{"id":68371,"date":"2015-01-06T10:50:00","date_gmt":"2015-01-06T09:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sicile-sicilia.net\/?p=68371"},"modified":"2026-10-14T08:18:49","modified_gmt":"2026-10-14T07:18:49","slug":"megara-hyblaea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sicile-sicilia.net\/en\/megara-hyblaea","title":{"rendered":"Megara Hyblaea"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Megara Hyblaea<\/strong> was one of the first cities founded by the Greeks in Sicily in the 8th century BC, but it did not survive the Roman conquest.
A few kilometres further north, Augusta<\/strong> was founded on an isthmus in the 13th century by Frederick II.
Further south, 12 km away, on a small peninsula, lies the archaeological site and necropolis of Thapsos<\/strong><\/a>, the most important Middle Bronze Age site in Sicily.<\/p>\n

Archaeological site of Megara<\/h2>\n

The archaeological site, although not very touristy, offers a precious glimpse of archaic and Hellenistic Greek town planning, one of the major specificities of this city.<\/p>\n

The city is characterised by an archaic orthogonal plan<\/strong>, organised on a grid (Hippodamian) with perpendicular streets forming regular blocks, exceptional for a foundation of the 8th century BC in the Mediterranean. The centre of the city is a trapezoidal agora, the heart of public and economic life, surrounded by remains of porticoes and temples.
To the south of the agora, the foundations of two Doric temples dating from the 6th century BC have been brought to light. These temples, without a peripteros, had a pronaos and a naos.<\/p>\n\n\n