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NAvpaktos[nAf´pAktOs] Pronunciation Key or Naupactus[nOpak´tus] Pronunciation Key, town, central Greece, a port on the Gulf of Corinth near the Gulf of PAtrai; also called Lepanto. The town was captured by Athens in 456 B.C. and was an important naval base in the Peloponnesian War. It later rose to commercial importance as part of the Byzantine Empire. It came under the rule of Venice in 1407 and of the Ottoman Turks in 1499. In 1571, Christian forces of Europe won a major naval battle over the Ottoman Empire near the town (see Lepanto, battle of). In 1828, Greek insurgents took the town from Ottoman control.
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