Les fondations mégariennes de Sicile : origine des colons et appropriation du territoire

Abstract

The epigraphic and literary sources from the cities that the Megarians founded in the archaic period in Sicily and on the shores of the Marmara Sea and the Black Sea indicate the heterogeneity of the Megarian colonization. By appropriating a new territory, the founders of colonies had also to perform a « primitive synoikismos », i.e. they had to gather together several groups of settlers which very often had different origin. We note therefore that Megarians from Sicily and from Greece, as well as inhabitants from Corinth or Corinthian colonies took part in the foundation of Selinous. Beside, the discoveries from Megara Hyblaea and Selinous give us an image, even if it is a partial one, of the first colonial settlements and inform us on the characters of the urban spaces from the archaic period. The urban structures show that the Mégariens had both in western and eastern Sicily coherent colonization « projects ».

Keywords

• Archaic Greece
• greek colonization
• town-planning
• Megara
• Megara Hyblaia
• Selinous