9. MEGARA, on the other hand, was induced by its situation to send even its first colonies to the opposite side of Greece on the Thracian coast. Thus in Olymp. 17. 3. 710 B.C. it founded Astæus in Bithynia;(483) afterwards Chalcedon, on the entrance of the Bosporus(484) in Olymp. 26. 2. 675 B.C. (according to Eusebius); and 17 years later (Olymp. 30. 3. 658 B.C.) Byzantium in a more favoured spot, opposite to Chalcedon.(485) The Argives also had a share in the foundation of this town; for which fact we may trust the general assertion of Hesychius of Miletus, that his circumstantial and fabulous history of the early times of this city was derived from ancient poets and historians. For the transmission of the worship of Here (whose temple both at Byzantium and Argos was on the citadel),(486) and the traditions concerning Io, the attendant of the Argive Here, confirm in a manner which does not admit of a doubt, the pretensions of Argos to a share in this colony. Io, who was represented with horns on her forehead, is said to have here produced to Zeus a daughter, Ceroëssa the “Horned” by name (which is, however, only a different name for Io herself), who being suckled by the nymph Semestra, afterwards brought forth Byzas.(487) Thence the fable of the cow swimming over the sea became peculiar to this place.(488) In other respects the combinations of religious ceremonies as found at Byzantium, almost exactly resembled that which existed in Megara. Nay, so carefully did the Byzantians, though far removed from their mother-state, preserve the remembrance of it, that they carried over almost all the names of their native country and the neighbouring region. We find on the coast a temple of Poseidon, whose son was named Byzas; also of Demeter and Cora; the Scironian rocks, an Isthmian promontory, with the tomb of Hipposthenes a Megarean hero, the temple of Apollo on the high promontory of Metopum; also an altar of Saron, a pretended hero, whose name referred to the Saronic gulf.(489) Thus Byzantium was never estranged from its Peloponnesian ancestors, although it adopted a large number of additional colonists,(490) and ruled over Thracian subjects. Moreover, the prevailing dialect, which occurs in some public decrees still extant, remained for a long time Doric.(491) The Byzantians, together with the Chalcedonians, either at the time of the expedition of Darius against the Scythians, or of the Ionic revolt, founded Mesambria on the Pontus,(492) which some consider as a colony of Megara. The Megareans had also founded Selymbria even before the settlement of Byzantium,(493) and probably carried on from this place a war with the Samians at Perinthus,(494) when that island was still governed by Geomori, before the time of Polycrates. Moreover, the Megareans had a large share in the founding of Heraclea on the Pontus; for although they were strengthened by some Tanagræans from Bœotia, their numbers so predominated that this city was in general considered as Doric.(495)