Megara

Megara (, , ) 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.

Early history

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. 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. The Megarian decree was issued by Athens with the purpose of chocking 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.'"

Geography

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

Towns and villages

Historical population

Notable people

See also

Notes

References

External links

Category:Ancient Greek cities Category:Municipalities of Attica Category:Greek mythology Category:Populated places in the West Attica Prefecture