreating from Rhium and raising more ships levied from Sparta's allies on

5886-429: The ancient city had suburbs extending well beyond these walls. The Acropolis was situated just south of the centre of this walled area. The Agora , the commercial and social centre of the city, lay about 400 m (1,300 ft) north of the Acropolis, in what is now the Monastiraki district. The hill of the Pnyx , where the Athenian Assembly met, lay at the western end of the city. The Eridanus (Ηριδανός) river flowed through

5995-419: The arrival of an additional twenty Athenian ships shortly afterwards secured the victory and put an end to Sparta's attempt to take the offensive in the Northwest. In 429 BC, the Spartan government had ordered the navarch Cnemus to launch an offensive in the Corinthian gulf and northwestern Greece aimed at knocking several Athenian allies out of the Peloponnesian War. Ideally, the Spartans hoped to capture

6104-460: The battle, the Peloponnesians drew the Athenians out from their anchorage at Antirrhium by sailing into the Gulf of Corinth , moving as if to attack the vital Athenian base at Naupactus . The Athenians were forced to shadow their movements, sailing eastward along the northern shore of the gulf. Attacking suddenly, the Peloponnesians drove nine Athenian ships ashore and pursued the others towards Naupactus; victory seemed securely in their hands. At

6213-404: The beauty of its ancient monuments and issued a firman (imperial edict) forbidding their looting or destruction, on pain of death. The Parthenon was converted into the main mosque of the city. Under Ottoman rule, Athens was denuded of any importance and its population severely declined, leaving it as a "small country town" ( Franz Babinger ). From the early 17th century, Athens came under

6322-445: The building was severely damaged, giving it largely the appearance it has today. The Venetian occupation of Athens lasted for six months, and both the Venetians and the Ottomans participated in the looting of the Parthenon. One of its western pediments was removed, causing even more damage to the structure. During the Venetian occupation, the two mosques of the city were converted into Catholic and Protestant churches, but on 9 April 1688

6431-402: The city (as their capital) until the Turkish conquest of 1458. The first Ottoman attack on Athens, which involved a short-lived occupation of the town, came in 1397, under the Ottoman generals Yaqub Pasha and Timurtash. Finally, in 1458, Athens was captured by the Ottomans under the personal leadership of Sultan Mehmed II . As the Ottoman Sultan rode into the city, he was greatly struck by

6540-419: The city walls. Athens has been inhabited from Neolithic times, possibly from the end of the fourth millennium BC , or over 5,000 years. By 1412 BC, the settlement had become an important center of the Mycenaean civilization and the Acropolis was the site of a major Mycenaean fortress whose remains can be recognised from sections of the characteristic Cyclopean walls. On the summit of the Acropolis, below

6649-420: The city. One of the most important religious sites in ancient Athens was the Temple of Athena, known today as the Parthenon, which stood on top of the Acropolis, where its evocative ruins still stand. Two other major religious sites, the Temple of Hephaestus (which is still largely intact) and the Temple of Olympian Zeus or Olympeion (once the largest temple in mainland Greece but now in ruins) also lay within

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6758-402: The dramatists Aeschylus , Sophocles , Euripides and Aristophanes , the physician Hippocrates , the philosophers Socrates , Plato and Aristotle , the historians Herodotus, Thucydides and Xenophon , the poet Simonides , the orators Antiphon , Isocrates , Aeschines , and Demosthenes , and the sculptor Phidias . The leading statesman of the mid-fifth century BC was Pericles , who used

6867-505: The entrance to the harbor of Naupactus, however, the last Athenian ship to reach the harbor turned the tide by circling around an anchored merchant ship to ram and sink its leading pursuer. Confusion set in among the Peloponnesians, and the newly emboldened Athenians set out after them and routed them. In all, the Athenians recaptured all but one of their nine grounded ships and seized six Peloponnesian ships. This surprising victory preserved Athens' naval dominance and kept Naupactus secure;

