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
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 e

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 t e

Subdivisions of the municipality of Megara

Municipal units