Megara

This chapter examines the local traditions (through Pausanias and Theognis), discourse environment, and positionality of Megara to establish abstract principles of the Megarian worldview, and then applies those principles to the local traditions in an attempt to present a cohesive account of Megarian myths from the earliest mythistorical times to the beginning of oligarchic government. An important discovery resulting from this is the general avoidance of all things Corinthian in Megarian narrative traditions.

Surprisingly, the interaction between Milesian and Megarian colonisation in the 7th/6th centuries BCE has rarely been addressed. Krister Hanell, in his comparative study on Megara and her colonies, published in 1934, already came to the conclusion that Megara and Miletos had built up a “Kolonisationsbündnis”, a “colonisation alliance” (HANELL, Studien, p. 135). During the 1999 conference on “Early Ionia”, the late Yuri Vinogradov delivered a paper entitled: “Milet und Megara erschließen den Pontos Euxeinos”. There he re-interpreted an important, but seldom addressed Milesian inscription (I.Milet 732), an epigram referring to a war of Archaic times in which both Miletos and Megara were involved. He revived Hanell’s observation and assumed that there were coordinated ventures by both metropoleis which he detected in the mixed Ionian-Dorian onomastics in Chersonasos and her mother city Herakleia Pontika, herself a colony of Megara. Both scholars’ hypothesis was met mostly with skepticism, but there have since been some voices in favour of their opinion.
This paper aims at comparing crucial elements of Megarian and Milesian colonisation of the Propontis and Black Sea to show that in the seventh/sixth century BCE these two cities indeed acted in accordance with each other, to control access to a region that was rich in resources. This close relationship between a ‘Dorian’ and an ‘Ionian’ city is surprising. But it can be shown that both poleis shared important elements of their religious and political structures, making cooperation possible. First of all, both acted under the leadership and sanction of an Apollo oracle: Megara cooperated with that of Delphi, while Miletos had her own, that of Apollo Didymeus Milesios in Didyma. Furthermore, there are striking parallels in their political organisation; for instance the basileus, ‘king’, a remnant of the basileis ruling in Protogeometric and Geometric times, and a board of proaisimnatas/proaisimnon and aisimnatai (Megara), or aisymnetes and proshetairoi (Miletos), functioning as prytaneis of both cities’ oligarchic governments. In light of the appearance of these magistracies in the Megarian and Milesian colonies of the seventh/sixth centuries BCE, the existence of these offices can be presumed in the mother cities already before 700 BCE.
The striking resemblance between Megara and Miletos hints at the existence of xenia relationships between the leading aristocratic families. Concerted mythopoiesis played a prominent role in this process: the elites of both city states were able to strengthen their contacts via interconnected kinship myths, which even took into account a common pre-Greek, Karian-Lelegian past. Additionally, Herakles and the Argonauts are recorded as visiting or founding Megarian (Byzantion, Herakleia Pontika) as well as Milesian (Kyzikos, Kios, Sinope) colonies, and thus both colonisation partners became followers of Herakles, Jason, and other paradigmatic Greek discoverer heroes that manned the ship Argo. The function of the Argonautika as a charter myth becomes evident here.
The background to all of this may have been Megara’s and Miletos’ joint participation in the Eretrian coalition against Chalkis and her allies during the ‘Lelantine War’ of around 700 BCE, the first pan-Greek war, which resulted in an amazing boom of both Megara and Miletos in the 7th century. The subsequent colonisation of the Propontis and the Pontos was from a strategic point of view only possible, because Gyges’ Lydia, which was the main land power of central Asia Minor from ca 680 BCE and holding the former Phrygian key site Daskyleion/Hisartepe, permitted this expansion.

Priene (or Amazonian Prjene) Temple, just south of Kusadasi (Anatolia)
Turkey, includes a major sanctuary/temple to the chthonic goddess, Demeter–Persephone. This temple was called Megara, possibly from the root of the Semitic, Hebrew, and Greek word for cave. In classical Greek, Megaron was the inner room in the temple, similar to a pit room. Bernard Dietrich suggests that these inner subterranean sanctuary rooms were dedicated to Demeter and used for the celebration of on–going Eleusinian mysteries of underworld purification rites of death and renewal. Priene, as well as Cnidus, are but two examples of temples that maintained inner subterranean areas. (TIGR: 37-38.) In addition to the celebration of death and renewal, a further consideration is that Demeter was celebrated as the lawgiver, Thesmophoros. (RC: 233.)

Our aim in this MA dissertation has been to examine the phenomenon of the repeated crowning in honorary decrees and honorary inscriptions. A praise and a crown are the most usual honours which the Greek cities gave to their benefactors from the Classical times onwards. A record of the text of the praise and the crowning is an inseperable part of all honorary decrees. A crowning included quite often a formal award of a golden crown to the honorand , or sometimes, of a crown made of another material, like, e.g., a crown of young branch. Most of the crownings are the case of an hapax crowning, that is the award of a crown only once for the specific benefaction to which the honours apply. Contrary to the hapax crowning, the annually repeated crowning of the same person for the same benefaction, or the same group of benefactions, appears in certain honorary decrees of the Classical, Hellenistic, and Imperial times. A repeated/perpetual crowning often included the repetition of the ceremony of the crown award. The repeated/perpetual crowning itself, and, more specifically, the type and the reasons of the repeated crowning reveal that it was considered as an exceptional honour, awarded in special conditions. The phenomenon of the repeated crowning has already been a subject of research and a kind of provisional survey has already been conducted. But it has not been examined as a whole, in terms of time and place, based on a full corpus of the relevant inscriptions. In the present dissertation, this particular phenomenon is studied more comprehensively and systematically, so that all the features of the repeated crowning are displayed. The dissertation’s structure was determined by the form, the phrasing and the content of the repeated crowning. Thus, it consists of three parts: A. Introduction, B. Main Subject (διηνεκὴς στέφανος [crown awarded repeatedly during one's lifetime]), C. Summary and Conclusions. The Main Subject is devided in the following parts: I) Repeated crowning, in which the phenomenon itself is examined. II) Repeated crowning and repeated award and III) Hapax crowning. Those passages of the inscriptions are cited in each chapter, that are informative of the repeated crowning. An analysis with explanatory notes of the content of the inscriptions follows the original Greek text, so as to exhibit how the repeated crowning fits into its context each time.

