Megara (/ˈmɛɡərə/; Greek: Μέγαρα, pronounced [ˈmeɣaɾa]) is a historic town and a municipality in West Attica, Greece.

It lies in the northern section of the Isthmus of Corinth opposite the island of Salamis, which belonged to Megara in archaic times, before being taken by Athens.

Megara was also a trade port, its people using their ships and wealth as a way to gain leverage on armies of neighboring poleis.

In the Late Bronze, Megara features prominently as a small kingdom in the myths and legends of Homer.

[8] In the late 7th century BC Theagenes established himself as tyrant of Megara by slaughtering the cattle of the rich to win over the poor.

[9] Arguably the most famous citizen of Megara in antiquity was Byzas, the legendary founder of Byzantium in the 7th century BC.

During the second Persian invasion of Greece (480–479 BC) Megara fought alongside the Spartans and Athenians at crucial battles such as Salamis and Plataea.

The Athenians claimed that they were responding to the Megarians' desecration of the Hiera Orgas, a sacred precinct in the border region between the two states.

During the Chremonidean War, in 266 BC, the Megarians were besieged by the Macedonian king Antigonus Gonatas and managed to defeat his elephants employing burning pigs.

The Achaean strategos Philopoemen fought off the Boeotian intervention force and secured Megara's return, either in 203 or in 193 BC.

According to Plutarch, Megarians tried to unleash lions against the besieging Roman troops guided by Quintus Fufius Calenus around 48 BC, but the animals "rushed among the unarmed citizens themselves and preyed upon them as they ran hither and thither, so that even to the enemy the sight was a pitiful one".

One of the first actions of the new oligarchy in 424 BC was to compel the people to vote openly, which suggests that the democracy had made use of the secret ballot.

The measures said to be implemented by the radical government included making interest-bearing loans illegal and forcing creditors to return the interest they had collected.

[15] While some historians accept the existence of democracy in the archaic period, others consider the story to reflect the later anti-democratic political thought.