<p data-end="955" data-start="142">Bringing together researchers from a variety of backgrounds and nationalities, this volume showcases the latest archaeological and historical research on ancient Megarian cities across the Mediterranean, from the Black Sea to Sicily and from the Archaic to the Hellenistic period. It presents new discoveries concerning the infrastructure, organization, and occupation of the territory of Megara itself, while also shedding new light on the wider network of Megarian <em data-end="619" data-start="609">apoikiai</em>. Megarian identities, in Greece and beyond, are examined through multiple aspects of material culture, including sacred practices, artisanal production, exchange networks, and epigraphic habits. Given the remarkable amount of new information presented, Megarian funerary practices and burial spaces are explored in a dedicated section.<br />Drawing on archival records from earlier excavations as well as new data analysed through cutting-edge approaches, this book is set to become a landmark contribution to Megarian studies.<br /><br /><u><em>Editors</em></u><br /><strong data-end="1194" data-start="1172">Reine-Marie Bérard</strong> is a Research Fellow at the CNRS (Centre Camille Jullian, Aix-en-Provence). Her work focuses on Greek funerary practices, particularly in colonial contexts. Since 2019, she has co-directed the excavations at Megara Hyblaea alongside J.-C. Sourisseau (Aix-Marseille Université), in collaboration with the <em data-end="1541" data-start="1499">Parco Archeologico di Leontinoi e Megara</em>. She is the author of <em data-end="1629" data-start="1564">Mégara Hyblaea 6. La nécropole méridionale de la cité archaïque</em> (EFR, CEFR 1/6.2, 2017) and <em data-end="1709" data-start="1658">Il diritto alla sepoltura nel Mediterraneo antico</em> (EFR, CEFR 582, 2021).</p><strong data-end="1751" data-start="1734">Thierry Lucas</strong> is a Cultural Heritage Curator in France. He holds a PhD in Greek Archaeology from Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne and is a former member of the École française d’Athènes. His research focuses on military institutions in Classical and Hellenistic Greece and on fortifications. He has directed fieldwork in Boeotia and at Pachi, on the site of Nisaia, the harbour of Megara. He is the author of <em data-end="2234" data-start="2158">L’organisation militaire de la Confédération béotienne : 447–171 av. J.-C.</em> (EFA, BEFAR 401, 2023).

• Introduction
• Megara Nisaea and Megara Hyblaea as a Starting Point
• The Megarian Network: Historiography and Recent Milestones
• New Data and Perspectives
• Infrastructures and occupation of the Megarian territory
• Revising the Fortification of Ancient Megara in the Light of New Finds
• History of Megara and its Fortification
• Recent Excavation Evidence
• Conclusion
• New Evidence from the Aqueduct that Supplied the Fountain-House of Theagenes
• The so-called Theagene’s Fountain-House of Theagenes (S1)
• Underground Aqueduct in Eleonas (S2)
• The DAI Excavations (S3a)
• S3b
• Extra-Muros Aqueduct Sites
• Intra-Muros Aqueduct sites
• Conclusions
• A City and its Harbor: The Topography and Fortifications of Ancient Nisaia
• An Overview of the Area: Ancient Sources, Early Travelers
• The Survey and Excavations at Agios Georgios: New Light on an Old Debate
• The Hill of Palaiokastro and the Topography of Nisaia
• Conclusion
• The Road-Network of Ancient Megaris: Current State of Knowledge, Problems and Perspectives
• Settlement Pattern
• Megara as the Center of the Road-Network
• A Double-Headed Network?
• Settlements and Borders: From the Local to the Supra-Regional Network
• Megaris as a Regional Crossroads?