Περίληψη: Σκοπός της Διπλωματικής ήταν η εξέταση του φαινομένου της επαναλαμβανόμενης στεφάνωσης σε τιμητικά ψηφίσματα και τιμητικές επιγραφές. Ο έπαινος και ο στέφανος είναι οι συνηθέστερες τιμές τις οποίες απένεμαν οι ελληνικές πόλεις σε ευεργέτες τους ήδη από την Κλασική εποχή και εξής. Η διατύπωση του επαίνου και της στεφάνωσης είναι αναπόσπαστο μέρος του τυπικού όλων των τιμητικών ψηφισμάτων. Η στεφάνωση συνίστατο στην απονομή στο τιμώμενο πρόσωπο πολύ συχνά ενός χρυσού στεφάνου καθορισμένης αξίας, ή ενίοτε ενός στεφάνου από άλλη ύλη, όπως π. χ. ενός στεφάνου «θαλλοῦ». Στην συντριπτική πλειοψηφία των περιπτώσεων απονομής στεφάνου πρόκειται για άπαξ στεφάνωση, δηλαδή απονομή ενός στεφάνου μία μόνον φορά για την συγκεκριμένη ευεργεσία στην οποία αναφέρονται οι τιμές. Σε αντιδιαστολή με την στεφάνωση άπαξ εμφανίζεται σε ορισμένα τιμητικά ψηφίσματα της Κλασικής, της Ελληνιστικής και της Αυτοκρατορικής εποχής η κατ’έτος επαναλαμβανόμενη στεφάνωση του ιδίου προσώπου για την ίδια ευεργεσία ή για το ίδιο σύνολο ευεργεσιών. Συχνά η επαναλαμβανόμενη στεφάνωση συνίστατο στην επαναλαμβανόμενη αναγόρευση του απονεμηθέντος στεφάνου. Η επαναλαμβανόμενη στεφάνωση καθαυτή και ειδικότερα το είδος και οι λόγοι της επαναλαμβανόμενης στεφάνωσης δείχνουν ότι επρόκειτο για εξαιρετική τιμή η οποία απονεμόταν υπό ειδικές συνθήκες. Το φαινόμενο της επαναλαμβανόμενης στεφάνωσης έχει τεθεί ήδη στην έρευνα και έχει γίνει κάποιου είδους προκαταρκτική εξέταση. Αλλά το φαινόμενο αυτό δεν έχει εξετασθεί ακόμα συνολικά στον χρόνο και στον χώρο με βάση όλες τις σχετικές επιγραφές. Στην παρούσα εργασία εξετάζεται το φαινόμενο της επαναλαμβανόμενης στεφάνωσης περισσότερο αναλυτικά και συστηματικά, έτσι ώστε αναδεικνύονται όλα τα χαρακτηριστικά γνωρίσματα της επαναλαμβανόμενης στεφάνωσης. Η διάρθρωση της εργασίας υπαγορεύθηκε από το είδος, την διατύπωση και το περιεχόμενο της επαναλαμβανόμενης στεφάνωσης. Έτσι η εργασία διαρθρώνεται σε τρία μέρη: (Α) την Εισαγωγή, (Β) το κυρίως θέμα (Διηνεκής στέφανος: είδος, διατύπωση, περιεχόμενο) και (Γ) την Ανακεφαλαίωση και τα συμπεράσματα. Το κύριο μέρος της εργασίας (Β) διαρθρώνεται στις εξής επιμέρους θεματικές ενότητες: I) Επαναλαμβανόμενη στεφάνωση, όπου εξετάζεται καθαυτό το φαινόμενο της επαναλαμβανόμενης στεφάνωσης, II) Επαναλαμβανόμενη στεφάνωση και επαναλαμβανόμενη αναγόρευση, όπου εξετάζεται το φαινόμενο της επαναλαμβανόμενης στεφάνωσης και συνοδεύεται από την επαναλαμβανόμενη αναγόρευση του απονεμηθέντος στεφάνου και III) Άπαξ στεφάνωση και επαναλαμβανόμενη αναγόρευση, όπου εξετάζεται το φαινόμενο της άπαξ στεφάνωσης και της επαναλαμβανόμενης αναγόρευσης του στεφάνου. Σε κάθε κεφάλαιο δίνονται τα χωρία εκείνα των επιγραφών, τα οποία παρέχουν πληροφορίες για την επαναλαμβανόμενη στεφάνωση. Μετά τα αρχαία ελληνικά χωρία ακολουθεί σχολιασμένη η απόδοση του περιεχομένου των επιγραφών, για να δειχθεί η ένταξη της επαναλαμβανόμενης στεφάνωσης στα εκάστοτε συμφραζόμενά της.

