Nisaea or Nisaia ( or Νισαία) was the Saronic port town of the ancient polis

Megara Megara (; , ) 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 Island, Salamis, which belonged to Megara in archaic times, before being taken ...

. In

Greek mythology Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of ancient Greek folklore, today absorbed alongside Roman mythology into the broader designation of classical mythology. These stories conc ...

, Nisaea was founded by one of

Pandion II In Greek mythology, Pandion II ( or ; Ancient Greek: Πανδίων) was a legendary King of Athens, the son and heir of King Cecrops II and his wife Metiadusa, daughter of Eupalamus. Family Pandion was the father of Aegeus, Pallas, Nisos, ...

's sons, Nisos, who named the region given to him by his father Nisaea, after himself. Control of Nisaea slipped back and forth between Athens and Megara both before and during the Peloponessian War. Athenian allies of the Megarians built long walls which connected Nisaea to Megaris. According to

Thucydides Thucydides ( ; ; BC) was an Classical Athens, Athenian historian and general. His ''History of the Peloponnesian War'' recounts Peloponnesian War, the fifth-century BC war between Sparta and Athens until the year 411 BC. Thucydides has been d ...

, the length of the walls that connected the port to Megara were eight Greek stadia, while

Strabo Strabo''Strabo'' (meaning "squinty", as in strabismus) was a term employed by the Romans for anyone whose eyes were distorted or deformed. The father of Pompey was called "Gnaeus Pompeius Strabo, Pompeius Strabo". A native of Sicily so clear-si ...

claims the walls to have been 18 stadia in length. A temple of

Demeter In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, Demeter (; Attic Greek, Attic: ''Dēmḗtēr'' ; Doric Greek, Doric: ''Dāmā́tēr'') is the Twelve Olympians, Olympian goddess of the harvest and agriculture, presiding over cro ...

was located on the road near Nisaea, and a temple of

Poseidon Poseidon (; ) is one of the twelve Olympians in ancient Greek religion and mythology, presiding over the sea, storms, earthquakes and horses.Burkert 1985pp. 136–139 He was the protector of seafarers and the guardian of many Hellenic cit ...

located within the port town. Nisaean Megara is thought to have been the birthplace of poet

Theognis Theognis of Megara (, ''Théognis ho Megareús'') was a Greek lyric poet active in approximately the sixth century BC. The work attributed to him consists of gnomic poetry quite typical of the time, featuring ethical maxims and practical advice ...

, but his birthplace is not known for certain The location of the ancient port town remains in debate by historians.

Foundation myth

During the reign of the mythical Athenian King Pylas,

fled to Megara where he then married Pylia, the daughter of Pylas. After Pylas was exiled from Athens for the murder of his uncle Bias, Pandion then succeeded his father-in-law as King of Athens. Pandion divided

Attica Attica (, ''Attikḗ'' (Ancient Greek) or , or ), or the Attic Peninsula, is a historical region that encompasses the entire Athens metropolitan area, which consists of the city of Athens, the capital city, capital of Greece and the core cit ...

into 4 regions, giving each of his 4 sons - Aigeus, Lykos, Pallas, and

Nisos In Greek mythology, Nisos or Nisus (Ancient Greek: Νῖσος) was a King of Megara. Family Nisos was one of the four sons of Pandion II, King of Athens, and Pylia, daughter of King Pylas of Megara. He was the brother of Aegeas, Pallas, ...

- reign over one of the regions. Pandion's son Nisos was awarded the Megarid, which Nisos then named Nisaea, after himself. When the King of Crete

Minos Main injector neutrino oscillation search (MINOS) was a particle physics experiment designed to study the phenomena of neutrino oscillations, first discovered by a Super-Kamiokande (Super-K) experiment in 1998. Neutrinos produced by the NuMI ...

attacked Nisaea, Megareus, son of Poseidon, came from Onchestus in Boeotia to assist Nisos in the war against Minos. Following the war, Megareus married Iphinoë, the daughter of Nisos. Megareus then succeeded Nisos on the throne, and Nisaea was renamed Megara after himself. The name of Nisaea was henceforth confined to only the port-town, while inhabitants of Megara were occasionally called Nisaei to distinguish them from the Megarians of Sicily, their colonists.

History

In 561 BC,

Peisistratos Pisistratus (also spelled Peisistratus or Peisistratos; ; – 527 BC) was a politician in ancient Athens, ruling as tyrant in the late 560s, the early 550s and from 546 BC until his death. His unification of Attica, the triangular ...

led an Athenian army to seize Nisaea, where he was successful. Salamis was very close to Nisaea, so Athenians frequently took control of the Megarian port. The Athenians were allies of Megara beginning , and built two long walls connecting Megara with Nisaea. In 446 BC, the Megarians returned to the

Peloponnesian League The Peloponnesian League () was an alliance of ancient Greek city-states, dominated by Sparta and centred on the Peloponnese, which lasted from c. 550 to 366 BC. It is known mainly for being one of the two rivals in the Peloponnesian War (431–4 ...

, and revolted against Athens. The Megarians allied with Peloponnesian troops, and together they overthrew and eliminated the Athenian garrisons in Megaris. The Athenians held Nisaea for a short period of time, but then surrendered it in the

Thirty Years' Peace The Thirty Years' Peace was a treaty signed between the ancient Greek city-states of Athens and Sparta in 446/445 BC. The treaty brought an end to the conflict commonly known as the First Peloponnesian War, which had been raging since c. 460 BC. B ...

made with

Sparta Sparta was a prominent city-state in Laconia in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (), while the name Sparta referred to its main settlement in the Evrotas Valley, valley of Evrotas (river), Evrotas rive ...

and Spartan allies.

