MEGARA IBLEA
According to the Greek historian
Tucidide, we know that the City of Megara
Iblea was founded in 728 BC by some
of the Greek colonies from Mégaride.
The City’s name derives from the motherland and is associated
with Hyblone, the Sicilian king who gave
the Megarese permission to construct Megara Hyblaea on this
site.
After around 100 years, the inhabitants founded the City of
Selinunte
to the West.
The City enjoyed a period of great splendour during the 6th
Century, which was interrupted by a siege and the destruction
by the hands of the tyrant of Syracuse, Gelone
(483BC). A defence castle was built instead on the site, to
defend against the disastrous shipment of the Athenians in
Sicily (Syracuse 415-413) against Syracuse.
Megara Iblea was then rebuilt by the Greek army leader, Timoleonte
in 340 BC, and became a Syracuse colony.
It was encircled by walls to defend itself against the arrival
of the Romans, to whom it yielded its power during the Second
Punic War, when it was besieged and destroyed by the
Consul Marcello.
Megara Hyblae floated in history as a Roman centre until the
end of the 6th Century AD.
Today, one can visit the Hellenistic walls,
the remains of the Agora (public square) with its
two arcades, the Hellenistic baths, the Heroon
(a tomb dedicated to heroes), the Era Temple
and the remains of houses and foundations of an archaic
temple.
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