Megara Hyblaea | temple, archaeological site, interesting place

 temple, archaeological site, interesting place

Megara Hyblaea is a Greek colony located south of Augusta, Sicily. It was first excavated in 1891 by Italian archaeologists, and a French team has carried out research there from the 1950s to the present. It was founded by Megarians ca. 750 BC. Thucydides, an ancient Greek historian, said that after their oikist died, the settlers of the Peninsula of Thapsos were dissatisfied. They looked for another settlement, but were continuously rejected until king Hyblon allowed them to settle Megara Hyblaea. Gelon of Syracuse destroyed Megara Hyblaea in ca. 483 BC and it was left unoccupied until ca. 340 BC when Timoleon founded a colony there. It was destroyed during the Second Punic War in ca. 213 BC by the Romans, was rebuilt thereafter, and remained at least a rural settlement until the 6th century AD. Megara Hyblaea is the oldest known example of Greek town planning, notably utilizing parallel and equidistant streets of uniform width. During the Archaic period the size of the settlement was largest, there was extensive remodeling of buildings, and the city walls extended to include temples outside the settlement. There was an agora at the settlement from the initial moment of colonization that eventually contained three temples and a double heroon. The first houses were typically small, usually with one room approximately 4 m. on each side but by the 7th century the houses had grown to have several rooms set side-by-side. The finding of marble architectural fragments of purely Ionic style built in the late 6th century indicates the unusual presence of Ionic architectural order in Dorian colonies. A necropolis containing about 1500 tombs primarily from the Archaic period was found outside the Archaic city wall. Strong fortifications were built by the inhabitants in anticipation of the Roman attack. In the Hellenistic period a complex building consisting of 20 rooms and 2 courtyards was constructed. Pottery was both imported and locally made. The imported pottery came from a wide variety of places but the majority found was Corinthian and Attic. The pottery collection reflects Megara Hyblaea’s extensive communication with the Mediterranean world. The locally made pottery mimicked the imported wares and reached a production high point from ca. 670-640 BC. Not particularly known for its sculpture, the colony did possess the famous kourotrophos. Thought to be a grave marker, it dates to the mid-6th century BCE and its interpretation is questionable. In the late 7th century BC, Megara Hyblaea sent out a daughter colony to Selinus.

For more information, please see:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megara_Hyblaea

The Princeton Encyclopedia of Classic Sites, Princeton Press 1976

or

F. de Angelis, Megara Hyblaia and Selinous: the Development of Two Greek City-States in Archaic Sicily, Oxford School of Archaeology 2003.