Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/330

 S14 MEGAEA. On the ascent to the citadel Alcathoe, Pausanias saw, on the right hand, the sepulclire of Megareus, and near it the liearth 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 Lis lyre, when he was assisting Alca- thous, 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 (0oueuT-i}pioi') of the Megarians, formerly the se- pulchre of Timalcus ; and on the summit of the Acropolis was a temple of Athena, containing a statue of the goddess, entirely gilded, with the ex- ception of the face, hands, and feet, which were of ivory. Here, also, were temples of Athena Nice, or Victory, and Aeantis. The tem]ile of Apollo was originally of brick, but had been rebuilt of white marble by Hadrian. Here, also, was a temple of Demeter Thesmoi)horus, in descending from which oc- curred the tomb of Callipolis, daughter of Alcathous. On the road leading to the Prytaneium the tra- veller passed the heroum of Ino, the heroum of Iphigeneia, and a temple of Artemis said to have been erected by Agamemnon. In the Prytaneium were tombs of Jlenippus, son of lyiegareus, 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 monu- ment of the heroes of Jlegara. There were several sepulciiral monuments on the way from the Ae- symnium to the heroum of Alcathous, in which the public records were preserved in the time of Pau- sanias. Beyond was the Dionysium or temple of Dionysus; close to which was the temple of Aphro- dite, 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 orna- mented by some of the most ancient specimens of sculpture which Pausanias had seen in Greece. On descending from the Agora by the street called Straiglit, 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 na- tives 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 Leiex on the sea-side. Near Nisaea was a small island, called Jlinoa, 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 Alca- thoe, the town on the summit is on the site of the temple of Athena. There are liardly any remains of antiijuity 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 MEGAEA. 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 ra MeyapiKO. cr/feATj (^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 subse- quently 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 befure that of Pausanias, as he makes no mention of them. Ac- cording to Thucydides (iv. 66) they were 8 stadia in length, but according to Strabo (/. c.) 18 stadia. The position of Nisaea and ^linoa 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 (JSforthern Greece, vol. ii. p. 401), and more fully by Dr. Arnold {Tkucyd. vol. ii. p. 393) and Lieut. Spratt. (^London Geop-aphical Journal, vol. viii. p. 20.5.) Thucydides represents Minoa as an island close to Nisaea, and united to tlie 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 (o/cpn). 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 (aKpa) 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 Jle- gara there is a small rocky peninsula, and further ofi^ two islands, the inner one of which aftbrds 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 oiTikho (see map. No. 6), 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 state- ment 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 Thucy- dides (iii. 51), who speaks of it as fortified only by a single fort. Moreover, Pausanias calls ]linoa a small island. Lieutenant Spratt has offered a more probable soluti(.n 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 geograpiiic mile, thus agreeing with the 8 stadia of Thucy- dides. " 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