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MEGARA (Ancient city) GREECE
Megara, Megara-orum, sometimes Megara-ae: the territory he Megaris,
sometimes he Megarike, sc. ge: Eth. Megareus, Megarensis: Adj. Megarikos.
A city in Greece Proper.
I. SITUATION. The city of Megara is situated rather more than a mile from
the Saronic gulf, in a plain about 6 or 7 miles in length, and the same in breadth,
bounded to the westward by the range of the Geraneian mountains, to the eastward
by the range which terminates in the mountains called Kerata or the horns, and
to the south by the sea; while on the north the plain loses itself in a gradual
ascent. The city stood on a low hill with a double summit, on each of which there
was an acropolis, one named Caria (Karia), and the other Alcathoe (Alkathoe),
the former probably being on the eastern, and the latter on the western height,
upon which the modern village is chiefly situated. Immediately below the city
was a port-town named Nisaea (Nisaia and Nisaia), the port being formed by an
island called Minoa. The city was connected with its port-town by Long Walls.
II. HISTORY. There were two traditions respecting the early history of
Megara. According to the Megarians, the town owed its origin to Car, the son of
Phoroneus, who built the citadel called Caria and the temples of Demeter called
Megara, from which the place derived its name. (Paus. i. 39. § 5, i. 40. § 6.)
Twelve generations afterwards Lelex came from Egypt and gave the inhabitants the
name of Leleges, whence we read in Ovid (Met. vii. 443):
Tutus ad Alcathoen, Lelegeia moenia, limes Composito Scirone patet.
Lelex was succeeded by his son Cleson, the latter by his son Pylas,
whose son Sciron married the daughter of Pandion, king of Athens. But Nisus, the
son of Pandion, disputing with Sciron the possession of Megara, Aeacus, who had
been called in as arbiter, assigned the kingdom to Nisus and his posterity, and
to Sciron the command in war. Nisus was succeeded by Megareus, the son of Poseidon,
who had married Iphinoe, the daughter of Nisus; and Megareus was followed by his
son Alcathous, who built the other citadel named after him. Such was the account
of the Megarians, who purposely suppressed the story of the capture of their city
by Minos during the reign of Nisus. (Paus. i. 39. § § 5, 6, i. 41. § 5.)
The other tradition, which was preserved by the Boeotians and adopted
by the rest of Greece, differs widely from the preceding one. In the reign of
Pylas, Pandion being expelled from Athens by the Metionidae, fled to Megara, married
the daughter of Pylas, and succeeded his father-in-law in the kingdom. (Paus.
i. 39. § 4; Apollod. iii. 15.) The Metionidae were in their turn driven out of
Athens; and when the dominions of Pandion were divided among his four sons, Nisus,
the youngest, obtained Megaris. The city was called after him Nisa, and the same
name was given to the port-town which he built. When Minos attacked Nisus, Megareus,
son of Poseidon, came from Onchestus in Boeotia to assist the latter, and was
buried in the city, which was called after him Megara. The name of Nisa, subsequently
Nisaea, was henceforth confined to the port-town. (Paus. i. 39. § § 4, 6.) But
even the inhabitants of Megara were sometimes called Nisaei, to distinguish them
from the Megarians of Sicily, their colonists (Theocr. Id xii. 27.) Through the
treachery of his daughter Scylla, Nisus perished, and Minos obtained possession
of the city, and demolished its walls. They were subsequently restored by Alcathous;
son of Pelops, who came from Elis. In this work he was assisted by Apollo. (Paus.
i. 41. § 6; Theogn. 771; Ov. Met. viii. 14) It was further related, that Hyperion,
the son of Agamemnon, was the last king of Megara, and that after his death a
democratical form of government was established. (Paus. i. 43. § 3.)
Into the value of those traditions it would be useless to inquire.
It may, however, be regarded as certain, that Megara and its territory were in
early times regarded as part of Attica; and hence Strabo accounts for the omission
of their names in the Iliad, because they were comprehended along with the Athenians
under the general name of Ionians. (Strab. ix. p. 392.) The most certain event
in the history of Megara is its conquest by the Dorians. This event is connected
in tradition with the expedition of the Peloponnesians against Athens. The Dorian
invaders were defeated by the voluntary sacrifice of Codrus; but Megaris was notwithstanding
permanently conquered, and a Corinthian and Messenian colony founded at Megara.
The pillar at the isthmus of Corinth, which had hitherto marked the boundaries
of Ionia and Peloponnesus, was now removed; and Megara was henceforth a Dorian
state, and its territory included in Peloponnesus. (Strab. ix. p. 393; Scymn.
