Megăra
(
τὰ Μέγαρα).
1.
The town of Megara, the capital of Megaris, a small district in Greece between the
Corinthian and Saronic Gulfs, bounded on the north by Boeotia, on the east and northeast by
Attica, on the south by the territory of Corinth, and situated a mile from the sea, opposite
the island of Salamis. Its citadel was called Alcathoë, from its reputed founder,
Alcathoüs, son of Pelops. Its seaport was Nisaea, which was connected with Megara by
two walls, built by the Athenians when they had possession of Megara, B.C. 461-445. In front
of Nisaea lay the small island Minoa, which added greatly to the security of the harbour. In
ancient times Megara formed one of the four divisions of Attica. It was next conquered by the
Dorians, and was for a time subject to Corinth; but it finally asserted its independence, and
rapidly became a wealthy and powerful city. Its power at an early period is attested by the
flourishing colonies which it founded, of which Selymbria, Chalcedon, and Byzantium, and the
Hyblaean Megara in Sicily, were the most important. After the Persian wars, Megara was for
some time at war with Corinth, and was thus led to form an alliance with Athens, and to
receive an Athenian garrison into the city, B.C. 461; but the oligarchical party having
got the upper hand, the Athenians were expelled, B.C. 441. Megara is celebrated in the
history of philosophy as the seat of a philosophical school, usually called the Megarian,
which was founded by Euclid, a native of the city. See
Euclides 2.
2.
A town in Sicily on the east coast north of Syracuse, founded by Dorians from Megara in
Greece, B.C. 728, on the site of a small town, Hybla, and hence called Megara Hyblaea, and its inhabitants Megarenses Hyblaei. From the time of Gelon it
belonged to Syracuse.