6976-409: The fleeing Athenian eleven. Ten Athenian ships reached Naupactus safely and took up positions at the mouth of the harbor, prows facing outwards, ready to defend against any attempt to enter the harbor. The last Athenian ship was fleeing towards the harbor, with the Peloponnesians (who were already chanting the victory paean ) pursuing it closely, when it came alongside a merchant ship anchored outside

7085-403: The foundation of the city by Hadrian, with the "city of Theseus" referred to on its inscription on one side of the arch, and the new quarter erected by Hadrian around the Temple of Zeus called the "city of Hadrian". The city was sacked by the Heruli in 267 AD, resulting in the burning of all the public buildings, the plundering of the lower city and the damaging of the Agora and Acropolis. After

7194-400: The goddess Neith while he visited Egypt, according to which a well advanced Athenian state was established 9,000 years prior to his time that preceded Egypt's oldest kingdom by a thousand years. The laws of that state were the most just and largely inspired the various kings of Egypt when making laws for their kingdom. This story is not supported by any scholarly evidence, as no Athenian state

7303-502: The gulf, had soon assembled a fleet of seventy-seven ships. The admirals then advanced with this fleet to Panormus , in Achaea , where they met up with the Peloponnesian infantry. Phormio, meanwhile, brought his ships up to Antirrhium , across the strait of Rhium from the Peloponnesians. Here, he was in position to move against the enemy fleet if it attempted to sail west into the open sea; if he allowed it to escape in this way, he would essentially have surrendered Athens' dominance over

7412-430: The harbor. Using the merchant ship to protect its flanks while he turned, the Athenian captain spun his ship 270 degrees and rammed his leading pursuer in the side, sinking it. Although the Peloponnesians still held a great numerical advantage, the shock of this single action, which disheartened the Peloponnesian crews and reinvigorated the Athenians, proved sufficient to turn the tide of the battle. Confusion set in among

7521-429: The hegemony of Athens led to the Peloponnesian War , which began in 431 BC and pitted Athens and its increasingly rebellious overseas empire against a coalition of land-based states led by Sparta. The conflict was a drawn out one that saw Sparta control the land while Athens was dominant at sea, however the disastrous Sicilian Expedition severely weakened Athens and the war eventually ended in an Athenian defeat following

7630-400: The imperial city, many of Athens's works of art were taken by the emperors to adorn it. The Empire became Christianized, and the use of Latin declined in favour of exclusive use of Greek ; in the Roman imperial period , both languages had been used. In the later Roman period, Athens was ruled by the emperors continuing until the 13th century, its citizens identifying themselves as citizens of

7739-448: The jurisdiction of the Kizlar Agha , the chief black eunuch of the Sultan's harem . The city had originally been granted by Sultan Ahmed I ( r.  1603–1617 ) to Basilica, one of his favourite concubines, who hailed from the city, in response of complaints of maladministration by the local governors. After her death, Athens came under the purview of the Kizlar Agha. The Turks began a practice of storing gunpowder and explosives in

7848-721: The larger Nafpaktia municipality in the 2010 reform . Nafpaktos is now both the name of a municipal unit within Nafpaktia and of the town proper within the Nafpaktos unit. 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. 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 – Delphi – Livadeia ) passes north of

7957-509: The largest and wealthiest state on the Greek mainland, but it also created a larger class of people excluded from political life by the nobility. By the 7th century BC, social unrest had become widespread, and the Areopagus appointed Draco to draft a strict new code of law (hence the word 'draconian'). When this failed, they appointed Solon , with a mandate to create a new constitution (in 594 BC). The reforms that Solon initiated dealt with both political and economic issues. The economic power of

8066-463: The later Erechtheion , cuttings in the rock have been identified as the location of a Mycenaean palace. Between 1250 and 1200 BC, to feed the needs of the Mycenaean settlement, a staircase was built down a cleft in the rock to reach a water supply that was protected from enemy incursions, comparable to similar works carried out at Mycenae. Unlike other Mycenaean centers, such as Mycenae and Pylos , it