Ch. 502.) Megara, however, continued for some time to be subject to Corinth, and
it was not without frequent straggles and wars that it at length established its
independence. Megara appears not to have become the ruling city in the district
till it was independent of Corinth, since in earlier times it had been only one
of the five hamlets (komai), into which the country was divided, namely, the Heraeans,
Piraeans, Megarians, Cynosurians and Tripodiscaeans. (Plut. Quaest. Grace. c.
17, p. 387.)
After Megara had become an independent city, its prosperity rapidly
increased, and in the seventh century before the Christian era it was one of the
most flourishing commercial cities of Greece. For this it was chiefly indebted
to its admirable situation, which gave its inhabitants great facilities for the
prosecution of commerce both by land and sea. All the roads from Northern Greece
to Peloponnesus passed through their country, while their shores being washed
by the Corinthian and Saronic gulfs, enabled them to trade both with the West
and East. Megara founded some of the earlier Grecian colonies, both
in Sicily and Thrace. In B.C. 728 it established Megara Hyblaea in Sicily, in
712, Astacus in Bithynia, in 675 Cyzicus in the Propontis, in the following year
Chalcedon at the mouth of the Bosporus, and in 657 Byzantium opposite Chalcedon.
About this time, or rather later, Comedy is said to have been invented by the
Megarians. According to the common account, Susarion, a native of Tripodiscus
in Megaris, introduced comedy into Attica. But, with the increase of wealth, the
lower orders attempted to obtain a share in the government, which had hitherto
been exclusively in the hands of the Dorian conquerors; and Theagenes, the father-in-law
of Cylon, became tyrant or despot of Megara, by attacking the rich landed proprietors
and advocating the claims of the poor. (Aristot. Rhet. i. 2, Polit. v. 4.) He
embellished the city by the construction of a beautiful aqueduct, which continued
to exist down to the time of Pausanias (i. 40. § 1). Theagenes ruled about B.C.
630--600; but he was subsequently driven from power, and Megara was for some time
torn asunder by struggles between the aristocracy and democracy. The elegiac poet
Theognis, who belonged to the aristocracy, deplores the sufferings of his party,
and complains that the poor no longer paid the interest of their debts, and that
they plundered the houses of the rich and even the temples.
About the same time the Megarians were engaged in frequent contests
with their neighbours in Attica. The chief struggle between them was for the island
of Salamis, which was at length gained by the Athenians in consequence of the
well-known stratagem of Solon. (Paus. i. 40. § 5; Strab. ix. p. 394.) The Megarians
took their share in the Persian wars. They fought with 20 ships at the battles
of Artemisium and Salamis. (Herod. viii. 1, 45.) They repulsed a body of Persians
whom Mardonius sent to ravage their territory (Paus. i. 40. § 2), and finally
3000 of their troops fought at the battle of Plataea. (Herod. ix. 28.)
After the Persian War the Megarians were involved in hostilities with
the Corinthians respecting the boundaries of their territories. This led the Megarians
to desert the Peloponnesian alliance, and unite themselves with the Athenians,
B. C 455. In order to secure their communication with Megara, the Athenians built
two Long Walls connecting the city with Nisaea; and they garrisoned at the same
time the town of Pegae, on the Corinthian gulf. (Thuc. i. 103.) But ten years
afterwards the Megarians revolted from Athens, and having obtained the assistance
of some Peloponnesian troops, they slew the Athenian garrison, with the exception
of those who escaped into Nisaea. They continued to hold Nisaea nd Pegae, but
they also surrendered these towns in the thirty years' truce made in the same
year (445) with Sparta and her allies. (Thuc. i. 114, 115.) The Athenians thus
lost all authority over Megaris; but they were so exasperated with the Megarians,
that they passed a decree excluding them from their markets and ports. This decree
pressed very hard upon the Megarians, whose unproductive soil was not sufficient
to support the population, and who obtained most of their supplies from Attica:
it was one of the reasons urged by the Peloponnesians for declaring war against
Athens. (Thuc. i. 67, 139; Aristoph. Acharn. 533.) In the Peloponnesian War the
Megarians suffered greatly. In the first year of the war the Athenians invaded
Megaris with a very large force, and laid waste the whole territory up to the
city walls. At the same time the Athenian fleet blockaded the harbour of Nisaea,
so that Megara was in the situation of a besieged city cut off from all its supplies.
This invasion was repeated by the Athenians once in every year, and sometimes
even twice; and the sufferings which the people then endured were remembered by
them many centuries afterwards, and were assigned to Pausanias as the reason why
one of their works of art had not been finished. (Thuc. ii. 31; Plut. Per. 30;
Paus. i. 40. § 4.)