Mégarika réunit les actes d’un colloque international qui s’est tenu en 2012 à Mangalia, l’antique Callatis. Il vise à faire connaître les résultats des recherches récentes menées sur Mégare et les établissements mégariens de Propontide et du Pont-Euxin. Ces sont en effet des cités pour lesquelles la documentation archéologique reste maigre, en raison notamment parce qu’elles n’ont pas cessé d’être occupées depuis l’Antiquité. Néanmoins, les fouilles récentes ont livré des données nouvelles sur l’urbanisme, les institutions, les pratiques funéraires et épigraphiques des Mégariens. Les documents exhumés méritent d’être examinés dans le cadre plus large de la colonisation mégarienne, afin de mieux comprendre les échanges et transferts culturels réalisés entre métropole et colonies. Quant aux recherches sur le monde colonial, l’enquête porte en particulier sur Callatis, cité qui conserve un important héritage mégarien et dont les ressortissants furent très actifs à l’étranger. Plusieurs articles du volume enrichissent nos connaissances sur l’histoire, le territoire, les cultes et le monnayage de Callatis ; des inscriptions inédites et de nouvelles statues sont également publiées.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>update 06.03.2022:

Alexandru will get a special memorial article which is currently in preparation for "Il mar nero" XI, 2021/22

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>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> update 12.01.2022:

this article is also devoted to the remembrance of my friend Alexandru Avram, who died on August 8, 2021 from pulmonary embolism in the Milesian colony of Histria/Istros, after being vaccinated twice.

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>>>>>>>>> update of 10/06/2021:

the new pdf quality is much better now, so that the text is perfectly searchable.

Have fun with it!
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>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> update of 10/3/2021:

it becomes more and more obvious that the lockdown measures of the Corona-regimes aim at destroying the middle class!!!

Think about it, and be aware of the outcome as I already stressed in 2019!!

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I wrote this article as a reaction on the ongoing crisis of western democracies to remind everybody of the outcome of the end of democracy: bloody civil war! Do you want this ?????

published in: Il mar nero 9, 2012/2018 (2019), 7-47

Thales of Miletos should be regarded, like his fellow 'Seven Sages' of Greece, first as a politician-statesman and only second as the founder of the Milesian school of philosophy. Around 600 BCE, oligarchic or tyrannical Greek city states confronted frequent staseis, political insurrections, in reaction to abuses by ruling elites. Wise men like Solon in Athens or Pittakos in Mytilene stepped in with reforms aimed at reducing social disparities and creating a politically active middle class. Thales and his student Anaximander promoted a cosmology aligned with these legislative reforms. Isonomia (equal rights), symmetry and equilibrium applied to nature, with the earth as the motionless center of the kosmos. Thales applied natural philosophy to the new city plan of Miletos (ca. 575–550 BCE), fitting houses and temples into a street grid oriented in accordance with the sun and winds. He enlarged the agora as the symbolic heart of the city state, and gave his co-citizens the advice " adorn yourself by taking a magistracy ". When the Persians pressed the Ionian cities in 546 BCE, Thales recommended that they unite into a federal state, with Teos as capital. When Thales died, he was buried in the agora of Miletos and venerated as a heroic city-founder. A few years later, his nephew and most influential pupil Anaximander was most likely assassinated in the Milesian Black Sea colony Apollonie Pontike when trying to invent a similar kind of moderate democracy in a colonial oligarchic, old-fashioned society, after he had fled the conquest of the Ionian city states by monarchic Persia.

This study examines thirty-five mold-made relief bowl fragments found during the 2011 excavations in the theater, one of the magnificent structures of Myra. These bowls were examined in six different groups as bowls with pine-cone, imbricate, vegetal/floral, rosette, long petals, and other examples. These Myra mold-made relief bowls were dated to the
second half of the IInd century B.C. and the first half of the Ist century B.C. The bowls have quite different types of decorations such as ionic kymation, guilloche, rosette, braid (?), acanthus leaf, pine-cone, different
types of leaves (long petals, ferns, etc.), strings of pearls, strings of dots, and wave patterns. It is thought that the bowls found in the Myra theater were produced in Western Anatolian workshops in Ephesos, which influenced the Attica and Delos type. The clay and slip properties of these bowls are similar to those of the Ephesian samples. Apart from this
similarities, on the medallion part of one of the bowls found in Myra, the signature of the Philon Workshop operating in Ephesos shows that the origin of the Myra examples is Ephesus.

Scholars have assumed for a long time that Plutarch, writing from the mid first century to early second century AD, held a wholly negative view of democracy, and especially the radical Athenian variant. These scholars have not looked, however, at how and in which contexts Plutarch actually used the word δημοκρατία in his Parallel Lives and Moralia, and what sorts of institutions and ideals he attached to δημοκρατία as an actual, practiced form of government. Plutarch did not exclusively identify δημοκρατία with Athens, nor did he exclusively identify it with the famous radical form of democracy that Athens practiced in parts of the 5th and 4th century BC. When Plutarch discussed or characterized δημοκρατίαι, he did so in a broader sense than has been previously acknowledged, to discuss multiple different states, including non-Greek states, from very different periods of time and space, nor did he always speak negatively of δημοκρατία.

