Description : Calydon is not often mentioned in the historical period. In 391 BC we find it in the possession of the Achaeans, but we are not told how it came into their hands; we know, however; that Naupactus was given to the Achaeans at the close of the Peloponnesian War, and it was probably the Achaeans settled at Naupactus who gained possession of the town. In the above-mentioned year the Achaeans at Calydon, were so hard pressed by the Acarnanians that they applied to the Lacedaemonians for help; and Agesilaus II in consequence was sent with an army into Aetolia. Calydon remained in the hands of the Achaeans till the overthrow of the Spartan supremacy by the Battle of Leuctra (371 BC), when Epaminondas restored the town to the Aetolians. In the civil war between Julius Caesar and Pompey (in 48 BC) it still appears as a considerable place; but a few years afterwards its inhabitants were removed by Augustus to Nicopolis, which he founded to commemorate his victory at the Battle of Actium in 31 BC. It continues however to be mentioned by the later geographers. Calydon was the headquarters of the worship of Artemis Laphria, and when the inhabitants of the town were removed to Nicopolis, Augustus gave to Patrae in Achaea the statue of this goddess which had belonged to Calydon. There was also a statue of Dionysus at Patrae which had been removed from Calydon. Near Calydon there was a temple of Apollo Laphrius; and in the neighbourhood of the city there was also a lake celebrated for its fish. Its site is located north of the modern Evinochori. One of the four tunnels Motorway 5 consists of crosses near the ruins of Calydon and is named the Calydon Tunnel (Greek: Σήραγγα Καλυδώνας) after it.
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