8175-418: The leading city of ancient Greece in the first millennium BC, and its cultural achievements during the 5th century BC laid the foundations of Western civilization . During the early Middle Ages , the city experienced a decline, then recovered under the later Byzantine Empire and was relatively prosperous during the period of the Crusades (12th and 13th centuries), benefiting from Italian trade. Following

8284-550: The narrow streets of the town. The municipal unit Nafpaktos is subdivided into the following communities (constituent villages in brackets): 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. Ancient Athens Athens is one of the oldest named cities in the world, having been continuously inhabited for perhaps 5,000 years. Situated in southern Europe, Athens became

8393-528: The offices of state. Peisistratus built the first aqueduct tunnel at Athens, which most likely had its sources on the slopes of Mount Hymettos and along the Ilissos river . It supplied, among other structures, the fountain house in the southeast corner of the Agora, but it had a number of branches. In the 4th century BC it was replaced by a system of terracotta pipes in a stone-built underground channel, sometimes called

8502-456: The other cities of Greece". Its Greek population possessed a considerable degree of self-government, under a council of primates composed of the leading aristocratic families, along with the city's metropolitan bishop. The community was quite influential with the Ottoman authorities, the pasha (governor), the kadi (judge), the mufti (Islamic prelate), and the garrison commander of

8611-464: The popular party, led by Peisistratos , seized power. Peisistratos is usually called a tyrant , but the Greek word tyrannos does not mean a cruel and despotic ruler, merely one who took power by force. Peisistratos was in fact a very popular ruler, who made Athens wealthy, powerful, and a centre of culture. He preserved the Solonian Constitution , but made sure that he and his family held all

8720-473: The previous battle had been able to take advantage of their superior maneuverability in the open sea, were reluctant to enter the constricted waters of the Gulf, but were forced to follow the Peloponnesians in order to protect Naupactus, which had been left ungarrisoned. The twenty Athenian ships entered the gulf sailing in single file along the northern shore; the Messenian hoplites from Naupactus marched along

8829-490: The pursuit, and recovered all but one of their own ships which had been taken earlier. Although both sides claimed victory and set up trophies, it was clear who had won the battle; the Peloponnesians, fearing the arrival of the Athenian reinforcements, retreated to Corinth under cover of darkness several days after the battle, and the Athenians continued to hold Naupactus and dominate the gulf. The Athenian victory at Naupactus put an end to Sparta's attempt to challenge Athens in

8938-409: The region by and Athens continued its provincial existence unharmed. When the Byzantine Empire was rescued by the resolute leadership of the three Komnenos emperors Alexios , John and Manuel , Attica and the rest of Greece prospered. Archaeological evidence tells us that the medieval town experienced a period of rapid and sustained growth, starting in the 11th century and continuing until the end of

9047-434: The reign of Justinian I . The town and its hinterland were hit by an epidemic coming from Italy in 747/8 and almost deserted. From the late 9th century, probably the 880s, it was capital of the Byzantine thema of Nicopolis . At the same time, its bishopric was elevated to a metropolis . During the 9th–10th centuries, the town was an important harbour for the Byzantine navy and a strategic point for communication with

9156-405: The sea, a temple of Artemis , a cave sacred to Aphrodite , and the ruins of a temple of Asclepius . The Roman playwright Plautus mentions Naupactus in his comedy 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 , but it was destroyed by an earthquake in 551/2, during

9265-509: The sea, and might well have found himself blockaded in Naupactus. With the fleets at anchor across the strait from each other, it fell to the Peloponnesians to initiate a battle, as they wished to force an action before the Athenian reinforcements arrived. After six or seven days at Rhium, therefore, the Spartan commanders led their fleet eastward into the Corinthian Gulf . The Athenians, who in

