Megara

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For other uses, see Megara (disambiguation).

Megara Μέγαρα

Location

Coordinates	38°00′N 23°20′E / 38, 23.333Coordinates: 38°00′N 23°20′E / 38, 23.333
Time zone:	EET/EEST (UTC+2/3)
Elevation (center):	4 m (13 ft)
Government
Country:	Greece
Periphery:	Attica
Prefecture:	West Attica
Districts:	1
Mayor:	Dimitrios G. Stratiotis
Population statistics (as of 2001^[1])
City Proper
- Population:	28,195
- Area:^[2]	322.210 km² (124 sq mi)
- Density:	88 /km² (227 /sq mi)
Codes
Postal:	191 00
Telephone:	22960
Website
www.megara.gr

Megara (Greek: Μέγαρα, "Big Houses") is an ancient city (pop. 23,032 in 2001) in Attica, Greece. It lies in the northern section of the Isthmus of Corinth opposite the island of Salamis, which belonged to Megara in archaic times, before being taken by Athens. Megara was one of the four districts of Attica, embodied in the four mythic sons of King Pandion II, of whom Nisos was the ruler of Megara. Megara was also a trade port, its people using their ships and wealth as a way to gain leverage on armies of neighboring polises. It possessed two harbors, Pegae, to the west on the Corinthian Gulf and Nisaea, to the east on the Saronic Gulf of the Aegean Sea.

1 Early history
2 Geography
3 Towns and villages
4 Historical population
5 Notable people
6 Notes
7 See also
8 External links

[edit] Early history

In historical times, Megara was an early dependency of Corinth, in which capacity colonists from Megara founded Megara Hyblaea, a small polis north of Syracuse in Sicily. Megara then fought a war of independence with Corinth, and afterwards founded (c. 667 BC) Byzantium, as well as Chalcedon. Megara was known for its money in historical times.

In the Peloponnesian War (c. 431 BC-404 BC), Megara was an ally of Sparta. The Megarian decree is considered to be one of several contributing "causes" of the Peloponnesian War.^[3]

The most famous citizen of Megara in antiquity was Byzas, the legendary founder of 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 founded the Megarian school of philosophy which flourished for about a century, and became famous for the use of logic and dialectic.

The Megarans were proverbial for their generosity in building and endowing temples. 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.'"^[4]

[edit] Geography

A population of 28,195 live within the municipality. It is located 42 km (WNW) of Athens in the southwestern part of West Attica Prefecture, and is linked by a highway connecting the Peloponnese, Western Greece, and Athens. It is now linked by a high-speed rail line suburban railway. Megara lies in the Megaris plain. It has the largest land area of any municipality in the Attica periphery, and the largest population in West Attica. Agriculture used to dominate before housing began to expand in Megara in the 1960s and the 1970s.

3 km south of Megara is a small community called Pachi, which is famous for its fish tavernas and is visited by people from all over Greece. Nea Peramos is the neighboring city to the east of Megara and Kakia Skala to the west of Megara. There is a military airport to the south. South of Megara is the Gulf of Megara. The largest other towns in the municipality are Kinéta (pop. 1,972), Spárta (712), Vlycháda (694), and Aigeiroúses (479). The municipality is unusual for one its geographical size, in that it has only one municipal district, the third-largest in Greece (after the Sílis district in Paranesti and the Mikró Déreio district in Orfeas) if Mount Athos is not counted. There are, however, 14 towns or villages in the municipality.

[edit] Towns and villages

Agía Triás
Aigeiroúses
Kineta
Koumíntri
Lákka Kalogírou
Mégara
Moní Agíou Ierothéou

Moní Agíou Ioánnou Prodrómou
Moní Panachrántou
Pacháki
Páchi,i
Sparta
Stíkas
Vlycháda

Lîchymaniõ

[edit] Historical population

Year	Town population	Change	Municipal population	Density
1971	17,584	-	-	-
1981	20,814	+3230/+16.7%	21,245	73.4/km²
1991	20,403	-411/-1.97%	25,061	77.8/km²
2001	23,032	+2,629/+12.89%	28,195	87.5/km²

[edit] Notable people

See also: Category:Ancient Megarians

Byzas, (7th century BC), founder of Byzantium
Theognis of Megara, (6th century BC), elegiac poet
Eupalinos, (6th century BC), engineer who built the Tunnel of Eupalinos on Samos
Theagenes, (c. 600 BC), Tyrant of Megara
Euclid of Megara, (c. 400 BC), founder of the Megarian school of philosophy
Stilpo, (c. 325 BC), philosopher of the Megarian school

[edit] Notes

^ PDF "(875 KB) 2001 Census" (in Greek). National Statistical Service of Greece (ΕΣΥΕ). www.statistics.gr. http://www.statistics.gr/gr_tables/S1101_SAP_1_TB_DC_01_03_Y.pdf PDF. Retrieved on 2007-10-30.
^ (Greek) "Basic Characteristics". Ministry of the Interior. www.ypes.gr. http://www.ypes.gr/topiki.htm. Retrieved on 2007-08-07.
^ 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

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

"Megara". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. 1913. http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Catholic_Encyclopedia_(1913)/Megara.

v • d • e Municipalities and communities of the West Attica Prefecture

Municipalities	Ano Liosia • Aspropyrgos • Eleusis • Erythres • Fyli • Mandra • Megara • Nea Peramos • Vilia • Zefyri

Communities	Magoula • Oinoi

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