In the fifth year of the Peloponnesian War (B.C. 427), the Athenians
under Nicias took possession of the island of Minoa, which lay in front of Nisaea,
and left a garrison there, by which means the port of Nisaea was still more effectively
blockaded. (Thuc. iii. 51.) Of the position of this island, and of the causeway
connecting it with the mainland, we shall speak presently. In the eighth year
of the Peloponnesian War (B.C. 424), the democratical party in Megara fearing
the return of the aristocratical exiles, who were at Pegae, entered into negotiations
with the Athenians to surrender their city to them. The Athenians still held Minoa;
and the Long Walls and Nisaea were occupied by an Athenian garrison. The Athenians
were admitted within the Long Walls by their friends in Megara, and after a siege
of two days they took Nisaea.1 Megara was saved by Brasidas, who advanced to the
relief of the city with a large Peloponnesian force, and, after offering battle
to the Athenians, which they declined, was admitted within the city. The aristocratical
exiles were now recalled, and a strict and exclusive oligarchy established, which
lasted for some time. (Thuc. iv. 66 - 74.) A few months afterwards the Megarians
captured the Long Walls from the Athenians and levelled them to the ground; but
the Athenians still continued to hold Nisaea and Minoa. (Thuc. iv. 109.) In the
truce concluded between the Athenians and Peloponnesians in the following year,
it was settled that the line of demarcation between the Athenians in Nisaea and
Minoa, on one side, and the Megarians and their allies in Megara, on the other,
should be the road leading from the gate of Nisaea near the monument of Nisus
to the Poseidonium or temple of Poseidon, and from the latter in a straight line
to the causeway leading to Minoa. (Thuc. iv. 117.)
From this time Megara is seldom mentioned in Grecian history. Its
prosperous condition at a later period is extolled by Isocrates, who says that
it possessed the largest houses of any city in Greece, and that it remained at
peace, though placed between the Peloponnesians, Thebans, and Athenians. (Isocr.
de Pac. p. 183, ed. Steph.) Megara surrendered to Philip after the battle of Chaeroneia.
(Aelian, V. H. vi. 1.) After the death of Alexander it was for some time in the
power of Cassander; but his garrison was expelled by Demetrius Poliorcetes, who
proclaimed the freedom of the city B.C. 307. (Diod. xx. 46; Plut. Demetr. 9.)
Subsequently it again passed into the hands of the Macedonian kings, but it was
united by Aratus to the Achaean League. (Polyb. ii. 43.) In the war between the
Achaean League and the Romans, Megara surrendered to Metellus without a contest.
(Paus. vii. 15. § 11.) It is mentioned by Sulpicius, in his well-known letter
to Cicero (ad Fam. iv. 5), as one of the ruined cities of Greece. It still existed
in the time of Strabo (ix. p. 393), and it was subsequently made a Roman colony.
(Plin. iv. 7. s. 11.) Pausanias relates that it was the only city of Greece which
Hadrian refused to assist, on account of the murder by its inhabitants of Anthemocritus,
the Athenian herald (Paus. i. 36. § 3); but we learn from inscriptions that a
new tribe at Megara was called Adrianis, in honour of the emperor, and that Sabina,
the emperor's wife, was worshipped here under the title of nea Demeter (Bockh,
Inscr. vol. i. p. 566); and even Pausanias himself describes a temple of Apollo
of white marble, built by Hadrian (i. 42. § 5). It continued to coin money under
the Antonines and subsequent emperors; and it appears in the Tabula Peuting. as
a considerable place. In the fifth century its fortifications were repaired by
Diogenes, an officer of the emperor Anastasius (Chandler, Inscr. Ant. 130); but
from this time it appears to have rapidly sunk, and was frequently plundered by
the pirates of the Mediterranean.
Megara was celebrated on account of its philosophical school, which
was founded there by Eucleides, a disciple of Socrates, and which distinguished
itself chiefly by the cultivation of dialectics. The philosophers of this school
were called the Megarici (hoi Megarikoi, Strab. ix. 393). It was, also less creditably
distinguished for its courtezans, who were called Megarian Sphinxes. (Megarikai
Sphinges, Suid. s. v.; comp. Plant. Pers. i. 3. 57.) The Megarians were addicted
to the pleasures of the table. (Tertull. Apolog. 39.) They had a bad character
throughout Greece, and were regarded as fraudulent, perfidious, and ignorant;
but they may have owed much of this bad character to the representations of their
enemies, the Athenians. (Aelian, V. II. xii. 56; Schol. ad Aristoph. Pac. 248;
Suid. s. v. Megareon axioi meridos, i. e. contemptible people.) Of the Megarian
games and festivals we have three kinds mentioned; the Dioclean, celebrated in
honour of the hero Diocles (Schol. ad Theocr. xii. 28; Schol. ad Pind. Ol. xiii.
