Battle of Megara

Part of the Peloponnesian War

Date	424 BC
Location	Megara, Greece
Result	Athenian victory.

Belligerents

Athens

Megara,
Sparta

Commanders and leaders

Brasidas

The Battle of Megara was fought in 424 BC between Athens and Megara, an ally of Sparta. The Athenians were victorious.

Megara was in the country of Megarid, between central Greece and the Peloponnese. Megara, an ally of Sparta, consisted of farming villages, with flat plains and foothills, and hosted two harbors: Pagae (modern Alepochori-Corinthian Gulf) and Nisaia (Saronic Gulf), making it a prime focus of contention¹.

Attica had been under siege by the Peloponnesian army led by the Spartan king, Archidamus III. The land siege kept Athenians stuck in their city. However, with the Peloponnesian withdrawal, Athens began to attack². From as early as 431 BC, Megara was under consistent attack from Athens. During the first invasion, Athens brought 10,000 Athenians and numerous allies.

Athens then set up a fort on Salamis, near Nisaia, and created shipping blockades. The blockades delayed imports of food and supplies to Megara. Megarians still had control of Pagae, but Megara was effectively isolated from the western food supplies. Unable to produce normal proportions of food, the situation was dire for the Megarians.

Urged by the Megarian oligarchy in 429, the Peloponnesian fleet attacked the Athenian fort at Salamis. Unknown to the Peloponnesians, the attack was revealed to Athens by beacon lights. Athens dispatched a fleet from the Athenian port of Piraeus. The Peloponnesian attack was abandoned because the Megarian ships were in a state of disrepair.

Under the rule of the pro-Spartan and pro-Corinthian oligarchy, Megara lost the port city of Minoa to Athens in 427, was a contributing factor in more civil unrest. Megarian revolutions against the oligarchy began shortly after and Megara became democratic.

The oligarchy were exiled. Many exiles were permitted by Sparta to inhabit the Boeotian town of Plataea for a year². Boeotia separated Megara and Athens with high mountains ranges in the north¹. The Spartans were then able to prevent interactions between Megarian Democrats and Athenians on Minoa².

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