Résumé :
Cette étude porte sur les liens politiques et les rapprochements cultuels entre les Mégariens et les Béotiens dans l’Antiquité. Tout d’abord, elle fait état des relations entre les Mégariens et les Béotiens qui évoluent entre alliances et conflits depuis l’époque archaïque jusqu’à l’époque hellénistique. Le point culminant du rapprochement entre les deux ethnè est l’adhésion de la Mégaride en 224 av. J.-C. à la Confédération béotienne. L’appartenance de la Mégaride au koinon béotien influence les institutions de ses cités, ainsi que leurs pratiques épigraphiques. Les Mégariens reviennent même dans le koinon béotien à l’époque impériale. L’enquête détaille ensuite le rôle de la Béotie dans la création du paysage religieux en Mégaride. Les cultes de Poséidon, de Mégareus, d’Achéloos, d’Inô/Leucothée, les monuments d’Alcmène et d’Autonoé témoignent des liens cultuels entre la Béotie et la Mégaride. La déesse Héra règne sur le mont Cithéron, à la frontière entre les deux régions. De même, lors de sa période béotienne, la cité d’Aigosthènes noue des relations étroites avec Siphai. Les deux cités du golfe Halcyonique fondent une communauté de culte, établie sur le « dévouement » (eunoia) et la « concorde » (homonoia) entre leurs citoyens. Les relations étroites entre les Aigosthénitains et les Béotiens sont probablement responsables de l’arrivée du culte d’Héraclès à Aigosthènes. Les liens avec la Béotie s’avèrent ainsi fort importants dans l’évolution des composantes des panthéons de Mégare et d’Aigosthènes et confirment la place privilégiée des Béotiens dans les légendes et les cultes de la Mégaride antique.

Mots-clés : Mégare, Aigosthènes, Pagai, Confédération béotienne, Ligue achéenne, Siphai, panthéon mégarien.


Abstract :
This study presents the political links and cultic relations between Megarians and Boeotians in Antiquity. First, it shows that the relationships between Megarians and Boeotians are moving between alliances and conflicts from the Archaic to the Hellenistic period. The rapprochement between the two ethne peeked in 224 BC, when Megarid joined the Boeotian confederacy. The belonging to Boeotian Koinon marked the institutions of the cities of Megarid as well as their epigraphical habits. The Megarians returned also to the Boeotian Koinon during the imperial period. Second, the article examines the role of the Boeotians in the establishment of the religious landscape of Megarid. The cultic links between Boeotia and Megarid are revealed by the cults of Poseidon, of Megareus, of Acheloos, of Ino/Leucotheia, the monuments of Alcmene and Autonoe. The goddess Hera rules over Mount Citheron, at the border between the two regions. Moreover, the city of Aigosthena developed strong relationships with Siphai during her Boeotian period. The two cities of the Alcyonic Gulf established a cultic community based on the « goodwill » (eunoia) and the « concord » (homonoia) between their citizens. The introduction of the cult of Herakles at Aegosthena is probably due to the close relationships between the Aigosthenitans and the Boeotians. The links with Boeotia were so very important for the evolution of the pantheons of the Megara and Aigosthena and confirm the privileged position of the Boeotians in the establishment of the legends and the cults of the Ancient Megarid.

Keywords: Megara, Aigosthena, Pagai, Boeotian Confederation, Acheaen League, Siphai, Megarian Pantheon

Τὸ ὕδωρ ἑτέρωσε τρέψας: Stream diversion in Megara. 
The excavation at Stayrakis’ plot in the north east part of Megara revealed an extensive cemetery dated from late 8th to the early 1st c. B.C. Furthermore, a rock-cut well to the south west, and the south bank of a stream to the north part of the plot were excavated. The placing of graves into the bank of the stream led us to examine the possibility of a stream drainage or/and diversion. In this paper the archaeological and historical data help us to initiate this hydraulic work into the building program of the first half of the 5th c. B.C.

L’étude des noms de personnes me permet de formuler plusieurs remarques sur l’héritage onomastique des cités pontiques et les relations existant entre celles-ci. D’abord, il existe dans les cités grecques de la mer Noire une anthroponymie qui s’explique par la colonisation. À mon sens, des noms tels que Kallichoros, Télamôn, Tyndarichos peuvent intégrer la liste d’anthroponymes appartenant à « l’aire onomastique Mégaride-Béotie » ou, plus généralement, dorienne (dans le cas de Tyndarichos). D’autre part, force est d’admettre que plusieurs noms ont fait leur apparition dans les cités pontiques à une période succédant plus ou moins de près l’installation des premiers colons. C’est notamment le cas de Bosporichos, Bospôn, Déloptichos, Mendidôros à Byzance, de Kotytiôn et Kotytis à Chersonèse et à Callatis, des ethniques devenus anthroponymes, tel Kalchadôn, ou des noms renvoyant au fondateur de la cité comme Melséôn à Mésambria. La répartition géographique de ces anthroponymes est un indice des relations des cités pontiques avec l’étranger. Enfin, non dépourvu d’importance est aussi le fait que des noms caractéristiques aux colonies peuvent parcourir le chemin inverse et apparaître dans les métropoles : ce fut notamment le cas de Bospôn, venu de Byzance à Mégare. C’est sans doute par le même raisonnement que l’on doit expliquer l’introduction du culte de Kotyttô à Corinthe et de la fête en son honneur, les Kotyttia, à Sélinonte. Car c’est à cette divinité thrace que se rapportent les noms Kotytiôn et Kotytis, attestés jusqu’à présent uniquement dans les cités des côtes ouest et nord de la mer Noire.