155; Schol. ad Aristoph. Acharn. 774), the Alcathoan, celebrated in honour of
Alcathous, and the Smaller Pythian, in honour of the Pythian Apollo, whose worship
was very ancient in Megara. (Philostr. Vit. Soph. i. 3; Schol. ad Pind. Nem. v.
84, Ol. xiii. 155; Krause, Die Pythien, Nemeen und Isthmien, p. 66.)
Dion Chrysostom (Orat. vi.) says that Megara is one day's journey
from Athens, and Procopius (Bell. Vand. i. 1) makes it 210 stadia. According to
modern travellers the journey takes 8 hours. (Dodwell, Classical Tour, vol. ii.
p. 177.)
III. TOPOGRAPHY OF THE CITY AND ITS PORT-TOWN. Pausanias has given a particular
description of the public buildings of Megara (Paus. i. 40, seq.). He begins his
account with the aqueduct of Theagenes, which was supplied with water from the
fountain of the nymphs called Sithnides. The aqueduct was remarkable for its magnitude
and numerous columns. Near it was an ancient temple, containing a statue of Artemis
Soteira, statues of the twelve gods said to be by Praxiteles, and images of the
Roman emperors. Beyond, in the Olympieium, or inclosure of Zeus Olympius, was
a magnificent temple, containing a statue of the god, which was never finished,
owing to the distress occasioned by the Athenians in the Peloponnesian War. From
thence Pausanias ascended to the citadel, named Caria, passing by a temple of
Dionysus Nyctelius, a sanctuary of Aphrodite Apostrophia, an oracle of Night,
and a roofless temple of Zeus Cronius. Here, also, was the Megarum, or temple
of Demeter, said to have been founded by Car during his reign.
Below the northern side of the Acropolis Caria was the tomb of Alcmena
near the Olympieium. Hence Pausanias was conducted by his Megarian guide to a
place called Rhus (Rhous; comp. Plut. Thes. 27), because the waters from the neighbouring
mountains were collected here, until they were turned off by Theagenes, who erected
on the spot an altar to Achelous. It was probably this water which supplied the
fountain of the Sithnides. Near this place was the monument of Hyllas; and not
far from the latter were temples of Isis, Apollo Agraeus, and Artemis Agrotera,
which was said to have been dedicated by Alcathous after he had slain the Cithaeronian
lion. Below these were the heroum of Pandion, and the monuments of Hippolyte,
queen of the Amazons, and Tereus, who married Procne.
On the ascent to the citadel Alcathoe, Pausanias saw, on the right
hand, the sepulchre of Megareus, and near it the hearth of the gods called Prodomeis,
to whom Alcathous sacrificed when he was going to build the walls. Here was the
stone upon which Apollo laid his lyre, when he was assisting Alcathous, and which,
on being struck, returned a sound like that of a harp. (Comp. Theogn. 771; Ov.
Met. viii. 14) Beyond was the council-house (bouleuterion) of the Megarians, formerly
the sepulchre of Timalcus ; and on the summit of the Acropolis was a temple of
Athena, containing a statue of the goddess, entirely gilded, with the exception
of the face, hands, and feet, which were of ivory. Here, also, were temples of
Athena Nice, or Victory, and Aeantis. The temple of Apollo was originally of brick,
but had been rebuilt of white marble by Hadrian. Here, also, was a temple of Demeter
Thesmophorus, in descending from which occurred the tomb of Callipolis, daughter
of Alcathous.
On the road leading to the Prytaneium the traveller passed the heroum
of Ino, the heroum of Iphigeneia, and a temple of Artemis said to have been erected
by Agamremnon. In the Prytaneium were tombs of Menippus, son of Megareus, and
Echepolis, son of Alcathous; near which was a stone called Anaclethra, because
here Demeter sat down and called her daughter. Pausanias next mentions the sepulchres
of those Megarians who had fallen in battle against the Persians, and the Aesymnium,
so named from its founder, which contained a monument of the heroes of Megara.
There were several sepulchral monuments on the way from the Aesymnium to the heroum
of Alcathous, in which the public records were preserved in the time of Pausanias.
