The beautiful city of Nafpaktos is located near the western end of the Corinthian Gulf. It is a city and hinterland with a rich and ancient history, its settlements stretching from Classical Greece through Byzantine, Venetian and Ottoman eras to modern Greece.
Its fortifications are mentioned by Thucydides. Formerly known by its Latin name Lepanto, the city gave its name to the famous naval battle of the same name. Every year the modern city celebrates its connection to the battle with a re-enactment. It was my pleasure to visit Nafpaktos at this time, learning more about its history and culture.
Nafpaktos today and yesterday
We had found ourselves once again in this lovely provincial city, the home not only of much rich history but the principal city whose hinterland was the former home of the Kyritsis’ and the Kokkinos’ clans, my partner Vicki’s family. Anyone who has been to Nafpaktos, even briefly, will be struck by its quiet beauty and ease of familiarity.
One is obviously taken by the Venetian harbour – reflective of so many others across the Mediterranean from Chania to Kyrenia – looking out on to the calm waters of the Gulf and surrounded by its cobbled streets and the remains of many neoclassical buildings.
Its past is also revealed in both the ancient sanctuary of Asclepius and the grand Castro sitting above the city – whose history stretches from its days as the local Acropolis to its life as a major fortified castle, swinging between Byzantine, Venetian and Ottoman rulers – visible day and night as the lost guardian of the city.
Most modern day visitors can’t but be in awe of the new Charilaos Trikoupis bridge, named in honour of one of Greece’s more memorable 19th century political leaders, whose great span covers the entrance to the Gulf between Nafpaktos and Patras to the south. The bridge is a reminder of the importance of communication and the ease with which you achieve it today. Whether we drive across the bridge or use our mobile phones to connect with friends on either side, we can hardly appreciate the vital role of the sea and seafaring to the life of the region down to the recent past.
Spiro Kokkinos, one of my partner Vicki’s relatives in our home in the lovely nearby village of Monastiraki, tells me one night of how his seaside village was founded many years ago by the need of locals from surrounding mountain villages to cross the Gulf in search of customers for their primary produce. Some of these villages – such as Vicki’s mother Helen’s home town of Klima – would be totally abandoned. They would bring their goods by donkey and horse to the shore and cross in barges or cacique boats (later steel hulled and steam engine vessels) even up to the years immediately following the end of the Second World War when the ferries of Rio-Antirio replaced them. Villages across the Gulf needed its waters to survive, sustaining their lives and connecting them to the world. This was no different in the past, including when the great fleets of empires past gathered in is waters.
The Battle of Lepanto
The battle of Lepanto represents one of those major turning points in history. Fought on 7 October 1571 where the Gulf opens into the Ionian Sea, it was last major naval engagements involving rowed vessels and the first major naval defeat of the Ottoman Empire.
The battle saw the Ottoman fleet led by Admiral Ali Pasha defeated by the Holy League, an alliance of western Christian powers. Though outnumbered in terms of vessels, the Holy league had a major technical advantage in the quantity of guns and ammunition as well as the presence of Venetian galleass fighting ships – effectively fast moving, manoeuvrable gun platforms.
The Holy League fleet was led by Don John of Austria, brother of the Holy Roman Emperor, but the largest contingent of ships were supplied by Venice, along with two experienced naval commanders – Admirals Sebastiano Venier and Agostino Barbarigo. Not only did most of the fighting vessels trace their design back to the ancient Greek triremes but thousands of Hellenes took part in the battle, many dragooned into Ottoman service as slaves.
The ensuing battle was a triumph for the Holy League. The intense fighting saw Spanish and Venetian soldiers in hand to hand combat with the Ottoman janissaries. It was when the Ottoman Admiral was killed and his flagship captured that the morale of the remaining Ottoman fleet was broken. In the end nearly 180 Ottoman vessels were sunk or captured and 35,000 enemy troops captured or killed. Thousands of Christian slaves were also freed as a result of the battle.
The battle confirmed to the West that the Ottomans could be defeated. The nearby Ionian Islands, with their overwhelmingly Hellenic populations, were no longer threatened by Ottoman invasion. Along with the defeat at the siege of Vienna fifty years earlier, the Ottoman conquest of Europe was at an end and would eventually decline.
