EncyclopediaMégara
Mégara (me'guru, –gärä) [key], town (1991 pop. 25,061), E central Greece, on the Saronic Gulf. Wine, olive oil, and flour are produced. It is the site of the ancient town of Mégara, the capital of Mégaris, a small district between the Gulf of Corinth and the Saronic Gulf. The Dorians who succeeded the earliest known inhabitants made Mégara a wealthy city by means of maritime trade, and they founded many colonies, including, in the 7th cent. B.C., Chalcedon and Byzantium. After the Persian Wars the citizens of Mégara summoned the aid of Athens against Corinth (459 B.C.), but soon thereafter expelled the Athenians. The mathematician Euclid was probably born in Mégara.
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2007, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
