Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/331

 MEGARA. 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 per.insula, 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, althouc:h now ploughed over and cultivated, can be traced through the ]ilain 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 Tikko, crossing the site of the Long Walls which connected Mi'gara with Nisaea and Jlinoa, and losing them- selves in the swamps bi)rdering that bay. Although vestiges of the walls are not found in the bed of the MEGARA. 315 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 Jlegarian 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 Jlinoa." The subsequent deposit of earth broucrlit down by the above mentioned stream, would have joined the hill to the mainland. The accompanying map and drawing are taken from Lieut. Spratt's. >af'W-^ 31INOA. KISAEA. ""^^V MU-ubLcs 5 "A uuii/-MJJ.i:S L ri.AN OF THE NEIGHBOURHOOD OF MEGAKA. A Megara. B. Nisaea. C. Miiir a. 1. Island formerly supposed to be Megara. 2. Roclsy peninsula. If this hill is the site of Minoa, the town of Nisaea must have been near it ; and Lieut. Spratt dis- covered 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 gniall heaps of ruins, with massive foundations, in one of which there arc three broken shafts of small 3. Ancient mole. 4. Agios Nikolaos. ."). Agios Geor^'ios fi Promontory of Tiklio. 7. Salaniis. 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 occuj)ii's the site of an ancient building, but it stands nearer to the sea." Lieut.