Beyond was the Dionysium or temple of Dionysus; close to which was the temple
of Aphrodite, containing several statues by Praxiteles. Near the latter was a
temple of Fortune, with an image of the goddess by Praxiteles. A neighbouring
temple contained statues of the Muses, and a Jupiter in brass, by Lysippus. In
the Agora stood the tombs of Coroebus and of the athlete Orsippus, the former
of which was ornamented by some of the most ancient specimens of sculpture which
Pausanias had seen in Greece. On descending from the Agora by the street called
Straight, there stood, a little to the right, the temple of Apollo Prostaterius,
with a statue of the god of great merit, as well as other statues by Praxiteles.
In the ancient gymnasium, near the gates called Nymphades, was a pyramidal stone,
called by the natives Apollo Carinus, and a temple of the Eileithyiae. On the
road to the port of Nisaea was a temple of Demeter Malophorus. The Acropolis of
Nisaea still remained; on descending from the Acropolis there was the tomb of
Lelex on the sea-side. Near Nisaea was a small island, called Minoa, where the
fleet of the Cretans was moored during the war against Nisus.
Megara still retains its ancient name, but it is a miserable place.
It occupies only the western of the two ancient citadels, and as this was probably
Alcathoe, the town on the summit is on the site of the temple of Athena. There
are hardly any remains of antiquity at Megara. On the eastern acropolis there
are a few remains of the ancient walls. None of the numerous temples mentioned
by Pausanias can be identified; and only one of them is marked by the frusta of
some Ionic columns. The magnificent aqueduct of Theagenes has disappeared; and
some imperfect foundations and a large fountain on the northern side of the town
are the only remains of the celebrated fountain of the Sithnide nymphs.
Of the Long Walls, uniting Megara with Nisaea, we have already spoken.
They are noticed by Aristophanes under the name of ta Megarika skele (Lysistr.
1172). They were destroyed by the Megarians themselves, as we have already seen,
in the eighth year of the Peloponnesian War, but they were subsequently restored
by Phocion. Strabo speaks of them as if they still existed in his time (ix. p.
391), but they would seem to have fallen to ruin before that of Pausanias, as
he makes no mention of them. According to Thucydides (iv. 66) they were 8 stadia
in length, but according to Strabo (l. c.) 18 stadia.
The position of Nisaea and Minoa has given rise to much dispute, as
the localities described by Thucydides do not agree with the present features
of the coast. The subject has been briefly discussed by Colonel Leake (Northern
Greece, vol. ii. p. 401), and more fully by Dr. Arnold (Thucyd. vol. ii. p. 393)
and Lieut. Spratt. (London Geographical Journal, vol. viii. p. 205.) Thucydides
represents Minoa as an island close to Nisaea, and united to the latter by a bridge
over a morass. On Minoa the Megarians had built a fortress (Thuc. iii. 51). Strabo
(ix. p. 39) calls Minoa a promontory (akra). He says that, after the Scironian
rocks, we come to the promontory Minoa, forming the harbour of Nisaea. Pausanias
(i. 44. § 3), however, agrees with Thucydides in calling it an island ; but it
may be observed that the expression of Strabo (akra) is not inconsistent with
its being an island, as stated by Thucydides and Pausanias. The difficulty in
determining the site of Minoa and Nisaea arises from the fact, that there is at
present no island off the coast which can be identified with Minoa. At the distance
of nearly a mile and a half from Megara there is a small rocky peninsula, and
further off two islands, the inner one of which affords shelter to a few of the
small class of coasters. Hence it has been supposed that the inner island was
Minoa, as it forms the port of the Megarians of the present day. But this island
is distant from the promontory about 200 yards, with 7 fathoms of water between
them ; consequently they could never have been connected by a bridge. It might,
indeed, be argued, that the peninsula was once an island ; but this is disproved
by the fact that its isthmus is of equal height with its extremity. Moreover there
are no ancient remains, either on this island or the peninsula.
Other writers, among whom are Colonel Leake and Dr. Arnold, suppose
the promontory of Tikho, further to the east, at the entrance of the strait of
Salamis, to have been Minoa, since it may at one time have been an island. Accordingly,
the statement of Strabo respecting the length of the Long Walls, is preferred
to that of Thucydides. But this promontory is nearly 3 miles in length, which
is larger than is implied in the description of Thucydides (iii. 51), who speaks
of it as fortified only by a single fort. Moreover, Pausanias calls Minoa a small
island. Lieutenant Spratt has offered a more probable solution of the difficulty.