• The So-called Monument of Kar in Megara: Historical-Archaeological Framework, Dating and Architecture
• Discovery, Description and State of Preservation
• Interpretation and Comparisons
• Representation and Restoration Perspectives
• Conclusion
• Exploring the Landscape and Archaeological Heritage of Western Megaris (WeMALP): Aims, Methodology, Results, and Future Goals,
• Introduction
• Methodology
• Marmara: A Cultic and Strategic Landmark in Western Megaris
• Vrestiza: A Nexus of Settlement, Agriculture, and Industry
• Patitiria: A Legacy of Viticulture in Western Megaris
• Chani Derveni: A Strategic and Historical Area in Western Megaris
• The Dami tou Mouchlizi and Mavrospilia/Agia Eleousa: Fortified Rural Estates and Agro-Pastoral Landscapes in Western Megaris
• Conclusion
• Megarian identities, in Greece and beyond
• The Epigraphic Habits of Classical and Hellenistic Megara
• Megarian Private Epigraphy
• The Public Epigraphy of Megara
• Conclusions
• Mesambria: A View from Across the Bay
• Ionians and Thracians around the Bay of Burgas: The Archaic Period
• The Arrival of the Dorians
• Anchialos between Apollonia and Mesambria
• Greeks and Thracians around the Bay of Burgas: The Classical Period
• The Rise of Mesambria
• Pre-Roman Glass from Mesambria Pontica
• The Necropolis
• Mediterranean Core-Formed Bottles
• Cast Monochrome Vessels
• Glass Adornments
• Conclusion
• The Main Urban Sanctuary of Selinunte: New Evidence
• The Stratigraphy of the Southern Sector
• The Early Greek Phase (ca. 628–570 BC): New Evidence
• Greeks and Natives at the Foundation of Selinunte
• Building and Ritual in Selinunte in the Archaic and Classical Periods
• The Main Urban Sanctuary of Selinunte and the Akropolis of Alkathoos at Megara?
• Connecting People, Places, and Things: The Case Study of Metal Objects from the Sanctuaries of Selinunte
• Temple E on the Eastern Hill
• The Demeter Malophoros and Zeus Meilichios Sanctuaries on the Western Hill
• Temple R in the Main Urban Sanctuary
• Remarks for Future Research
• Constructing Megara Hyblaea and Selinous: Some Elements of Comparison
• Introduction
• Constructing floors
• Constructing houses
• Conclusions
• Life and death in Megarian cities
• Child-burial Rites in Pre-Classical Megara: Preliminary Results
• Defining Children in the Ancient and Modern Era
• Burial Practices for Children in Ancient Megara
• Spatial Organization of Child Burials
• Rates of Mortality
• Armakades Area in the NW Part of the North Cemetery in Megara
• Conclusions
• Life and Death in Ancient Megara Project: Analyses of Human Skeletal Remains (8th to 1st centuries BC)
• The Cemeteries
• The Project
• Xekoukis and Tzavellas Street (Menidiatis plot)
• Eukleidou Street (Toumbaniari plot)
• Korais and Georgakis Streets (Papapostoli plot)
• Conclusions
• Multiple burials in Archaic and Classical Megara: The Case of the North-East Cemetery
• General Presentation of the Funerary Practices in Megara Nisaea
• The Use of Multiple Burials
• Estimating the Temporal Gaps between the Inhumations in Multiple Burials
• Decrease of Multiple Burials and Evolution of the Burial Forms in Megara
• The Megara Auloi and their Players in Life and in Death: Towards a Bioarchaeology of Music
• Auloi as Funerary Objects
• The Auloi from Megara
• The Monumental Grave Enclosure (28th October Street)
• Bioarchaeology of Music
• Concluding Discussion
• The Auloi from Megara: Conservation, Restoration, and Digital Investigation—Ethical Challenges in Display and Valorization
• Conservation and Restoration Issues of the Auloi from their Discovery to their Exhibition
• The Ethical Dilemmas and the Embodied Values
• Destructive and Non-Destructive Analytical Methods and Techniques: Results and Interpretation
• Conclusions
• The Western Necropolis of Selinunte (TP): New Data from Old Excavations
• Topographical Reconstruction of the Funerary Landscape
• First Insights on the Local Burial Practice
• Conclusions
• The Living and the Dead in the Early Phase of Colonization in the Arenella Valley at Megara Hyblaea
• The Current State of Knowledge: A Well-Known Site and its Last Grey Area
• The Area of the Monumental Building
• The Funerary Area
• Conclusion
• Abstracts
• Authors