The area of Megara

Megara was one of the four regions of Attica, ruled by the
four mythical sons of King Pandion II.

During the Mycenaean period, Megara was one of the four regions of Attica, ruled by the four mythical sons of King Pandion II. His son Nissus was the governor of Megara. The mythological tradition of Megara mentions the existence of kings who ruled the city and belonged to ancient peoples, such as the Leleges and the Cares. Even today, placed names are bearing the names of these people. Pausanias mentions in his tour that, before the occupation by the Dorians (about 1000 BC), Megara belonged to the mighty city of Athens and that they had Ionic customs. This point of view is strengthened, among other things, by the characteristics of the Ionian dialect, which the Megarian dialect had, and by the fact that the inhabitants of Pago paid honor to Aegialeas, who was a hero of the Ionians of Sikyonia and Achaia. Alkathus is referred to as a mythical king of Megara after Nisos, who walled one of the city’s two citadels.

Ancient History

After the descent of the Dorians, new populations of Doric origin settled in the area of Megara, displacing the older population of Ionians and Boeotians who had settled in the area earlier. The new inhabitants, who were called Megara, created a new state based in Megara. In the following years, the Megarians came into conflict with their neighbors, first with the Corinthians, in the 8th century BC and later with the Athenians in the 6th century BC, the Megarian Orsippus, athlete and winner in the stadium at Olympia in 720 BC, after his victory as a military leader of the Megarians, restored the city to its old borders, after removing from the Corinthians the lands that the latter had occupied in the Megarian Earth. Later, the island of Salamis became the subject of a dispute between the Megarians and the Athenians.

A stop on the city’s route is the tyrannicide of Theageni (circa 625 BC onwards), which is related to public works in the city and primarily with the so-called “Fountain of Theageni” traces of which can be found in the modern historical center of Megara.

The Megarei, mainly during the Archaic era, developed into a naval power from the 8th to the end of the 6th century BC. At this time, they founded important colonies: Megara Yvlaia in 729 BC. and Selinundas in 629 BC. in Sicily, Silyumbria in 675 BC, Astakos, Chalcedon in 685 BC, and Byzantium in the Propontis, Heraklia in 559 BC. and the Peninsula in the Black Sea, etc. Also, it mentioned that Seleucus Nicator founded a homonymous city with settlers from Megara in central Syria.

During the Persian Wars, the Megara participated with triremes in the naval battle of Artemisium, with 20 triremes in the naval battle of Salamis, and with an army in the battle of Plataea, where they showed heroism, and their name was inscribed on the victorious “Tripod of Plataea” at Delphi. In the Peloponnesian War, Megara allied with Sparta and experienced several raids and sieges by the Athenians. After all, the “Megaric resolution” was one of the occasions of the Peloponnesian War.
Byzas, son of King Nisus, according to one tradition, was a well-known Megarea of antiquity. Byzas, in 657 BC, as head of a colonial operation organized by the city of Megara, led the Megara settlers to the Bosphorus region. There the Megarians founded a new town to which they gave the name of its founder: Byzantium, which developed into one of the most important cities in the history of humanity. According to Strabo, the Megarians arrived there in obedience to an oracle they had received from the oracle at Delphi.
This oracle called their fellow citizens, who a few years before, in 685 BC, had founded Chalcedon on the Asian coast of the Bosphorus, “blind”. Indeed, in a sense, they were ‘blind’ as they had not realized that the area directly opposite where they had colonized was ideal for carrying on trade and fishing and was distinguished for its strategic location.

The father of comedy considered Megarea Sousarion (6th century BC), from the Count of Megara Tripodisco. Susarion was the first to give metrical form to the iambics, from which the old phallic comedies emanated. He created a tradition since during the time of Peisistratus in Athens, the famous comedians were the Megarians Maison and Myllos.

At the same time, a Megarean from Chalcedon, Phaleas, proposed a theory that hardly differs from the socialist one. The doctor Herodikos, the teacher of Hippocrates, was also a Megarian by origin, who was thoughted to be an authority on fractures and healing, which he combined with gymnastics. Throughout antiquity, the city highlighted philosophers, poets, historians, artists, and athletes (six Olympians).