MEGARA

'Megara' (Greek: Μέγαρα ('Big Houses'); see also List of traditional Greek place names) is an ancient city in Attica, Greece. It lies in the northern section of the Isthmus of Corinth opposite the island of Salamis, which belonged to Megara in archaic times, before being taken by Athens. Megara was one of the four districts of Attica, embodied in the four mythic sons of King Pandion II, of whom Nisos was the ruler of Megara. Megara was also a trade port, its people using their ships and wealth as a way to gain leverage on armies of neighboring polises. It possessed two harbors, Pegae, to the west on the Corinthian Gulf and Nisaea, to the east on the Saronic Gulf of the Aegean Sea.
In historical times, Megara was early a dependency of Corinth, in which capacity colonists from Megara founded Megara Hyblaea, a small ''polis'' north of Syracuse in Sicily. Megara then fought a war of independence with Corinth, and afterwards founded (c. 667 BC) Byzantium, as well as Chalcedon.
In the Peloponnesian War (c. 431 BC-404 BC), Megara was an ally of Sparta. The Megarian decree is considered to be one of several contributing "causes" of the Peloponnesian War. ("Ancient Greece: A Political, Social, and Cultural History" Pomeroy, Burstein, Donlan, Roberts; OUP 1999)
The most famous citizen of Megara in antiquity was Byzas. The 6th-century poet Theognis also came from Megara. The Megarans were proverbial for their generosity in building and endowing temples. Jerome, in 409 AD (letter cxxiii.15 [1]) reports "There is a common saying about the Megarians... 'They build as if they are to live forever; they live as if they are to die tomorrow.'"
Today, Megara is a suburb of Athens. 30,000 people live within the municipality. It is located 42 km WNW of Athens, and is linked by a highway connecting the Peloponnese, Western Greece, and Athens. It is now linked by a high-speed rail line suburban railway. Megara lies in the Megaris plain. Agriculture used to dominate before housing began to expand in Megara in the 1960s and the 1970s.
3 km south of Megara is a small community called Pachi, which is famous for its fish tavernas and is visited by people from all over Greece. Nea Peramos is the neighboring city to the east of Megara and Kakia Skala to the west of Megara. There is a military airport to the south. South of Megara is the Gulf of Megara.

Contents

Communes

Historical population

External links

See also

Communes

★ Kineta

★ Sparta

Historical population

Year	Communal population	Change	Municipal population
1981	20,814	-
1991	20,403	-411/-1.97%	25,061

External links

★ GTP - Ancient Megara

★ GTP - Megara

★ GTP - Municipality of Megara

★ Indexmundi - Megara

★ 'Maps and Aerial Photos:'

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★ Geographical coordinates:

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★ Mapquest - Megara

'Northwest:' Corinthian Gulf	'North:' Vilia and Mandra	'Northeast:' Mandra
'West:' Loutraki and Agioi Theodoroi	'Megara'	'East:' Nea Peramos
	'South:' Saronic Gulf, Megara Bay (SE)

See also

★ Communities of Attica