Nafpaktos celebrates Lepanto
The celebration takes place in the little harbour itself, its calm waters forming the stage for the re-enactment. The story of the battle and its protagonists is told in a theatrical production, with boats, actors, music from the era, a light-show and ending with a spectacular fireworks display. The event is staged every year in early October.
We awaited for the celebration to begin at our harbour side restaurant table with an excellent view and were joined by family and friends – Jenny and Lakis Kyritsis, Arthor Apos and Petros Psoumis – who had made the trip across the bridge from Patras to join us. It was not long before the harbour side was pumping, hundreds were crowded around the little harbour, young and old, local and tourist, for the big event. The harbour was bedecked with flags representing the Holy League. The great streaming flag of the Lion of St Mark, the symbol of Venice flew again over Nafpaktos.
The celebration did not disappoint. As the sun went down over the harbour, the air was filled with music of the era, alternating between eastern and western songs, as coloured lights bathed the old stones of the harbour. Actors dressed in costumes from the era rushed to their places at the harbour entrance as the beginning approached. With trumpets and fanfare the spectacular event commenced, with two theatrical representations of the warships of the era – one of the Holy League and the other Ottoman – began to move across the harbour from opposite sides. The figure and words of Cervantes, the famed Spanish author of Don Quixote and a veteran of the battle, made an appearance and crossed into the harbour.
Soon all was fire and light as the two ships engaged in mock battle representing the clash of the two grand navies. Actors representing soldiers could be seen fighting as the ships clashed in combat. Lights and fireworks erupted across the harbour and in the sky above as the battle reached its crescendo with Tchaikovsky’s 1812 overture doing the honours as the finale approached to the cheers of the crowd. The whole event lasted over 2 thrill-packed hours. There was nothing left but to continue our celebration with some local Mamos beer and ouzo!
Nafpaktos Castle and Museum
If you visit Nafpaktos I can highly recommend the new historical museum at Nafpaktos Castle. Recently given a major overhaul and opened by Greek Culture Minister Mendoni, the displays – housed across two buildings – feature informative information boards and displays of archaeological and other historical artefacts stretching back from Ancient Greece through all the eras of the city and region to the modem day. There are beautiful displays of Byzantine coins and architectural motifs, amazing Venetian glazed pottery and medals celebrating other local Venetian victories over the Ottomans and much more.
I was struck by the display explaining the Jewish history of Nafpaktos, which in the 17th century had three synagogues. It was also informative to read how the castle ruins were home to refugees following the Asia Minor catastrophe. And of course the castle is worth the long walk up its cobbled steps to the top for its spectacular views of Nafpakto and the great Gulf beyond.
Some Lepanto Legacies
The annual celebration of the victory of Lepanto at Nafpaktos continues a long European tradition. In 1585 King James VI of Scotland wrote a thousand line epic poem entitled The Lepanto that was translated into many languages. A week or so before the re-enactment we saw the great depictions of the battle in huge paintings on the walls of Venice, one hanging in the Doges Palace, the other in the nearby Correr Museum. Ali Pasha’s flagship banner hangs in Pisa.
One of the lesser appreciated legacies is that the name of Lepanto veteran – the Venetian Admiral Sebastiano Venier – would be given to an Axis transport that was torpedoed off the former Venetian outpost of Methone as it brought Allied prisoners across the Mediterranean in WW2. A few years ago I assisted in the installation of a commemorative plaque in recognition of this tragedy at Methone. The legacy of Lepanto has many forms.
*Jim Claven OAM is a trained historian, freelance writer and published author who has researched the Anzac trail in Greece across both world wars. The author of a number of books on the Hellenic link to Anzac, Jim also studied Ancient and Medieval history at Melbourne’s Monash University. He is also the Associate Producer of the new documentary Anzac The Greek Chapter on the Greek campaign. Read more about the Sebastiano Veneiro commemorative plaque here. He can be contacted via email – jimclaven@yahoo.com.au.