He supposes Minoa to be a rocky hill, surmounted by a ruined fortress, and standing
on the margin of the sea south of Megara, at the distance of little more than
a geographic mile, thus agreeing with the 8 stadia of Thucydides. That this hill
was once a peninsula, appears evident from the dry beds of two rivers, which pass
close to its base ; one on each side. The eastern bed winds round the back of
the hill, leaving only a narrow neck of elevated ground between it and that on
the west side: and it is, therefore, clear, that when these two rivers had communication
with the sea, the intermediate neck of land, with this hill, would have been a
peninsula, or promontory. These two river beds were once the only outlets of the
mountain streams which issue from the valleys on the north side of Mont Geraneia
; for the ancient course of the eastern bed, although now ploughed over and cultivated,
can be traced through the plain to the northward, as far as its junction with
that river, whose torrent at present flows in an easterly direction towards the
shallow bay of Tikho, crossing the site of the Long Walls which connected Megara
with Nisaea and Minoa, and losing themselves in the swamps bordering that bay.
Although vestiges of the walls are not found in the bed of the river, yet, on
examining the ground near it, the evidence is convincing that its present course
does cross their site, as, at a short distance from it, on the Megarian side,
their foundations may be traced in a direction transverse to the course of the
river, and towards the castellated hill before mentioned. The dry watercourse
on the western side of this isolated hill can be traced to within two or three
hundred yards of the eastern one; and having no communi-cation with any other
mountain stream, it may not be unreasonable to suppose that formerly the river
split there into two branches or mouths. This hill would then have been an island,
as Thucydides calls Minoa. The subsequent deposit of earth brought down by the
above mentioned stream, would have joined the hill to the mainland.
If this hill is the site of Minoa, the town of Nisaea must have been
near it; and Lieut. Spratt discovered many vestiges of an ancient site on the
eastern side of the hill, between the sea and a low rock which stands in the plain
a short distance to the northward. Among these remains are four small heaps of
ruins, with massive foundations, in one of which there are three broken shafts
of small columns erect, and wanting apparently only the fourth to complete the
original number. Probably they were monuments or temples; and two Greek churches,
which are now in ruins, but standing on two ancient foundations, will not be unfavourable
to the supposition. Another church, Agios Nikolaos, which is perfect, also occupies
the site of an ancient building, but it stands nearer to the sea. (Lieut) Spratt
further supposes that he has discovered remains of the ancient causeway. Between
the base of the hill on its north side, and the opposite bank of the dry bed of
a former river, there are three platforms of heavy buildings, one of which lies
immediately at the foot of the hill, another on the edge of the opposite bank,
and the third nearly central; and as the course of that former river-bed clearly
and indisputably passes between them, it is more than probable that the bridge
of communication may be recognised in these ruins. He also says, that distinct
remains of an ancient mole are to be seen extending from the south-eastern end
of the hill, and curving to the eastward, so as to have formed a harbour between
the hill and those ruins, which is in accordance with the statement of Strabo,
that the port of Nisaea was formed by the promontory of Minoa.
IV. TERRITORY OF MEGARA. Megaris occupied the greater part of the large
Isthmus, which extends from the foot of Mt. Cithaeron to the Acrocorinthus, and
which connects Northern Greece with the Peloponnesus. The southern part of this
Isthmus, including the Isthmus properly so called, belonged to Corinth; but the
boundaries of Megaris and Corinth differed at an earlier and a later period. Originally
Megaris extended as far as Crommyon on the Saronic, and Thermae on the Corinthian,
gulfs, and a pillar was set up near the Isthmus proper, marking the boundaries
between Peloponnesus and Ionia; but subsequently this pillar was removed, and
the territory of Corinth reached as far as the Scironian rocks and the other passes
of the Geraneian mountains. (Strab. ix. pp. 392, 393.) Towards the N., Megaris
was separated from Boeotia by Mt. Cithaeron, and towards the E. and NE. from Attica
by some high land, which terminates on the west side of the bay of Eleusis in
two summits, formerly called Kerata or The Horns (ta Kerata), and now Kandili.
(Strab. ix. p. 395; Diod. xiii. 65; Plut. Them. 13.) Here there is an immense
deposit of conchiferous limestone, which Pausanias also noticed (i. 44. § 6).
The river Iapis, which flowed into the sea a little to the W. of the Horns, was
the boundary of Megaris and Attica. The extreme breadth of Megaris from Pagae
to Nisaea is estimated by Strabo (viii. p. 334) at 120 stadia; and, according
to the calculation of Clinton, the area of the country is 143 square miles. Megaris
is a rugged and mountainous country, and contains no plain, except the one in
which its capital, Megara, was situated. This plain was called the White Plain
(to Leukon pedion, Schol. ad Hom. Od. v. 333, ed. Mai; Etymol. M. s. v. Leukothea),
and is the same as Cimolia (Kimolia, Diod. xi. 79), which produced the Creta Cimolia
or fullers' earth, and which Leake erroneously regards as a place (Northern Greece,
vol. ii. p. 413). The main range of Mt. Cithaeron runs from W. to E., forming
the boundary between Boeotia and Attica; but it is also prolonged southwards along
the shores of the Corinthian gulf, and gradually rises into a new chain, which
stretches across Megaris from W. to E., parallel to Mt. Cithaeron. This chain
is highest on the western side, where it attains the height of 4217 feet (Paris),
and gradually sinks down on the eastern side towards the Saronic gulf. On its
western side it runs out into the promontory Aegiplanctus (Aigiplanktos, Aesch.
