NAUPACTUS, or NAUPACTUM, in Ancient Geography, a city of Ætolia, at the mouth of the Evenus. The word is derived from ναυς and πυργός, because it was there that the Heraclidae built the first ship which carried them to Peloponnesus. It originally belonged to the Locri Ozolæ, and afterwards fell into the hands of the Athenians, by whom it was given to the Messenians, who had been driven from Peloponnesus by the Lacedæmonians. After the battle of Ægospotamos, it became the property of the Lacedæmonians; but it was restored to the Locri. Philip of Macedonia afterwards took it, and gave it to the Ætolians; and from this circumstance it has generally been called one of the chief cities of their country. Long. 22. 20. E. Lat. 38. 0. N. On the shore there was 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. (Pausanias, lib. x. p. 898.)