Megara
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Meg·a·ra
An ancient city of east-central Greece. It was the capital of Megaris, a small Dorian state between the Saronic Gulf and the Gulf of Corinth. Megara flourished as a maritime center from the eighth to the fifth century B.C.
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Megara
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Port city (pop., 2001: 29,787), Greece. Situated on the Saronic Gulf and west of Athens, it served as the capital of ancient Megaris. A maritime power, by the 7th century it had established colonies in Sicily, Chalcedon, Byzantium, Bithynia, and Crimea. During the Peloponnesian War (431404 ) it was subjugated by Athens and forced into financial ruin. In the 4th century it recovered some prosperity, but in 1500 it was depopulated by the Venetians. It was the birthplace of Eucleides, founder of the Megarian school of philosophy.
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Megara (Gk. ta megara, ‘the temples’), Dorian city at the eastern end of the Isthmus of Corinth overlooking Salamis, originally known as Nisa, according to one story, from its first king Nisus; the name was preserved in that of the harbour, Nisaea. Between 730 and 550 BC it showed considerable colonizing enterprise, founding Chalcedon and Byzantium on the Bosporus, Heraclea Pontica in Bithynia, and Megara Hyblaea in Sicily. In about 600 BC it fell under the rule of the tyrant Theagenes, and the tyranny was followed by political struggles reflected, according to some critics, in the poems of the Megarian poet Theognis (but see the discussion of dates for that poet). It lost its western region to Corinth and Salamis to Athens. Shortly before 500 BC it joined the Peloponnesian League and was active in the Persian Wars. After these ended, the Megarians, having become involved in boundary disputes with Corinth, left their Peloponnesian allies and placed themselves under Athenian protection (460); the Athenians then sent an occupying garrison. After the Athenian defeat by the Boeotians at Coronea in 447, the Megarians revolted and massacred the garrison. Subsequently the Athenians passed a decree excluding them from all the harbours and ports of the Athenian empire, and this ‘Megarian decree’ (there may have been others) became a contributory cause of the Peloponnesian War. Megara suffered severely in the war, but escaped capture by Athens through the prompt arrival of the Spartan general Brasidas with a relieving force in 424. In the fourth century it remained relatively detached from operations of war, although it allied itself with Athens against Philip. See also MEGARIAN SCHOOL below.
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Megara
Mégara (mĕ'gərə, -gärä), town (1991 pop. 25,061), E central Greece, on the Saronic Gulf. Wine, olive oil, and flour are produced. It is the site of the ancient town of Mégara, the capital of Mégaris, a small district between the Gulf of Corinth and the Saronic Gulf. The Dorians who succeeded the earliest known inhabitants made Mégara a wealthy city by means of maritime trade, and they founded many colonies, including, in the 7th cent. B.C., Chalcedon and Byzantium. After the Persian Wars the citizens of Mégara summoned the aid of Athens against Corinth (459 B.C.), but soon thereafter expelled the Athenians. The mathematician Euclid was probably born in Mégara.
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Megara
For other uses, see Megara (disambiguation).
| Megara Μέγαρα |
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|---|---|
| Location | |
 Megara
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| Coordinates | 38°0′N 23°20′E / 38°N 23.333°ECoordinates: 38°0′N 23°20′E / 38°N 23.333°E |
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Location within the region
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| Government | |
| Country: | Greece |
| Region: | Attica |
| Regional unit: | West Attica |
| Mayor: | Ioannis Marinakis (ND) |
| Population statistics (as of 2001) | |
| Municipality | |
| - Population: | 35,675 |
| - Area: | 330.3 km2 (128 sq mi) |
| - Density: | 108 /km2 (280 /sq mi) |
| Municipal unit | |
| - Population: | 28,195 |
| - Area: | 322.2 km2 (124 sq mi) |
| - Density: | 88 /km2 (227 /sq mi) |
| Other | |
| Time zone: | EET/EEST (UTC+2/3) |
| Elevation (center): | 4 m (13 ft) |
| Postal code: | 191 00 |
| Telephone: | 22960 |
| Website | |
| www.megara.gr | |
Megara (
/ˈmɛɡərə/; Greek: Μέγαρα, Greek pronunciation: [ˈmeɣara]) is an ancient city (pop. 23,032 in 2001) in Attica, Greece. It lies in the northern section of the Isthmus of Corinth opposite the island of Salamis, which belonged to Megara in archaic times, before being taken by Athens. Megara was one of the four districts of Attica, embodied in the four mythic sons of King Pandion II, of whom Nisos was the ruler of Megara. Megara was also a trade port, its people using their ships and wealth as a way to gain leverage on armies of neighboring poleis. Megara specialized in the exportation of wool and other animal products including livestock such as horses. It possessed two harbors, Pegae, to the west on the Corinthian Gulf and Nisaea, to the east on the Saronic Gulf of the Aegean Sea.
