A landmark in early modern European history, the naval battle of Lepanto (the Venetian name of Nafpaktos) took place on Sunday, October 7th 1571 at the entrance of the Corinthian Gulf, near the Echinades Islands, between the powers of the western Sacred League (Sacra Liga) and the Ottoman fleet. The naval battle was an attempt to suspend the augmenting Ottoman power in the Mediterranean, after the capitulation of Cyprus in 1570. The Sacra Liga was signed on May 20th 1571 under the initiative of Pope Pius V and concerned the western powers Spain, Venice, Genoa and other states. The highest general of the League was Prince Don Juan of Austria. The joined fleet, consisting of 210 galleons, 30 Spanish frigates and 24 transport vessels, was manned to a great degree by Greek residents of the Mediterranean regions under Latin control. It conflicted with the Ottoman fleet of 230 galleons and 50 smaller vessels at the mouth of the river Acheloos. The outcome of the naval battle was a clear victory for the western powers, however both sides had significant losses. The victory was evidently celebrated as a symbolical victory for the whole of the Christian world. Many poets and visual artists captured this momentous event. The Spanish writer of Don Quixote, Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (1547-1616), who participated as a soldier and was wounded during the naval battle, refers to it in the first part of his book with the words “on that day the Ottoman arrogance was crushed”. The naval battle of Lepanto did not overthrow the power balance in the Mediterranean. The Ottoman fleet was re-founded, an act which reassured the military authority of the Ottoman Empire, while the members of the Sacra Liga individually signed peace treaties with the Ottomans for commercial purposes. Nevertheless, the naval battle contributed to the abatement of aggression of the Ottoman fleet.