Megara Hyblaea

Megara Hyblaea
τὰ Μέγαρα (in Ancient Greek)
	Mosaics on the floor of a house near the western gate of Megara Hyblaea.
	Shown within Italy
Location	Augusta, Sicily, Italy
Region	Sicily
Coordinates	37°12′14.04″N 15°10′54.84″E / 37.2039000°N 15.1819000°E
Type	Settlement
History
Builder	Greek settlers from Megara
Founded	8th century BC
Abandoned	Approximately 483 BC
Periods	Archaic Greek
Cultures	Greek
Site notes
Excavation dates	1891
Condition	Ruined
Ownership	Public
Management	Soprintendenza per i Beni Culturali ed Ambientali di Siracusa
Public access	Yes

Megara Hyblaea (Ancient Greek: Μέγαρα Ὑβλαία) – perhaps identical with Hybla Major – is an ancient Greek colony of Magna Graecia in Sicily, situated near Augusta on the east coast, 20 kilometres (12 mi) north-northwest of Syracuse, Italy, on the deep bay formed by the Xiphonian promontory.^[1] There were at least three (and possibly as many as five) cities^[2] named "Hybla" in ancient accounts of Sicily which are often confounded with each other, and among which it is sometimes very difficult to distinguish.^[3]

^ See Richard Talbert, Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World, (ISBN 0-691-03169-X), Map 47.
^ The circumstance that there were so many towns called Hybla in Sicily probably arose from the fact mentioned by Pausanias, that there was a local divinity of the name. (Paus. v. 23. § 6.)
^ For example, William Smith, Britain's foremost classicist of the 19th century, begins to describe Hybla Major with an admixture of locational and historic information from both Hybla Gereatis and Megara Hyblaea. Caution should therefore be used when assuming reference to "Hybla" in an ancient source refers to this city.

[1] See Richard Talbert, Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World, (ISBN 0-691-03169-X), Map 47.

[2] The circumstance that there were so many towns called Hybla in Sicily probably arose from the fact mentioned by Pausanias, that there was a local divinity of the name. (Paus. v. 23. § 6.)

[3] For example, William Smith, Britain's foremost classicist of the 19th century, begins to describe Hybla Major with an admixture of locational and historic information from both Hybla Gereatis and Megara Hyblaea. Caution should therefore be used when assuming reference to "Hybla" in an ancient source refers to this city.

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