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MEGARA

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Originally appearing in Volume V18, Page 76 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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MEGARA , an See also:

ancient See also:Greek See also:town on the road from See also:Attica to See also:Corinth. The See also:country which belonged to the See also:city was called Meyaptr or MeyapuKo; it occupied the broader See also:part of the See also:isthmus between Attica, See also:Boeotia, Corinth, and the two gulfs, and its whole See also:area is estimated by See also:Clinton at 143 sq. m. The range of See also:Mount Geraneia extends across the country from See also:east to See also:west, forming a barrier between See also:continental See also:Greece and the See also:Peloponnesus. The shortest road across this range passes along the eastern See also:side of the mountains, and the most difficult part is the celebrated Scironian rocks, the mythic See also:home of the robber Sciron. The only See also:plain in the rugged little country was the See also:White Plain, in which was situated the only important town, Megara. The See also:modern town of Megara is situated on two See also:low hills which formed part of the ancient site; it is the See also:chief town of the eparchy of Megaris; pop. about 6400. It contains few remains of antiquity, except of the See also:aqueduct and See also:basin, said to have been made by the architect See also:Eupalinus for the See also:tyrant Theagenes. (E. GR.) From the somewhat conflicting See also:evidence of See also:mythology it may be gathered that in prehistoric days Megara had maritime intercourse with the See also:southern See also:Aegean. The See also:early inhabitants, whose See also:race is unknown, were extirpated or absorbed in the Dorian See also:migration, for in historic times the city had a homogeneous Dorian See also:population. Favoured by its proximity to two See also:great waterways and by its two ports, Nisaea on the Saronic and Pegae on the Corinthian Gulf, Megara took a prominent part in the commercial expansion of Greece from the 8th See also:century onwards, and for two See also:hundred years enjoyed prosperity out of proportion to the slight resources of its narrow territory. Its See also:trade was mainly directed towards See also:Sicily, where Megarian colonies were established at See also:Hybla (Megara Hyblaea) and See also:Selinus, and towards the See also:Black See also:Sea, in which region the Megarians were probably As we have seen, it was mentioned in 1726 by Valentyn, and a See also:young example. was in 183o described and figured by Quoy and Gaimard (Voy. de l'Asirolabe : Oiseaux, p.

239, pl. 25) as the Megapodius rubripes of Temminck, a wholly different See also:

bird.pioneers of Greek See also:commerce. In the Sea of See also:Marmora they had to See also:face the competition of the Samians, with whom they waged a See also:war concerning the town of See also:Perinthus, and of See also:Miletus; but on the See also:Bosporus they established themselves by means of settlements at See also:Chalcedon and, above all, See also:Byzantium (founded, according to tradition, 675 and 658 respectively). In the Black Sea they exploited the shores of See also:Pontus and See also:Scythia, whose products they exchanged for textiles spun from the See also:wool of their own country. Their chief colonies in this sea were Astacus and See also:Heraclea in See also:Bithynia, and another Heraclea in the See also:Crimea. In the later 7th century this current of trade dwindled in face of the great commercial and colonizing activity of Miletus; it probably received further injury through the subsequent interference of See also:Athens on the See also:Hellespont. Simultaneously Megarian commerce in Sicily began to be supplanted by Corinth and Corcyra. Megara's economic development entailed a See also:change in the See also:distribution of See also:wealth, and consequently of See also:political See also:power, which is commented upon in the elegies of Theognis (q.v.). The See also:original See also:land-holding See also:aristocracy, which had probably initiated and for a See also:time monopolized commerce, was partly supplanted by prosperous upstarts, and with the See also:general increase of prosperity began to lose its hold upon the community of artisans. In the ensuing party struggles the city passed under a tyrant, Theagenes (about 64o), whose See also:rule was too brief to produce great changes. The power of the nobles would seem to have been more effectively broken in a war with Athens, in which Megara ultimately lost the See also:island of See also:Salamis (about 570, see See also:SOLON), for shortly afterwards the constitution was changed to a See also:democracy, and eventually was fixed as an See also:oligarchy of a moderate type. During the See also:Persian See also:wars the See also:state, which had recently joined the Peloponnesian See also:League, could still See also:muster 3000 hoplites.

But the subsequent expansion of Athens ruined the commerce of Megara, and the town itself was threatened with absorption by some powerful See also:

neighbour. In 459 an attack by Corinth, which had always coveted Megara's territory, induced the See also:people to summon the aid of the Athenians, who secured Megara in See also:battle' and by the construction of See also:long walls between the See also:capital and its See also:port Nisaea. In 445 a revulsion of feeling led the Megarians to See also:massacre their Athenian See also:garrison. The Athenians retaliated by placing an See also:embargo upon Megarian trade throughout their See also:empire (432), and in the Peloponnesian War, which the Megarians had consequently striven to hasten on, reduced their neighbours to misery by See also:blockade and devastations, In 424 they nearly captured Megara; in See also:collusion with a democratic party within the town, and succeeded in securing Nisaea, which they held till 410. In the 4th century Megara re-covered some measure of prosperity, but played an insignificant part in politics, its only notable move being the participation in the final conflict against See also:Philip II. of Macedon (338). During the Macedonian supremacy the town passed in turn from See also:Cassander and See also:Demetrius Poliorcetes to Antigonus Gonatas, and finally was incorporated in the Achaean League. Megara suffered severely during the See also:Civil War of 48 B.C., but seems at some later See also:period to have received new settlers. It maintained itself as a See also:place of some See also:size in subsequent centuries, but was depopulated by the Venetians in A.D. 1500. The inhabitants of the modern See also:village are mostly of Albanian origin. In literature Megara figures as the reputed home of the comedian See also:Susarion, and in the 4th century gave its name to a school of See also:philosophy founded by See also:Euclid. See See also:Strabo ix.

391—395; Theognis; See also:

Thucydides i -iv. ; See also:Aristophanes, Acharnians, 729—835; F. Cauer, Parteien and Politiker in Megara and Athen (See also:Stuttgart, 1890), pp. 1-44; B. V. See also:Head, Historia numorum (See also:Oxford, 1887), pp. 329-330; R. See also:Delbruck and K. G: Vollmoller, Das Brunnenhaus See also:des Theagenes," in Mitteil. d. See also:deutsch. Inst. Athen. See also:XXV.

(1900). (M. O. B.

End of Article: MEGARA

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