SUMMARY: Lecture 14 provides an overview of the Middle Helladic through Late Helladic societies in mainland Greece, with a progression from "Big Men" (tribal societies) to chiefdoms, and eventally to various kingdoms emerging via palace centres (i.e., the Mycenaeans). This lecture is designed mainly as an educational resource for college students (i.e., normally posted only on my institution's course website), the public (e.g., people auditing my course), and interested colleagues from other disciplines (to whom I provide copies privately).  I am posting it here, both as a broader access, educational tool, and especially to promote the study of this region and its past societies.  For further knowledge about this region and period, I refer interested parties to the textbooks and other sources from which the materials were extracted (see syllabus), and/or the bibliographies in these works and my online resource guides (see other files in my academia folders).  The lecture summarizes the pertinent materials in the course textbook(s), adding in other data, and furnishing numerous images to clarify information encountered within the textbook(s).  Some generic imagery (usually indicated as such) is posted to aid in transmitting various concepts visually, and/or when a specific image remains not located (temporarily).  I update and revise such lectures each time, with such elective courses normally being taught once every two years.  I try to cover the most current, mainstream views, and usually place summary notes at the end of each lecture alongside some of the key sources used for compiling the ppt.  Over time, each lecture is improved, errors rectified, and additional data placed within the lecture.  These ppt. lectures take many hours to compile, but they have proved useful to many of my more serious students and I hope they can be of benefit to others as well.  My apologies for any errors I may have made, and my liberal usage of educational imagery from professional sources and vetted internet sources. REVISED: March, 2024, new formatting, text modifications, etc., plus many selected sources.

Mégare a été l’une des cités les plus actives de la Grèce antique en matière de colonisation puisqu’elle a participé entre les VIIIe-VIe siècles av. J.-C. à la fondation d’un nombre important d’établissements autant en Sicile (Mégara Hyblaea et Sélinonte) qu’en Propontide (Astacos, Chalcédoine, Olbia, Sélymbria et Byzance) et dans le Pont-Euxin (Héraclée du Pont et Mésambria).

Pour comprendre le mouvement mégarien de colonisation, nous avons divisé notre recherche en trois grandes parties. La première se propose d’examiner quelques événements de l’histoire archaïque de Mégare, à savoir la formation de l’État mégarien et les rapports de la cité avec Corinthe et Athènes, en traitant simultanément du développement et des conflits internes de la société mégarienne. En second lieu, nous nous penchons sur les fondations mégariennes, en mettant l’accent sur l’occupation globale du territoire, sur les relations entre les différents groupes d’apoikoi (« premiers colons ») et d’époikoi (« colons ultérieurs ») grecs et sur les contacts avec les indigènes. La troisième partie porte sur les institutions politiques (subdivisions civiques et magistratures) d’origine mégarienne attestées dans les colonies fondées par Mégare.

The Megarians were one of the most active colonizers between the eighth and sixth centuries BCE, founding apoikiai (“colonies”) in Sicily, on the coasts of the Sea of Marmara, and along the Black Sea. Megarian colonisation allowed for human mobility, and facilitated cultural exchanges in the fields of religion, political institution, epigraphic culture, and onomastics. The cultural transfers between the metropolis and its colonies are not limited to the Archaic times; they probably continued to occur during the Classical and Hellenistic periods. Besides, we might note the desire of Megarian colonies to preserve the main traditions of their metropolis, but also to reshape them in different ways. In this respect, the new settlements were the hub of traditions linked to Megara, but also to other apoikoi (for instance, the Boiotians). Moreover, new local developments appeared in the apoikiai. For instance, the festival of the Bosporia at Byzantion, or the goddess Parthenos at Chersonesos Taurike might be considered as new cultic developments. Moreover, despite the similarities with the Megarian magistracies, the institutions of the colonies developed distinctly. In Hellenistic times, the aisimnatai at Chalkedon and the probouloi at Kallatis are among the democratic institutions of these cities, and it is highly probably that this was not the case originally in the metropolis. We conclude that the Megarian traditions were modified in the colonial setup and became a way to express localism in the Black Sea cities.

Mon étude se propose, d’une part, de relever les institutions et les divinités de Sélinonte appartenant à l’horizon mégarien, et, de l’autre, de déceler les logiques selon lesquelles s’organise l’espace mythique et sacré de la cité. Je me penche dans ce cadre sur deux documents fort célèbres (la lex sacra et l’inscription du temple G), qui mettent en lumière l’arrière-plan mégarien du panthéon sélinontin, que l’on se rapporte à des divinités dites poliades (comme Apollon ou Zeus) ou à des divinités à caractère familial (tel que Zeus Meilichios). Ce constat ne fait que renforcer l’idée que la fondation d’une apoikia est le résultat non seulement d’une décision de la cité, mais également des groupes qui la constituent, du simple oikos aux groupements pseudo-familiaux plus larges de type génos ou patria. Du reste, on peut expliquer la présence d’une série de divinités non attestées à Mégare (comme Héra ou Phobos) dans le panthéon sélinontin par le caractère culturellement hétérogène des groupes de colons fondateurs et supplémentaires. L’éclatement originel est contrebalancé par le culte de l’oikistès (ou oikistai), qui était pratiqué en bordure de l’agora, quelques générations après la fondation. La célébration du ou des héros fondateur(s) exprime le désir de la communauté de donner un centre à un ensemble religieux hétéroclite, et de créer, à travers un culte commun, une unité politique et sociale. De même, j’examine dans mon article quelques inscriptions et récits qui témoignent des contacts et des relations existant entre Sélinonte et les deux Mégara (de Sicile et de Grèce). Ces documents ont le mérite d’attirer notre attention sur la mobilité des personnes qui existe à la fois en Sicile et entre la Sicile et la Grèce, et confirme l’importance de la syngéneia (« parenté ») dans les rapports entre cités aux VIe-Ve siècles.

