---

Modern Description: Ancient Naupaktos occupied the same site as the modern town and was a prosperous Hellenistic city. The site had been settled already in prehistoric times. In historical times the city, with its small but strategic harbour, was disputed by the enemy greek cities (Athens and Sparta), until it came under the rule of Macedonia. The city reached its more prosperous period in Hellenistic times. During the Roman period, subject to Patra's rule, Naupaktos becomes the most important city of deserted Aitolia. Sanctuaries of Asklepius, Sarapis, Athena, Aphrodite, Apollo and Dionysus existed in the ancient city, but only the ones of Athena and Aphrodite have been identified. On the other hand private houses and graves that have come to light over the years, provide a much more complete record regarding private life.
The fortification of the ancient city seems to have been constructed in the 5th cent. B.C. The enclosure incorporated several square towers and an acropolis on top of a prominent hill, where the medieval castle stands today. Parts of the ancient walls survive in the upper parts of modern Naupaktos, while the parts closer to the sea had been covered by later deposits and only come to light as a result of rescue excavations.
The Sanctuary of Asklepios was located at the eastern part of Naupaktos, on Tsoukari hill. Pausanias mentions that the sanctuary was founded by Falysios, after his eyes' healing.
The only remains of the sanctuary are liberating inscriptions with Asklepius' name, carved on the rocky plateau's back side. Similar epigraphical material (dating to the late 3rd-early 2nd cent. B.C.) has been recovered from the sanctuaries environs.
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nafpaktos
Wikidata ID: Q782278
Trismegistos Geo: 3523
Manto: 8254037

Info: Patras University

(Monuments of Aitoloakarnania and Achaia, 2003, University of Patras)

---