Agam. 303, with Schol.), and also into those of Olmiae and Heraeum in the Corinthian
territory. On its eastern side the island of Salamis and the surrounding rocks
are only a continuation of this chain. The mountains were called Geraneia in antiquity
(Geraneia, Thuc. i. 105; Paus. i. 40. § 7), and are said to have received this
name because, in the deluge of Deucalion, Megarus, the son of Zeus and a Sithonian
nymph, was led by the cries of cranes (geranoi) to take refuge upon their summit.
Towards the south the Geraneian mountains sink down into the plain of the Isthmus,
while to the south of the Isthmus there rises another chain of mountains called
the Oneian. Strabo (viii. p. 380) confounds the Geraneia with the Oneia; and erroneously
represents the latter extending as far as Boeotia and Cithaeron. His error has
misled many modern writers, who, in consequence, speak of the Geraneia as a portion
of the Oneia. (Curtius, Peloponnesos, vol. i. p. 25.)
The Geraneian mountains are almost, if not entirely, calcareous. They
form the true boundary of Northern Greece, and rise above there Isthmus of Corinth
like a vast wall from sea to sea. Three roads lead across these mountains into
Peloponnesus. One runs from the western coast of Megaris, across the rocky peninsula
of Perakhora, the ancient Peiraeum of Corinth, down to the Corinthian gulf. It
was the road by which armies frequently marched from Peloponnesus into Northern
Greece, but in ordinary intercourse was not much used on account of its length.
The second road passes through the centre of the Geraneia, and is called the road
of the great Dervenia from the narrow pass (Turk. Derveni), which leads between
two masses of rock, and where guards were stationed in Turkish times. According
to Gell the top of this pass was anciently fortified with a wall. The same writer
says that, from the top of this pass to Corinth the distance is 8 hours 37 minutes,
and to Megara 2 hours 33 minutes. This road is now little used. The third road,
which leads along the eastern coast of Megaris, is the shortest way between Megara
and Corinth, and therefore has been the chief line of communication between Peloponnesus
and Northern Greece from the earliest times to the present day. This road, soon
after leaving Megara, runs for several miles along a narrow ledge or terrace,
cut in the rock half-way up the sides of the cliffs. On his right hand the traveller
has the precipitous rock, while on his left it descends perpendicularly to the
sea, which is 600 or 700 feet beneath him. The road, which is now narrow and impracticable
for carriages, was made wide enough by the emperor Hadrian for two carriages to
pass abreast. From the higher level the road descends to the brink of the water
by a most rugged and precipitous path cut between walls of rock. This pass is
the celebrated Scironian rocks of antiquity, now called Kake - skala, or bad ladder
(Hai Skeironides petrai, Strab. ix. p. 391; hai Skironides and hai Skirades, Polyb.
xvi. 16; Skeironos aktai, Eur. Hippol. 1208; the road itself he Skironis hodos,
Herod. viii. 71; Scironia saxa, Plin. iv. 7. s. 11). According to a Megarian tradition,
these rocks derived their name from Sciron, a polemarch of the Megarians, who
was the first to make a footpath along the rocks (Paus. i. 44. § 6); but, according
to the more common tradition, they were so called from the robber Sciron. Near
the southern end of the pass, where the road [p. 317] begins to descend, we must
place the Molurian rock (he Molouris), from which Ino or Leucothea threw herself
with her son Melicertes (Palaemon) into the sea; and close by were the execrable
rocks (enageis), from which Sciron used to throw strangers into the sea, and from
which lie was himself hurled by Theseus. (Paus. i. 44. § 7, seq.) The tortoise
at the foot of the rock, which was said to devour the robbers, was probably a
rock called by this name from its shape, and which gave rise to the tale (kata
ten kaloumenen chelonen, /un>Diod. iv. 59). On the summit of the mountain was
a temple of Zeus Aphesius. On descending into the plain was the temple of Apollo
Latous, near which were the boundaries of Megaris and the Corinthia. (Paus. i.
44. § § 9, 10.)
