Lepanto

Lepanto (anc. Naupactus), now called by the Greeks Epakto, a small town of Greece, and the seat of a bishop, is situated on the north side of the entrance to the Gulf of Corinth. During the Peloponnesian war it was one of the chief naval stations of the Athenians. In the middle ages it was given by the Byzantine emperor to the Venetians, who fortified it so strongly that in 1477 it stood a siege of four months by 30,000 Turks, and in 1499 was only taken by Bajazet II. at the head of 150,000 men. Near Lepanto took place the celebrated naval battle between the Turks on the one side and the Papal galleys, and those of the Venetians and the Spaniards, on the other, on 7th October 1571, in which the Christians, commanded by Don John of Austria (q.v.), achieved a decisive victory. Of the Turks 30,000 fell or were taken prisoners, whilst 130 Turkish vessels were captured, and 12,000 Christian slaves liberated; the Christians lost 8000 men and 15 galleys. In this battle Cervantes lost an arm. The town became Greek in 1829.