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Early history
In historical times, Megara was an early dependency of Corinth, in which capacity colonists from Megara founded Megara Hyblaea, a small polis north of Syracuse in Sicily. Megara then fought a war of independence with Corinth, and afterwards founded (c. 667 BC) Byzantium, as well as Chalcedon (685 BC). Megara was known for its money in historical times.
In the late seventh century BC Theagenes established himself as tyrant of Megara reportedly by slaughtering the cattle of the rich to win over the poor.[1] During the second Persian invasion of Greece (480-479 BC) Megara fought alongside the Spartans and Athenians at crucial battles such as Salamis and Plataea.
Megara's defection from the Spartan dominated Peloponnesian League (c.460 BC) was one of the causes of the First Peloponnesian War. By the terms of the Thirty Years' Peace of 446-445 BC Megara was returned to the Peloponnesian League.
In the Peloponnesian War (c. 431 BC-404 BC), Megara was an ally of Sparta. The Megarian decree is considered to be one of several contributing "causes" of the Peloponnesian War.[2] The Megarian decree was issued by Athens with the purpose of choking out the Megarian economy. The decree stated that Megarian merchants were not allowed in territory controlled by Athens.
The most famous citizen of Megara in antiquity was Byzas, the legendary founder of Byzantium in the 7th century BC. The 6th century BC poet Theognis also came from Megara. In the early 4th century BC, Euclid of Megara founded the Megarian school of philosophy which flourished for about a century, and became famous for the use of logic and dialectic.
The Megarans were proverbial for their generosity in building and endowing temples. Jerome reports "There is a common saying about the Megarians […:] 'They build as if they are to live forever; they live as if they are to die tomorrow.'"[3]
Geography
A population of 28,195 live within the municipality. It is located 42 km (WNW) of Athens in the southwestern part of West Attica Prefecture, and is linked by a highway connecting the Peloponnese, Western Greece, and Athens. It is now linked by a high-speed rail line suburban railway. Megara lies in the Megaris plain. It has the largest land area of any municipality in the Attica region, and the largest population in West Attica. Agriculture used to dominate before housing began to expand in Megara in the 1960s and the 1970s.
3 km south of Megara is a small community called Pachi, which is famous for its fish tavernas and is visited by people from all over ancient Greece. Nea Peramos is the neighboring city to the east of Megara and Kakia Skala to the west of Megara. There is a military airport to the south. South of Megara is the Gulf of Megara. The largest other towns in the municipality are Kinéta (pop. 1,972), Spárta (712), Vlycháda (694), and Aigeiroúses (479). The municipality is unusual for one its geographical size, in that it has only one municipal district, the third-largest in Greece (after the Sílis district in Paranesti and the Mikró Déreio district in Orfeas) if Mount Athos is not counted. There are, however, 14 towns or villages in the municipality.
Municipality
The municipality Megara was formed at the 2011 local government reform by the merger of the following 2 former municipalities, that became municipal units (constituent communities in brackets):[4]
- Megara
- Nea Peramos
Towns and villages
- Agía Triás
- Aigeiroúses
- Alepochori
- Kineta
- Koumíntri
- Lákka Kalogírou
- Meli
- Mégara
- Moní Agíou Ierothéou
- Moní Agíou Ioánnou Prodrómou
- Moní Panachrántou
- Pacháki Puto
- Páchi
- Stíkas
- Vlycháda
- Lîchymaniõ
Historical population
| Year | Town population | Municipality population |
|---|---|---|
| 1971 | 17,584 | - |
| 1981 | 20,814 | 21,245 |
| 1991 | 20,403 | 25,061 |
| 2001 | 23,032 | 28,195 |
Notable people
See also: Category:Ancient Megarians
- Orsippus (8th century BC), runner
- Byzas (7th century BC), founder of Byzantium
- Theognis (6th century BC), elegiac poet
- Eupalinos (6th century BC), engineer who built the Tunnel of Eupalinos on Samos
- Theagenes (c. 600 BC), Tyrant of Megara
- Euclid (c. 400 BC), founder of the Megarian school of philosophy
- Stilpo (c. 325 BC), philosopher of the Megarian school
- Teles (3rd century BC), cynic philosopher
See also
Notes
- ^ Aristotle, Politics V 4,5
- ^ Sarah B, Pomeroy, Stanley M.Beloniqua, Walter Donlan and Jennifer Tolbert Roberts, Ancient Greece: A Political, Social, and Cultural History (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999).
- ^ Jerome, To Ageruchia, Letter cxxiii.15
- ^ Kallikratis law Greece Ministry of Interior (Greek)
References
- Legon, Ronald P. Megara: the political history of a Greek city-state to 336 B.C.. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1981.
- Smith, Philip J. The archaeology and epigraphy of Hellenistic and Roman Megaris, Greece. Oxford: John and Erica Hedges Ltd, 2008.
External links
"Megara". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. 1913.
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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 1994-2012 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved. Read more
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The Concise Oxford Companion to Classical Literature. Copyright © 1993, 2003 by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.
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The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/.
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