Megara

Megara (/ˈmɛɡərə/; Greek: Μέγαρα,
pronounced [ˈmeɣara]) is a historic town and a municipality in
West Attica, Greece. It lies in the northern section of the Isthmus of
Corinth

Corinth opposite the island of Salamis, which belonged to
Megara

Megara in
archaic times, before being taken by Athens.
Megara

Megara was one of the
four districts of Attica, embodied in the four mythic sons of King
Pandion II, of whom
Nisos

Nisos was the ruler of Megara.
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

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

Corinthian Gulf and Nisaea, to the east on the
Saronic Gulf

Saronic Gulf of the
Aegean Sea.
Contents
1 Early history
2 Geography
3 Municipality
4 Districts, suburbs
5 Historical population
6 Sports
7 Notable people
8 Facilities
9 See also
10 Notes
11 External links
Early history[edit]
View of the archaeological site
According to Pausanias, the Megarians said that their town owed its
origin to Car, the son of Phoroneus, who built the citadel called
'Caria' and the temples of
Demeter

Demeter called Megara, from which the place
derived its name.[2]
In historical times,
Megara

Megara was an early dependency of Corinth, in
which capacity colonists from
Megara

Megara founded
Megara

Megara Hyblaea, a small
polis north of Syracuse in Sicily.
Megara

Megara then fought a war of
independence with Corinth, and afterwards founded
Chalcedon

Chalcedon in
685 BC, as well as
Byzantium

Byzantium (c. 667 BC).
Megara

Megara is known to have early ties with Miletos, in the region of
Caria

Caria in Asia Minor. According to some scholars, they had built up a
"colonisation alliance". In the 7th/6th century BCE these two cities
acted in concordance with each other.[3]
Both cities acted under the leadership and sanction of an Apollo
oracle.
Megara

Megara cooperated with that of Delphi.
Miletos

Miletos had her own
oracle of
Apollo

Apollo Didymeus Milesios in Didyma. Also, there are many
parallels in the political organisation of both cities.[3]
In the late 7th century BC Theagenes established himself as tyrant of
Megara

Megara by slaughtering the cattle of the rich to win over the poor.[4]
During the second Persian invasion of
Greece

Greece (480–479 BC)
Megara

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) became one of the causes of the First
Peloponnesian War

Peloponnesian War (460 – c. 445 BC). By the
terms of the
Thirty Years' Peace

Thirty Years' Peace of 446–445 BC
Megara

Megara was
returned to the Peloponnesian League.
In the (second) Peloponnesian War
(c. 431 – 404 BC),
Megara

Megara was an ally of Sparta.
The
Megarian decree is considered to be one of several contributing
"causes" of the Peloponnesian War.[5]
Athens

Athens issued the Megarian
decree with the aim of choking out the Megarian economy. The decree
banned Megarian merchants from territory controlled by Athens. The
Athenians claimed that they were responding to the Megarians'
desecration of the Hiera Orgas, a sacred precinct in the border region
between the two states.
Arguably the most famous citizen of
Megara

Megara in antiquity was Byzas, the
legendary founder of
Byzantium

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

Euclid of Megara founded the
Megarian school of philosophy

Megarian school of philosophy which
flourished for about a century, and which became famous for the use of
logic and dialectic.
In 243 BC
Megara

Megara expelled its Macedonian garrison and joined the
Achaean League, but in 223 BC the Megarians left the Achaeans and
joined the Boeotian League.
Megara

Megara by Vincenzo Coronelli, 1687
The Megarians were proverbial for their generosity in building and
endowing temples.
Saint Jerome

Saint 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.'"[6]
Geography[edit]
Megara

Megara is located in the westernmost part of Attica, near the Megara
Gulf, a bay of the Saronic Gulf. The coastal plain around
Megara

Megara is
referred to as Megaris, which is also the name of the ancient city
state centered on Megara.
Megara

Megara is 8 km west of Nea Peramos,
18 km west of Eleusis, 19 km east of Agioi Theodoroi,
34 km west of
Athens

Athens and 37 km east of Corinth. The Motorway
8 connects it with
Athens

Athens and Corinth. The
Megara railway station

Megara railway station is
served by
Proastiakos

Proastiakos suburban trains to
Athens

Athens and Kiato. There is a
small military airfield south of the town,
ICAO

ICAO code LGMG.[7]
The main town
Megara

Megara had 23,456 inhabitants at the 2011 census. The
largest other settlements in the municipal unit are Vlychada (pop.
1,462),
Kineta

