MEGARA was the name of two Greek towns, one in Sicily, which has been already described under Hybla, the other on the road from Attica to Corinth. The country which belonged to the city was called M∈γαptς or 17 M∈γapικτ); it occupied the broader part of the isthmus between Attica, Boeotia, Corinth, and the two gulfs, and its whole area is estimated by Clinton at 143 square miles. The range of Mount Geraneia extends across the country from east to west, forming a barrier between continental Greece and the Peloponnesus. The shortest road across this range passes along the eastern side of the mountains, and the most difficult part is the celebrated Scironian rocks, the mythic home of the robber Sciron. The only plain in the rugged little country was the White Plain, in which was situated the only important town, Megara. The town was one of the most important commercial and colonizing centres of Greece in early times, and there is no doubt that its trade, like that of Corinth, owed its origin to the Phoenicians, who found its situation on the isthmus convenient. It became a Dorian city when that tribe conquered the Peloponnesus. Like many other cities of Greece, Megara was formed out of five villages, which were united on one political foundation; and this event must have taken place not later than the middle of the 8th century. From this time for two centuries Megara was among the most powerful cities of Greece. Though it had a harbour called Pegae on the Corinthian Gulf, and founded a Sicilian colony, Megara Hyblaea, in 728 B.C., yet it did not long compete with Corinth and Corcyra for the western trade. Nisaea on the Saronic Gulf was a better harbour, and gave the Megarians a stronger footing on the eastern seas. In order to keep their hold on the Black Sea ...traffic, they founded numerous trading stations alongside of their chief rivals, the people of Miletus: Chalcedon and Byzantium on the Bosphorus, and Astacus and Heraclea in Bithynia were colonies of Megara. Wealth and culture increased in the city; the country festivals were celebrated in a more elaborate and orderly manner, and Susarion of Tripodiscus first gave literary form to Grecian comedy, which was soon transferred to Attica.
The situation of Megaris on the isthmus gave it great political power, inasmuch as it commanded all the roads from the Peloponnesus into continental Greece; and so long as the people continued united under an orderly government they maintained their high position. But the development of education prompted the lower classes to demand from the nobles an equal share in the government, and Megara did not, like Athens and Sparta, produce a constitution which could reconcile the contending parties. A tyrant Theagenes raised himself to supreme power as the leader of the popular party; he made an aqueduct for the city, and appears to have maintained its power and splendour. But he was expelled by the nobles about 600 b.c., and for many years Megara was the scene of continual struggles. The poor, who were indebted to the rich, refused to pay what they counted exorbitant interest, and plundered the houses of the nobles. A vivid picture of the state of the city in the 6th century b.c. is preservedin the writings of the poet Theognis, who belonged to the aristocratic party. Meanwhile Athens was rising to power, and maintained a long war with Megara for the island of Salamis. The Megarians gradually lost strength, and finally Solon wrested the island from them for ever. They sent three thousand troops to fight at Plataea. In the wars between Athens and Sparta they were impelled by jealousy of their neighbours of Corinth to join the Athenian alliance, 455-45; but they soon found that they were only the subjects of Athens, and finally enrolled themselves among the allies of Sparta. They suffered terribly during the Peloponnesian War: Athenian ships blockaded their harbours and Athenian armies ravaged their land once or twice every year. The long famine in the city is referred to by /kristophanes in the Acharnians. The city maintained a flourishing existence throughout the Greek and Roman periods, but played a very subordinate part in history. In the unsettled time when the Roman empire had decayed, it was often plundered by pirates.
As regards literature, Megara’s chief distinction, besides the poems of Theognis and the comedy of Susarion, was the school of philosophy founded there by Euclid, a disciple of Socrates. The coinage of the city is a very con« fused and difficult subject; no very early coins can be with certainty attributed to it. The usual types are Apolline. The topography is described by Pausanias, bk. i. Megara is about four hours’ carriage-drive from Athens.
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