Megara Hyblaea

Coordinates: 37°12′14.04″N 15°10′54.84″E / 37.2039000°N 15.1819000°E / 37.2039000; 15.1819000
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For other ancient cities named "Hybla" in Sicily, see Hybla (disambiguation).
Megara Hyblaea
τὰ Μέγαρα (in Ancient Greek)
Mosaics on the floor of a house near the western gate of Megara Hyblaea.
Megara Hyblaea is located on the eastern coast of Sicily, Italy
Megara Hyblaea is located on the eastern coast of Sicily, Italy
Shown within Italy
LocationAugusta, Sicily, Italy
RegionSicily
Coordinates37°12′14.04″N 15°10′54.84″E / 37.2039000°N 15.1819000°E / 37.2039000; 15.1819000
TypeSettlement
History
BuilderGreek settlers from Megara
Founded8th century BC
AbandonedApproximately 483 BC
PeriodsArchaic Greek
CulturesGreek
Site notes
Excavation dates1891
ConditionRuined
OwnershipPublic
ManagementSoprintendenza per i Beni Culturali ed Ambientali di Siracusa
Public accessYes

Megara Hyblaea (

Syracuse, Italy, on the deep bay formed by the Xiphonian promontory.[1] There were at least three (and possibly as many as five) cities[2] named "Hybla" in ancient accounts of Sicily which are often confounded with each other, and among which it is sometimes very difficult to distinguish.[3]

History

It was unquestionably a

Selinus
, which was destined to rise to far greater power than its parent city. (Thuc. vi. 4; Scymn. Ch. 291; Strab. vi. p. 272.)

Nothing more is known of Megara till the period of its destruction by

Athenian general Lamachus, during the expedition against Syracuse
(415–413 BC), proposed to make the headquarters of their fleet; his advice was not taken, and the next spring the Syracusans fortified it. (Thuc. vi. 49, 96.)

From this time we meet with repeated mention of a place named Megara or Megaris (

Scyl. p. 4. § 6), which it seems impossible to separate from Hybla, and it is probable that the two were, in fact, identical. The site of this later Megara or Hybla may be fixed, with little doubt, at the mouth of the river Alabus (modern Cantera); but there seems much reason to suppose that the ancient city, the original Greek colony, was situated close to the remarkable promontory now occupied by the city of Augusta.[5] It is difficult to believe that this position, the port of which is at least equal to that of Syracuse, while the peninsula itself has the same advantages as that of Ortygia
, should have been wholly neglected in ancient times; and such a station would have admirably served the purposes for which Lamachus urged upon his brother generals the occupation of the vacant site of Megara (Thuc. vi. 49.).

Archaeology

Pilaster capital from Megara Hyblaea with palmettes between volutes. 5th century BCE.

Excavations carried on in 1891 led to the discovery of the northern portion of the western town wall, which in one section served at the same time as an embankment against floods—it was apparently more conspicuous in the time of

Philipp Cluver, (Sicilia antiqua, Leiden, 1619) p. 133—of an extensive necropolis, about 1500 tombs of which have been explored, and of a deposit of votive
objects from a temple. The harbour lay to the north of the town.

In the mid-seventh century, the city was organised according to a regularised plan. An agora emerged with stoas on its north and eastern sides. This is one of the earliest known agoras.[6]

Notes

  1. ISBN 0-691-03169-X
    ), Map 47.
  2. ^ The circumstance that there were so many towns called Hybla in Sicily probably arose from the fact mentioned by Pausanias, that there was a local divinity of the name. (Paus. v. 23. § 6.)
  3. ^ For example, William Smith, Britain's foremost classicist of the 19th century, begins to describe Hybla Major with an admixture of locational and historic information from both Hybla Gereatis and Megara Hyblaea. Caution should therefore be used when assuming reference to "Hybla" in an ancient source refers to this city.
  4. ISBN 0-87395-049-6
    , pp. 18–20, 276–78
  5. ^ The modern city of this name dates only from the thirteenth century, being founded in 1229 by the emperor Frederick II from whom it derives its name.
  6. ^ Martin, R. 1974, 'Architecture of Crete, Greece, and the Greek World', in P. Luigi Nervi (ed.), Ancient Architecture: Mesopotamia, Egypt, Crete, Greece, Harry N. Abrams, Inc, New York, p. 336.

References

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