NAUPACTUS, or NAUPACTUM, in Ancient Geography, a city of Ætolia, at the mouth of the Evenus. The word is derived from ναυ and πύργος, because it was there that the Heraclides built the first ship which carried them to Peloponnesus. It first belonged to the Locri Ozolie, and afterwards fell into the hands of the Athenians, who gave it to the Messenians, who had been driven from Peloponnesus by the Lacedæmonians. It became the property of the Lacedæmonians after the battle of Ægospotamos, and it was restored to the Locri. Philip of Macedon afterwards took it, and gave it to the Ætolians; from which circumstance it has generally been called one of the chief cities of their country. E. Long. 22. 20. N. Lat. 38. 0.
There was on the shore a temple of Neptune, and near it a cave filled with offerings, and dedicated to Venus, where widows resorted to request new husbands of the goddess. Pausan. lib. x. p. 898.