Peloponnesian War

In the first years of the

Peloponnesian War The Second Peloponnesian War (431–404 BC), often called simply the Peloponnesian War (), was an Ancient Greece, ancient Greek war fought between Classical Athens, Athens and Sparta and their respective allies for the hegemony of the Ancien ...

(431 BC), Nisaea was defeated in a naval battle against an Athenian fleet. Following their defeat, eight thousand Peloponnesian soldiers marched to Nisaea, and boarded 40 stolen Magarian ships at the port to attack Athenian strongholds. Following the attack, an Athenian fleet blockaded the harbour of Nisaea to prevent shipments from being received or sent out. In the fifth year of the war (427 BC), the Athenians under Nicias took possession of the island of Minoa, which allowed Athenian forces to seize full control over Nisaea. In the eighth year of the war (424 BC), the long walls which had acted as a Peloponnesian garrison were breached and Nisaea fell to the Athenians after a siege of two days. Nisaea became the port of Megara once again in 409 BC. The walls of Nisaea which had been damaged during the Peloponnesian war were rebuilt in 343 BC by Athenian army leader

Phocion Phocion (; ''Phokion''; c. 402 – c. 318 BC), nicknamed The Good (, was an Athens, Athenian wikt:statesman, statesman and strategos, and the subject of one of Plutarch's ''Parallel Lives''. Phocion was a successful politician of Athens. He beli ...

as a symbol of understanding between Megara and Athens.

Culture

Resources and trade

Nisaea was the only Saronic port of Megara, and was used to ship resources across the gulf and receive resources as well. Aristophanes describes natural salt pans found on the coast near Nisaea, where salt was collected and exported to Athens. Megarians produced high quality wool used for clothing and winter attire which was shipped for trade from Nisaea over the Saronic gulf. Megarians profited significantly from the exports and imports which travelled through Nisaea.

Religion

Nisaea housed a temple dedicated to Poseidon, who was predominant to Megarian colonies. Thucidydes noted a shrine dedicated to Enaylius located near the harbour of the port town. A sanctuary of Demeter Malophoros was near Nisaea, which dated back to the Archaic period. An account by Pausanias describes how the roof of the Demeter Malophoros temple had collapsed due to deterioration. The cult of Demeter was brought to Nisaean Megara by colonists in the Archaic period. Neither locations of the temples are known, which is also the case for the location of Nisaea itself.

Poetry and prose

A poet by the name of

is debated to have been from either Nisaean Megara or Megara Hyblaia in Sicily. Although significant figures such as

Plato Plato ( ; Greek language, Greek: , ; born BC, died 348/347 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher of the Classical Greece, Classical period who is considered a foundational thinker in Western philosophy and an innovator of the writte ...

doubted that Theognis was from Nisaean Megara, Theognis' poetry about the

Persian Wars The Greco-Persian Wars (also often called the Persian Wars) were a series of conflicts between the Achaemenid Empire and Greek city-states that started in 499 BC and lasted until 449 BC. The collision between the fractious political world of th ...

is said to be distinctly Megarian, but his origin still remains uncertain. Historians consider it more likely that Theognis is from Nisaean Megara. The poet Semonides mentions the port as "the navel of the Nisaians" in another poem about the Persian Wars, which was believed to be written in the 5th century. The second-century Greek writer

Athenaeus Athenaeus of Naucratis (, or Nαυκράτιος, ''Athēnaios Naukratitēs'' or ''Naukratios''; ) was an ancient Greek rhetorician and Grammarian (Greco-Roman), grammarian, flourishing about the end of the 2nd and beginning of the 3rd century ...

preserves a fragment of the lost poem ''Georgica'' of

Nicander Nicander of Colophon (; fl. 2nd century BC) was a Greece, Greek poet, physician, and grammarian. The scattered biographical details in the ancient sources are so contradictory that it was sometimes assumed that there were two Hellenistic authors ...

in his ''

The Deipnosophists The ''Deipnosophistae'' (, ''Deipnosophistaí'', lit. , where ''sophists'' may be translated more loosely as ) is a work written in Ancient Greek by Athenaeus of Naucratis. It is a long work of Greek literature, literary, Ancient history, h ...

''. In this lost poem, Nicander declares the roses of Nisaea second only to Emanthian roses as the most fragrant and beautiful.

Geography

Nisaea was the only known Megarian port on the coast of the

Saronic Gulf The Saronic Gulf ( Greek: Σαρωνικός κόλπος, ''Saronikós kólpos'') or Gulf of Aegina in Greece is formed between the peninsulas of Attica and Argolis and forms part of the Aegean Sea. It defines the eastern side of the isthmus of C ...

. The exact site of Nisaea is debated because Thucydides' description of the coastal area of Nisaea does not describe the region as it is seen today. A theory of the location of Nisaea which considers the accounts of Strabo, Thucydides, and Pausanias, assumes that Nisaea was located in between Minoa and the mainland. The site of Nisaea has been thought to be located near modern Pachi, which has an Island similarly named Nisis Pachaki in close proximity to Pachi. Some historians also suggest that it is possible the coastal site has been washed away over time.

References

Sources

* Fraser, J.G. Commentary, ''Pausanias's Description of Greece: Book 1: Attica'' (Macmillan, 1913). * Smith, Philip J. ''The Archaeology and Epigraphy of Hellenistic and Roman Megaris, Greece'' (Oxford: 2008). *Beck, Hans and Smith, Philip J. ''Megarian Moments'', The Local World of an Ancient Greek City-State, (2018) {{coord, 37.9755, N, 23.3654, E, display=title, format=dms, source:http://dare.ht.lu.se/places/22769.html Populated places in ancient Megaris Former populated places in Greece Places in Greek mythology Cities in ancient Attica Ancient Megara