Megara

Megara Μέγαρα
Megara
Location within the region
Coordinates: 38°00′N 23°20′E / 38.000°N 23.333°E / 38.000; 23.333Coordinates: 38°00′N 23°20′E / 38.000°N 23.333°E / 38.000; 23.333
Country	Greece
Administrative region	Attica
Regional unit	West Attica
Government
• Mayor	Grigorios Stamoulis
Area
• Municipality	330.1 km2 (127.5 sq mi)
• Municipal unit	322.2 km2 (124.4 sq mi)
Elevation	4 m (13 ft)
Population (2011)
• Municipality	36,924
• Municipality density	110/km2 (290/sq mi)
• Municipal unit	28,591
• Municipal unit density	89/km2 (230/sq mi)
Time zone	EET (UTC+2)
• Summer (DST)	EEST (UTC+3)
Postal code	191 00
Area code(s)	22960
Website	www.megara.gr

Megara (/ˈmɛɡərə/; Greek: Μέγαρα, pronounced [ˈmeɣara]) is a historic town and a municipality in West 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 poleis. Megara specialized in the exportation of wool and other animal products including livestock such as horses. 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.

According to Pausanias, the Megarians said that their town owed its origin to Car, the son of Phoroneus, who built the citadel called 'Caria' and the temples of Demeter called Megara, from which the place derived its name.

In historical times, Megara was an early 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 Chalcedon in 685 BC, as well as Byzantium (c. 667 BC).