Editing Megara (section)

== Democracy in Megara ==
[[File:2 1862 photo nike of megara.jpg|thumb|The ''[[Nike of Megara]]'', large statue of the goddess [[Nike (mythology)|Nike]] found at Megara in 1820.]]

Megara seems to have experienced democracy on two occasions. The first was between 427 BC, when there was a democratic uprising, and 424 BC, when a narrow oligarchy was installed (Thuc. 3.68.3; 4.66-8, 73–4). The second was in the 370s BC, when we hear that the people of Megara expelled some anti-democratic conspirators (Diod. 15.40.4). By the 350s BC, though, [[Isocrates]] is referring to Megara in terms that suggests that it was an oligarchy again (Isoc. 8.117-19).

One of the first actions of the new oligarchy in 424 BC was to compel the people to vote openly, which suggests that the democracy had made use of the [[secret ballot]]. Megarian democracy also made use of [[ostracism]]. Other key institutions of the democracy included a popular Assembly and Council, and a board of five (or six) generals.<ref>E. Robinson, Democracy Beyond Athens, Cambridge 2011, 46–47.</ref>

According to [[Plutarch]], Megara was also a democracy in the 6th century BC. The measures said to be implemented by the radical government included making interest-bearing loans illegal and forcing creditors to [[History of debt relief|return the interest they had collected]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Graeber |first1=David |title=Debt. The First 5,000 Years |date=2012 |publisher=Melville House |isbn=9781612191294|pages = 191, 427}}</ref> While some historians accept the existence of democracy in the archaic period, others consider the story to reflect the later anti-democratic political thought.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Forsdyke |first1=Sara |title=Revelry and riot in Archaic Megara: democratic disorder or ritual reversal? |journal=The Journal of Hellenic Studies |date=2005 |volume=125 |page=73 |doi=10.1017/S0075426900007114|s2cid=146491518 }}</ref>