Megaris contained only one town of importance, Megara with its harbour
Nisaea, which have been already described. The other towns in the country were
Aegosthena and Pegae (Doric Pagae), on the Alcyonian or Corinthian gulf; Tripodicus
and Rhus in the interior; Phibalis, on the confines of Attica (Schol. ad Aristoph.
Acharn. 802); and Phalycon and Polichne of which the site is uncertain. There
was also a fortress, Geraneia situated on one of the mountains of this name, but
its position is also uncertain (Scylax, p. 15; Plin. iv. 7. s. 11); it is apparently
the same place as the Ereneia (Ereneia) of Pausanias (i. 44. § 5). Scylax mentions
a place Aris, but instead of Pegai, teichos Geraneia, Aris, it has been conjectured
that we ought to read Pegai teichos, Geraneia akris or akra. Whether there was
a place of the name of Isus in Megaris seems doubtful.
1. On this occasion Thucydides (iv. 66) calls Megara he ano polis, in contradistinction
to the port-town. This expression cannot refer to the acropolis of Megara, as
some critics interpret it.
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited June 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
The town of Megara, the capital of Megaris, a small district in Greece between the Corinthian and Saronic Gulfs, bounded on the north by Boeotia, on the east and northeast by Attica, on the south by the territory of Corinth, and situated a mile from the sea, opposite the island of Salamis. Its citadel was called Alcathoe, from its reputed founder, Alcathous, son of Pelops. Its seaport was Nisaea, which was connected with Megara by two walls, built by the Athenians when they had possession of Megara, B.C. 461-445. In front of Nisaea lay the small island Minoa, which added greatly to the security of the harbour. In ancient times Megara formed one of the four divisions of Attica. It was next conquered by the Dorians, and was for a time subject to Corinth; but it finally asserted its independence, and rapidly became a wealthy and powerful city. Its power at an early period is attested by the flourishing colonies which it founded, of which Selymbria, Chalcedon, and Byzantium, and the Hyblaean Megara in Sicily, were the most important. After the Persian wars, Megara was for some time at war with Corinth, and was thus led to form an alliance with Athens, and to receive an Athenian garrison into the city, B.C. 461; but the oligarchical party having got the upper hand, the Athenians were expelled, B.C. 441. Megara is celebrated in the history of philosophy as the seat of a philosophical school, usually called the Megarian, which was founded by Euclid, a native of the city.
This text is cited Oct 2002 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Megara. Located W of Eleusis on the Saronic Gulf, forming a buffer between
Attica and the Corinthia. The city may have been of some importance in the Bronze
Age. It emerges from the Dark Ages as a Dorian state. During the period of colonization,
it was in the forefront, founding important colonies including Megara Hyblaea,
Selinus, Chalcedon and Byzantium. The city experienced a tyranny under Theagenes
in the 7th c. B.C. and later came into direct collision with Athens over Salamis.
She did, however, for a short time in the 5th c. ally herself with her formidable
neighbor to the E, and built long walls to connect the city with the port. The
rapprochement with Athens was only temporary and Megara went back to her Dorian
compatriots, only to suffer Pericles' Megarian Decree of 432 B.C. Comparatively
little is known of Megara after the 5th c. B.C.; with a few exceptions her later
history is uneventful.
The ancient city lies on two hills and the saddle between them. Unfortunately
the modern town overlies the ancient remains and no systematic clearing has been
undertaken. The only major monument even partially brought to light is a large
fountain-house, apparently mentioned by Pausanias and assigned by him to the tyrant
Theagenes. The building, as cleared, is a rectangle (13.69 x ca. 21 m) consisting
of two parallel water reservoirs and draw basins. The front, or S, of the structure
is still under modern houses, but it probably carried a Doric porch from which
a fragmentary triglyph has been identified. The roof over the water reservoirs,
which was probably flat, was carried on five rows of seven eight-sided Doric piers.
The two reservoirs are separated by a thin orthostat wall which runs down the
center of the building on the middle line of piers. Each reservoir has a separate
inlet and outlet into two separate dip basins, and the parapet wall of the latter
is worn by the friction of countless amphoras. Recent studies indicate that the
building in its present form was constructed at the end of the archaic period
and thus cannot be associated with Theagenes. There is evidence for some damage
in the 3d c. A.D., perhaps associated with the Herulian invasion of 267, and a
final destruction in the late 4th c. A.D.
To the W of the fountain-house lies another building, only the corner
of which has been cleared. Its orientation is thought to suggest that it may be
contemporary with the fountain-house. Recent archaeological work at Megara has
been confined to chance finds and rescue operations, and some studies have been
undertaken on the city's fortifications.
W. R. Biers, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
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