The city of Megara is located on a particularly strategic site with the advantages of being in close proximity to the Saronic Gulf and having fertile farming land. During the 7th and 6th centuries BCE the town was situated on the two low fortified hills of Alkathos and Karia, which were surrounded by the cemeteries. The erection of the fortification wall
in the period between 479 to 460 BCE resulted in the relocation of the cemeteries outside the boundaries of the fortified town, and also at a distance from the banks of the two streams, Mauratza and Exobrisis, which functioned as ditches for the wall3. Tombs of classical and
Hellenistic times were located near the main roads, leading to Megaris and the neighbouring cities (Corinth, Athens, Thebes). Besides, Pausanias (1, 43, 3–5; 1, 44, 3; 1, 44, 6) describes special
burials of mythical persons and heroes inside and outside the city. The habit of the Megarians to build public buildings around the tombs of heroes is also interesting, because they thought that these graves could protect public life and political assemblies. The Megarians, after all,
had distinctive beliefs about death, and Cynic Diogenes observes that they »feast as if to die tomorrow, and build as if they were never to die at all«.
In this paper we will examine the relation of pottery to the burial customs, based on the data emerged from the rescue excavation in the P. Staurakis plot in the north-eastern part of the city of Megara, where an extensive necropolis dated from the late 8th to the early 1st century BCE has been excavated.

""L’examen de l’organisation civique et des magistratures des établissements mégariens de la Propontide et du Pont-Euxin confirme l’évolution des institutions faisant partie du bagage originel des colons. Les documents épigraphiques émanant de Chalcédoine indiquent l’élection des aisimnatai au niveau de hékatoystes (centaines) et la transformation de la magistrature mégarienne d’aisimnatai, originellement oligarchique, en une institution démocratique. On peut supposer, sans peur de se tromper, que ce sont les Chalcédoniens qui ont copié le système athénien des prytanes pour leurs aisimnatai. Les nouvelles attributions de ces derniers magistrats sont devenues une particularité chalcédonienne, n’ayant plus rien à voir avec les fonctions initiales des aisimnatai de Mégare.

D'autre part, les noms d’origine attique portés par quelques hékatostyes de Byzance et Chalcédoine - indice peut-être d’une réorganisation du corps civique au cours du IVe siècle – confirment aussi les rapports étroits existant entre les colonies mégariennes du Bosphore thrace et Athènes. Dans la situation actuelle de la documentation, il reste encore beaucoup de zones d’ombre dans la place du modèle athénien dans ces changements institutionnels. On ne sait pas par exemple si les hékatostyes étaient devenues des divisions territoriales, comme les dèmes à Athènes après la réforme de Clisthène, ou si elles sont restées des divisions de type gentilice. Enfin, le rôle important joué par les Athéniens dans la région du Bosphore thrace laissera des traces non seulement dans le domaine des institutions, mais aussi dans les légendes de fondation, l’une d’entre elles citant les Athéniens parmi les fondateurs de Byzance.""

We find in the cities of Byzantium and Chalcedon a rich evidence for the study of the religious institutions. There are, on the one-hand, “Megarian deities”, and, on the other, cults which revel much more local developments. For the first category, we can mention Artemis Orthosia at Byzantium or Apollo Phytaios at Chalcedon, and also heroic cults as those of Polyeidos, of Ajax, of Saron, and of Hipposthenes at Byzantium.
Besides the Megarian cults, several cults show us religious innovations and confirm the dynamic of cultic facts in the Propontic and Pontic Greek cities. In this respect, I study in my article several gods and heroes who offer protection to sailors for the passing through the Bosporus. The navigation in this region is very difficult, the sailors need a guide to pass through the strait, and in the ancient sources, it is often a deity who helps them. The sailors give thanks to Poseidon and to the twelve gods at Hieron, to the “Sea Old Man” in the territory of Byzantium, or to the local hero named Stomianos at the entrance of the Black Sea. It is my intention to study all these cults in order to show the connections between the gods and the heroes who guide sailors through the strait of Bosporus.

Theme of my dissertation is the “Settlement patterns and spatial planning on Salamis from the 6th to the 1st century B.C.”. During this period a small and insignificant area at the eastern end of Salamis (Ambelaki) is transformed into the administrative and religious center of the island, following the political will of Athens. These political developments are reflected through a variety of archaeological evidence in the spatial planning of the island.


The classification and evaluation of the available archaeological data led to the establishment of a list of 224 sites and monuments. Five time periods are formed, the criteria of which were based on residential phases and / or significant historical events. The interpretation of the structures is attempted through the combination of geographic and topographic features, but also through the comparison of places and monuments from the rest of the Greek world. At the same time, the above information is examined into the historical, political and social context.