9374-518: The see of Naupactus gained in importance and headed the local synod for the southern half of the Epirote domains. 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

9483-715: The series of feudal fiefs , similar to the Crusader states established in Syria and on Cyprus after the First Crusade . This period is known as the Frankokratia . Athens was initially the capital of the eponymous Duchy of Athens , a fief of the Latin Empire which replaced the Byzantine Empire, ruling from Constantinople. After Thebes became a possession of the Latin dukes, which were of

9592-477: The shore beside them. On the southern shore, the Peloponnesian fleet was sailing in four lines, parallel to the shore. On the right of these lines, leading the advance into the gulf, were the twenty best and fastest ships in the fleet, which had been assigned the job of preventing the Athenians from escaping when the Peloponnesians attacked. Seeing the Athenians in the gulf and sailing in single file, Cnemus gave

9701-410: The signal for his ships to attack. The Peloponnesian fleet turned at once and raced across the gulf at the Athenians. The Athenians attempted to flee, but only the eleven leading ships were able to slip around the Peloponnesian right wing and flee towards Naupactus; the remaining nine were cornered, driven ashore, and captured, while the twenty elite Peloponnesian ships from the right wing set out after

9810-494: The teaching of philosophy by pagans in 529, an event whose impact on the city is much debated, but is generally taken to mark the end of the ancient history of Athens. Athens was sacked by the Slavs in 582, but remained in imperial hands thereafter, as highlighted by the visit of the emperor Constans II ( r.  641–668 ) in 662/3 and its inclusion in the Theme of Hellas . The city

9919-519: The town. The 11th and 12th centuries were the Golden Age of Byzantine art in Athens. Almost all of the most important Middle Byzantine churches in and around Athens were built during these two centuries, and this reflects the growth of the town in general. However, this medieval prosperity was not to last. In 1204, the Fourth Crusade conquered Athens and the city was not recovered from the Latins before it

10028-405: The town. It is the second largest town of Aetolia-Acarnania, after Agrinio . 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

10137-584: The tribute paid by the members of the Delian League to build the Parthenon and other great monuments of classical Athens. The city became, in Pericles's words, "the school of Hellas [Greece]." Shortly after the death of Alexander the Great, Antipater and Craterus became joint generals of Greece and Macedonia. Athens joined Aetolia and Thessaly in facing their power, known as the Lamian War . Craterus fell in

10246-449: Was Miguel de Cervantes , the most famous Spanish writer; there is a statue located at the port, in his honour. 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. In the 2010 reform , Nafpaktos municipality

10355-665: Was a veguería with its own castellan , captain, and veguer . At some point during the Aragonese period, the Acropolis was further fortified and the Athenian archdiocese received an extra two suffragan sees. In 1388, the Florentine Nerio I Acciajuoli took the city and made himself duke. The Florentines had to dispute the city with the Republic of Venice , but they ultimately emerged victorious after seven years of Venetian rule (1395–1402). The descendants of Nerio I Acciajuoli ruled

10464-539: Was assassinated in a private dispute over a young man (see Harmodius and Aristogeiton ). This led Hippias to establish a real dictatorship, which proved very unpopular. He was overthrown in 510 BC. A radical politician with an aristocratic background named Cleisthenes then took charge, and it was he who established democracy in Athens. The reforms of Cleisthenes replaced the traditional four phyle ('tribes') with ten new ones, named after legendary heroes and having no class basis; they were in fact electorates. Each phyle

10573-494: Was before the Lamian War. However, after losing the fleet one year prior, Polyperchon had to flee Macedon when in 316 BC Cassander secured control of Athens. Cassander appointed Demetrius of Phalerum as head of the administration of Athens. Demetrius remained in power until 307 BC when Cassander's enemy, Demetrius Poliorcetes captured Athens, and Macedon, ending the short-lived Antipatrid dynasty and installing his own. After

