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Megarian

Megara
Μέγαρα
2010 Dimos Megareon.svg
Megara is located in Greece
Megara
Megara
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).


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