There is a distribution of structures across the island and a wealth of evidence is provided for the exploitation of the sources, which is related to the islets around Salamis, where various structures (towers-lighthouses) and activities (fishing, livestock farming) are being developed, as well as to mountain peaks and slopes (livestock structures, watch towers). The lack of architectural remains in some places is often offset by other indications (eg. mobile findings).


The greatest residential activity is recognized in the northern, eastern and central parts of the island. Apart from the fact that more fertile land is available for farming, there is another option. Some autonomous bays in the southern part may be exploited by wealthy landowners. All locations in the northern, eastern and central parts have convenient land access, while the approach in the south part would be easier by sea.



The administrative structures are gathered at Ambelaki, despite the lack of data. In the city, a significant account of the workshops is gathered too, while only one relevant structure is recognized in the rest island. On two occasions it is noted that the development of workshops is related to important historical events, such as the establishment of cleruchs on the island in the late 6th century B.C. (ceramic workshop at Ambelaki) and the destruction of Corinth in 146 B.C. (ceramic workshop at Kanakia), where in both cases there is a clear need to cover the increasing demands of the markets.



The sanctuaries are mainly developed in the city and its surroundings. In the city there are the sanctuaries of Demeter, Dionysus, Artemis, Bendis, Asclepius, Hermes, Ajax and Twelve Gods. In the country there are the sanctuaries of Athena and Enyalios with political and martial symbolism, and the sanctuaries of Zeus, Ajax, Pan and Dionysus with rural character. There are cult statues and votive offerings, and a multitude of rituals and celebrations are recognized.


The island is not detached from the rest of the Aegean, and there are strong commercial relations with other regions, through commercial amphorae, coins, imported ceramics etc. Metics or slaves from various parts of the ancient world (Peloponnese, Thrace, North Africa, Phrygia) are acknowledged and the information is mainly derived from tombstones.


Athens has the main role in the formulation of the spatial planning on the island as well as the reinforcement of ideological bonds between Athens and Salamis. Solon, Ajax and the naval battle of 480 B.C. are the backbone of the “Athenian” history of the island. Solon is the most powerful and influential personality with affiliated ties to the island. Ajax is used in the 6th century B.C. as the ultimate manipulation tool. Lacking his martial qualities, he is presented as a distant but venerable ancestor. The naval battle of 480 B.C. is the most important landmark for Athenian history, since it has been the springboard for the creation of the “Athenian empire". Furthermore, during the 1st century B.C., the quest for shaping the cultural background of the Roman Empire will lead on the discovery and revival of the myth of Salamis too.
Through the dissertation, the need to link the archaeological material and the historical framework is highlighted for the most accurate interpretation of human activity on the island.



Full text+images: https://www.didaktorika.gr/eadd/handle/10442/43178
and: https://pergamos.lib.uoa.gr/uoa/dl/frontend/el/browse/2750805

The remarkable towers on the rocky islets of the Aegean Sea are usually interpreted as watchtowers (φρυκτωρίες).
However, in order to better understand their function one must consider their location, the local maritime routes, and their
historical context. In this paper I discuss the function of the tower on the islet of Lagousa, between Salamis and Aegina, which I
identify as a lighthouse. Lighthouses functioned as navigation signals for ships, guiding them towards the entrances of ports
and through narrow sea passages.

In his book Guerre, agoni e culti nella Grecia arcaica Angelo Brelich connects three cases of ritual war (Plut., Quaest. Gr. 17, Paus III 16,9 and Plut., Mul. Virt. 16) and says that these wars are fought
between related people. It is possible to develop Brelich’s observation and to show that these three cases of ritual war are effectively linked, because in the other cases of ritual war the end of the war marks the formation of two poleis, while in these three cases the war is fought between communities that will be part of one polis.

"Les sources épigraphiques et littéraires émanant des cités que les Mégariens fondèrent à l’époque archaïque en Sicile et sur les côtes de la mer de Marmara et de la mer Noire témoignent de l’hétérogénéité du mouvement mégarien de colonisation. S’appropriant un nouveau territoire, les fondateurs des colonies devaient aussi réaliser un « synœcisme primitif », c’est-à-dire rassembler plusieurs groupes de colons qui très souvent étaient d’origine différente. On constate ainsi que des Mégariens de Sicile et de Grèce et probablement des ressortissants de Corinthe ou des colonies corinthiennes ont participé à la fondation de Sélinonte.

Du reste, les découvertes de Mégara Hyblaea et de Sélinonte permettent une reconstruction, fût-elle partielle, des premières implantations coloniales et des caractères des espaces urbains de la haute époque archaïque. Par les structures urbaines qu’ils créèrent, les Mégariens montrent qu’ils avaient, tant en Sicile occidentale qu’en Sicile orientale, des « projets » de colonisation cohérents."

This study proposes a full analysis of the series of inscribed funerary tablets found in the three cities of Megaris (Megara, Aigosthena, Pagai). Since inscriptions of this type are very rare in the ancient Greek world, we can speak, in this case, of a Megarian epigraphical habit. I gather in this article all the Megarian tablets, published and unpublished, dating back to the Classical and Hellenistic periods (in total 63 inscriptions and 2 anepigraphical stelai). The new finds confirm that the tablets were inserted into free-standing stelai: I publish for the first time a Megarian stele with a rectangular hollow in its upper part, in which a tablet fits perfectly. The tablets were therefore not placed in tombs, as has sometimes been argued, but rather they were made to be seen. I also argue that this epigraphical custom spread to the Black Sea cites, at Tauric Chersonesos and Callatis, through the Megarian colonization networks. This confirms that transfers between the metropolis and its “colonies” (apoikiai) include also the epigraphic culture.