Kineta (1,446), Pachi (542) and Lakka Kalogirou (517).
Municipality[edit]
Municipality map
Monument at Heroes Square
The municipality
Megara

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):[8]
Megara
Nea Peramos
The municipality has an area of 330.11 km2, the municipal unit
322.21 km2.[9]
Districts, suburbs[edit]
Agia Triada
Aigeirouses
Kineta
Koumintri
Lakka Kalogirou
Moni Agiou Ierotheou
Moni Agiou Ioannou Prodromou
Moni Panachrantou
Pachi
Stikas
Vlychada
Historical population[edit]
Year
Town
Municipal unit
Municipality
1971
17,584
-
-
1981
20,814
21,245
-
1991
20,403
25,061
-
2001
23,032
28,195
-
2011
23,456
28,591
36,924
Sports[edit]
Vyzas F.C., football team
Notable people[edit]
See also: Category:Ancient Megarians
Coinage with idealized depiction of Byzas, founder of Byzantium.
Struck in Byzantium, Thrace, around the time of Marcus Aurelius
(161–180 CE).
Orsippus
_Pentathlon.svg/200px-Olympic_schedule_(Competitions)_Pentathlon.svg.png)
Orsippus (8th century BC), runner
Byzas

Byzas (7th century BC), founder of Byzantium
Theognis (6th century BC), elegiac poet
Eupalinos

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

Megarian school of philosophy
Stilpo

Stilpo (c. 325 BC), philosopher of the Megarian school
Teles (3rd century BC), cynic philosopher.
Facilities[edit]
Mediumwave transmitter with a 180 metres tall radio mast, broadcasting
on 666 kHz and 981 kHz
See also[edit]
List of settlements in Attica
Notes[edit]
^ a b "Απογραφή Πληθυσμού - Κατοικιών 2011.
ΜΟΝΙΜΟΣ Πληθυσμός" (in Greek). Hellenic Statistical
Authority.
^ Paus. i. 39. § 5, i. 40. § 6
^ a b Alexander Herda (2015),
Megara

Megara and Miletos: Colonising with
Apollo. A Structural Comparison of Religious and Political
Institutions in Two Archaic Greek Polis States
^ Aristotle, Politics V 4,5
^ Sarah B. Pomeroy, Stanley M. Burstein, 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
^ World Aero Data
^ Kallikratis law
Greece

Greece Ministry of Interior (in Greek)
^ "Population & housing census 2001 (incl. area and average
elevation)" (PDF) (in Greek). National Statistical Service of Greece.
Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-09-21.
External links[edit]
Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Megara". Catholic
Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
v
t
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Administrative division of the Attica Region
Area
3,808 km2 (1,470 sq mi)
Population
3,827,624 (as of 2011)
Municipalities
66 (since 2011)
Capital
Athens
Regional unit of Central Athens
Athens
Dafni-Ymittos
Filadelfeia-Chalkidona
Galatsi
Ilioupoli
Kaisariani
Vyronas
Zografou
Regional unit of North Athens
Agia Paraskevi
Chalandri
Filothei-Psychiko
Irakleio
Kifissia
Lykovrysi-Pefki
Marousi
Metamorfosi
Nea Ionia
Papagou-Cholargos
Penteli
Vrilissia
Regional unit of West Athens
Agia Varvara
Agioi Anargyroi-Kamatero
Aigaleo
Chaidari
Ilion
Peristeri
Petroupoli
Regional unit of South Athens
Agios Dimitrios
Alimos
Elliniko-Argyroupoli
Glyfada
Kallithea
Moschato-Tavros
Nea Smyrni
Palaio Faliro
Regional unit of Piraeus
Keratsini-Drapetsona
Korydallos
Nikaia-Agios Ioannis Rentis
Perama
Piraeus
Regional unit of East Attica
Acharnes
Dionysos
Kropia
Lavreotiki
Marathon
Markopoulo
Oropos
Paiania
Pallini
Rafina-Pikermi
Saronikos
Spata-Artemida
Vari-Voula-Vouliagmeni
Regional unit of West Attica
Aspropyrgos
Eleusis
Fyli
Mandra-Eidyllia
Megara
Regional unit of Islands
Aegina
Agistri
Hydra
Kythira
Poros
Salamis
Spetses
Troizinia-Methana
Regional governor
Rena Dourou

Rena Dourou (since 2014)
Decentralized Administration
Attica
v
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Subdivisions of the municipality of Megara
Municipal units