Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/327

 MEGAUA. time with Niixos (u. c. 735), and before Syracuse. (Srynin. Ch. 271—276; Strab. vi. p. 269.) It is impossible to reconcile the two accounts, but that of Thucydides is probably the most trustworthy. According to this the foundation of Jlegara may probably be placed about 726 b. c. Of its earlier history we have scarcely any information, but it would appear to have attained to a flourishing con- dition, as 100 years after its foundation it sent out, in its turn, a colony to the other end of Sicily, where it founded the city of Selinus, which was destined to rise to far greater power than its parent city. (I'huc. vi. 4; Scymn. Ch. 291 ; Strab. vi. p. 272.) Nothing more is known of Megara till the period of its destruction by Gelon of Syracuse, who, after a long siege, made himself master of the city by a capitulation; but, notwithstanding this, caused the bulk of the inhabitants to be sold into slavery, while he established the more wealthy and noble citizens at Syracuse. (Herod. >ii. 1.56 ; Thuc. vi. 4.) Among the persons thus removed was the celebrated comic poet Epicharmus, who had received his education at ]Iegara, though not a native of that city. (Suid. 5. V. 'ETrixap/J-os; Diog. Laert. viii. 3.) According to Thucydides, this event took place 245 years after the foundation of Jlegara, and may therefore be placed about 481 B.C. It is certain that Megara never recovered its power and independence. Thu- cydides distinctly alludes to it as not existing in his time as a city, but repeatedly mentions the locality, on the sea-coast, which was at that time occupied by the Syracusans, but which the Athenian general J.amachus proposed to make the liead-quarters of their fleet. (Thuc. vi. 49, 96.) From this time we meet with repeated mention of a place named Megara or Megaris (Scyl. p. 4. § 6), which it seems impossible to separate from Hybla, and it is pro- bable that the two were, in foct, identical. [These notices are discussed under Hybla, No. 2.] The site of this later Jlegara or Hybla may be fixed, with little doubt, at the mouth of the river Alabus (Cantaro); but there seems much reason to suppose that the ancient city, the original Greek colony, was situated almost close to the remarkable promontory now occupied by the city of Agosta or Augusta.* It is dilficult to believe that this position, the port of which is at least equal to that of Syracuse, while the peninsula itself has the same advantages as that of Ortygia, should have been wholly neglected in ancient times; and such a station would have ad- mirably served the purposes for which Lainachus urged upon his brother generals the occupation of the vacant site of M.'gara. (Thuc. vi. 49.)[E.H.B.] ME'GARA {ra Meyapa, Jh'gara -orum, some- times Jlegara -ae: the territory r/ Heyapis, sometimes ij M^yapiK-Zi, sc. yy: Eih. Miyap^vs, Jlegarensis: Adj. yityapMus'), a city in Greece Proper. I. SiTUATIOX. The city of Jlegara is situated rather inore 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 Geianeian mountains, to the eastward by the range which terminates in the mountain.s called Kerata or the Horns, and to the south by the sea; while on the north MEGARA. 311 the thirteenth century, being founded in 1229 by the emperor Frederic II., from whom it derives its name. 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 Car: a (Kapi'a), and the other Alcathok ( AA/caeoTj), the former probably being on the eastern, and the latter on the western height, upon which the modern village is chiefly situated. Immediatelv below the city was a port-town named Nisaea (Nicraja and Niffaia), the jiort being formed by an island called Mino. {'^ivwa). The city was con- nected with its port-town by Long Walls II. HiSTOKY. There were two traditions respecting the early history of Jlegara. According to the Jlegai-ians, the town owed its origin to Car, the son of I'huroneus, who built the citadel called Caria and the temples of Demeter called Jlegara, from which the jilace derived its name. (Pans. i. 39. § 5, i. 40. § 6.) Twelve generations afterwards Lelex came from Egypt and gave the inhabitants the name ot 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 mai'ried the daughter of Pandion, king of Athens. But Nisns, the son of Pandion, disputing with Sciron the pos- session of Megara, Aeacus, who had been called in as arbiter, assigned the kingdom to Nisus and his posterity, and to Sciron the connriand in war. Nisus was succeeded by Jlegareus, the son of Poseidon, who had married Iphinoij, the daughter of Nisus; and Jlegareus was followed by his son Alcathons, who built the other citadel named after liim. Such was the account of the Jlegarians, who purposely suppressed the story of the capture of their city by Minos during tlie reign of Niaus. (Paus. i. 39. §§ 5, 6, i. 41. '^§ 5.) The other tradition, vidiich was preserved by the Boeotians and adopted by the rest of Greece, differs widely from the preceding one. In the reii;n of Pylas, Pandion being expelled from Athens by the Jletionidae, fled to Jlegara, married the daughter of Pylas, and succeeded his father-in-law in the kingdom. (Paus. i. 39. § 4; Apullod. iii. 15.) The Jletionidae were in their turn driven out of Athens ; and when the dominions of Pandion were divided among his four sons, Nisus, the youngest, obtained Jlegaris. The city was called after him Nisa (NiVa), and the same name was given to the port-town which he built. When Jlinos attacked Nisus, Jlegareus, son of Poseidon, came from Onchestus in Boeotia to assist the latter, and was buried in the city, which was called after him Jlegara. The name of Nisa, subsetjuently Nisaea, was henceforth cnnflned to the port-town. (Paus. i. 39. §§4, 6.) But even the inhabitants of Jlegara were sometimes called Nisaci, to ilistinguisli them from the Jlegarians of Sicily, their cokjiiists (Thcocr. Id xii. 27.) Through the treachery of his daughter Scylla, Nisus perished, and Jlinos obtained jiosses- sion of the city, and demolished ita walls. They were subsequently restored by Alcallunis, son of Pelops, who came from Elis. In this work he was assisted by Apollo. (P.ius. 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 Lis death a democra- X 4
 * The modern city of this name dates only from