Over the past 20 years, Boeotia has been the focus of intensive archaeological investigation that has resulted in some extraordinary epigraphical finds. The most spectacular discoveries are presented for the first time in this volume: dozens of inscribed sherds from the Theban shrine of Heracles; Archaic temple accounts; numerous Classical, Hellenistic and Roman epitaphs; a Plataean casualty list; a dedication by the legendary king Croesus. Other essays revisit older epigraphical finds from Aulis, Chaironeia, Lebadeia, Thisbe, and Megara, radically reassessing their chronology and political and legal implications. The integration of old and new evidence allows for a thorough reconsideration of wider historical questions, such as ethnic identities, and the emergence, rise, dissolution, and resuscitation of the famous Boeotian koinon.

Lo studio propone un riesame delle genealogie connesse alla figura mitica di Eumolpo, alla luce della frattura tra la tradizione locale eleusina legata a un remoto passato megarese e la propaganda ateniese di epoca arcaica e classica, che trasforma l’eroe nel protagonista (barbaro) delle guerre di Eleusi. Obiettivo dell’indagine è dimostrare la continuità tra l’Eumolpo eleusino progenitore della stirpe ierofantide e l’omonimo
guerriero trace avversario di Atene.

X : L'identification des ruines de Sta Marmara, au S-O de Mégare, avec le sanctuaire de Zeus Aphésios (Pausanias, I, 44, 9) a été remise en question récemment. Mais les hypothèses proposées, — garnison ou Asclépieion — , posent des problèmes de topographie et d'interprétation des ruines. L'état classique du sanctuaire peut être reconstitué à partir des éléments contenus dans la publication de la fouille. — XI : La ruine hellénique signalée au siècle dernier dans la baie de Psatha, au fond du golfe de Corinthe, est en fait celle d'une tour quadrangulaire, contemporaine des tours les plus anciennes de la région des Vathychoria. Il s'agit des seuls vestiges d'époque classique connus dans cette baie, identifiée avec l'antique Panormos, l'échelle d'Eréneia.

When Augustus travelled to the eastern provinces of the Roman Empire in the years 22–19 BC, he entered an area which had been affected particularly badly during the Roman Civil Wars. Thus, the princeps took great interest in getting an idea about the prevalent problems and seeking appropriate solutions. His main objective, however, was to solve the smouldering conflict with the Parthian Empire which the Romans were facing on their eastern border. +++ The article offers an itemized overview of Augustus' stages in Sicily (22/21 BC), in Greece and the Aegean Islands (21/20 and 20/19 BC), in Asia Minor and Syria (20 BC) as well as his return to Italy and Rome (19 BC). +++ On his travel Augustus was accompanied by a large entourage, of whom the young Publius Quinctilius Varus formed part, as well. In the year 22/21 BC Varus took over his first known office: the quaestorship. An honorary inscription from Tenos shows that Varus was serving as quaestor Augusti and was therefore directly reporting to the princeps. Three further inscriptions from Pergamum (20 BC) and Athens (19 BC) give evidence that subsequent to his quaestorship Varus continued in the entourage of Augustus. In doing so he possibly visited Alexandria Troas, too. At least it appears noticeable that the Quin(c)tilii being one of the leading families of the city bore the same nomen gentile and that referring to both Varus' family and the Alexandrian Quin(c)tilii the praenomina Publius and Sextus have occurred time and again.

If we seek to gain some measure of insight into the lived experience of a local community in the Greek world such as Megara, then the ephēbeia provides one of the most promising fields of study. The institution as such is predicated on the transmission and perpetuation of local customs and communal sensibilities from one generation of citizens to the next, and functions as much as a didactic process as one of civic initiation. The education of the program provides the young members of a given community with the military and civic formation necessary to fulfill their dual role in it as both hoplites and citizens. The investment of several years of each young citizen's life into this program represents a massive commitment of time and effort that only marks the beginning of his civic career. In the process of his training, bonds are formed with his fellow ephebes which further strengthen the social ties that bind the citizen community. Perhaps no other institution common to the autonomous Greek city-state so practically ensures the survival of the polis community in the realm of politics and warfare than this – in Megara as elsewhere. In spite of this centrality of the ephēbeia to civic life, it has been only attracted intermittent scholarly attention in the century and a half since Collignon's 1877 dissertation. 1 1 Kennell 2006: 1-5 for its scholarly history as a topic of study, along with Vidal-Naquet 1991: 151-153 with notes.

My 'Megarian moment' began exactly twenty-five years ago at McGill University, with a master's thesis on Boioita, which opened the door to my interest in this region of central Greece and its Archaic migrations. So much has changed in the last quarter-century in regard to our approaches to ancient history that this paper affords me the opportunity to revisit old topics and to include newer ones that have emerged in the meantime. I divide my paper into two parts. The first part is devoted to some historiographical remarks regarding approaches, mainly modern but ancient too, and picks up on some developments from this twenty-five-year-long window that I believe require highlighting. The second part brings to bear my work on the Megarians of Sicily and how this perspective permits me to address the nexus between localism and diaspora in the Megarian world.