10682-503: Was briefly occupied Knights Hospitaller in 1378, and, now wedged between the expanding lands of the Count of Cephalonia Carlo I Tocco and the Ottoman possessions, sold to the Republic of Venice by Paul Spata in 1407. 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 town

10791-524: Was called Neopant , Nepant or Lepant . French sources of the 14th century give Nepant or Neopant ; Venetian sources have Nepanto or Lepanto . The name was adapted in Ottoman Turkish from Greek Νέπαχτος as Aynabahti or İnebahtı . The original ancient name was revived in modern Greece in the 19th century. In Greek legend, Naupactus is the place where the Heraclidae built a fleet to invade

10900-486: Was described by Herodotus , Apollodorus , Ovid , Plutarch , Pausanias and others. It even became the theme of the sculpture on the west pediment of the Parthenon . Both Athena and Poseidon requested to be patrons of the city and to give their name to it, so they competed with offering the city one gift each. Poseidon produced a spring by striking the ground with his trident, symbolizing naval power. Athena created

11009-594: Was important to Venice, as it secured their trade through the Corinthian Gulf , and the Republic took care to erect strong fortifications to secure its possession. In the end, the fortress fell to the Ottomans in 1499, during the Second Ottoman–Venetian War . Under the Ottomans, Naupactus was known as Aynabahtı, İnebahtı and was the seat of an Ottoman province . In 1521 ( Hijri 927) the town had 509 Christian, 84 Jewish , and 28 Roma households. The mouth of

11118-465: Was in turn divided into three trittyes and each trittys had one or more demes , which became the basis of local government. The phyle each elected fifty members to the Boule , a council which governed Athens on a day-to-day basis. The Assembly was open to all citizens and was both a legislature and a supreme court, except in murder cases and religious matters, which became the only remaining functions of

11227-569: 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 Greco-Persian Wars it fell into the power of the Athenians , who settled there the Messenians , who had been compelled to leave their country at the end of

11336-447: Was located by the temple of Pandrosus , next to the Parthenon. According to Herodotus, the tree had been burnt down during the Persian Wars , but a shoot sprung from the stump. The Greeks saw this as a symbol that Athena still had her mark there on the city. Plato , in his dialogue Cratylus , offers an etymology of Athena's name connecting it to the phrase ἁ θεονόα or hē theoû nóēsis (ἡ θεοῦ νόησις, 'the mind of god'). There

11445-634: 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 . The metropolitan see of Naupactus depended on the pope of Rome until 733, when Leo III the Isaurian annexed it to the Patriarchate of Constantinople . The zealous youth St. Nicholas of Trani after

11554-606: 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. Under Frankish rule , there were about 20 archbishops in the 14–15th centuries. The city remains a titular see of the Roman Catholic church. The see was attached to the Church of Greece after

11663-632: Was taken by the Ottoman Turks . It did not become Greek in government again until the 19th century. From 1204 until 1458, Athens was ruled by Latins in three separate periods, following the Crusades . The "Latins", or " Franks ", were western Europeans and followers of the Latin Church brought to the Eastern Mediterranean during the Crusades. Along with rest of Byzantine Greece, Athens was part of

11772-404: Was threatened by Saracen raids in the 8th–9th centuries—in 896, Athens was raided and possibly occupied for a short period, an event which left some archaeological remains and elements of Arabic ornamentation in contemporary buildings —but there is also evidence of a mosque existing in the city at the time. In the great dispute over Byzantine Iconoclasm , Athens is commonly held to have supported

11881-569: Was wrested by Epaminondas . Philip II of Macedon gave it to the Aetolians , and hence it is frequently called a town of Aetolia. The Aetolians vigorously defended Naupactus against the Romans for two months in 191 BCE. Ptolemy calls it a town of the Locri Ozolae, to whom it must therefore have been assigned by the Romans after Pliny's time. Pausanias saw at Naupactus a temple of Poseidon near

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