Megaris, Megara

MEGARIS, Megara. Circa 250-175 BC. Æ Chalkous Prow of galley left / Obelisk of Apollo; to left and right, dolphins swimming upward. BCD Peloponnesos 21.

Bridging Attica on the east and Corinthia on the west, Megaris comprised only a few towns, with Megara being its capital and only major city. Megaris’s location in the northern part of the Isthmus of Corinth put the region in the middle of any conflict between the two cities. Shortly before the outbreak of the Peloponnesian War, the Athenians sought revenge on the Megarians for their support of Corinth. As a result, Athens instituted the Megarian Decree, an embargo designed to economically strangle the Megarians; this decree was used as a pretext by some in Sparta for the Peloponnesian War. Siding with Sparta in the war, Megara lost its main port to the Athenian general Nikias, and, for a short time, a pro-Athenian goverment seized power in the city. While Megara remained prosperous following the war and founded colonies in Sicily and the Hellespont, little else is recorded. Megara periodically struck coinage from the 4th through 1st centuries BC.