ABDERA ( Ἄβδηρα, τά)
MATTHEW A. SEARS
University of New Brunswick
Abdera was an important city with a fertile plain on the Aegean coast of THRACE, just east of the mouth of the NESTUS RIVER (BA 51 D3). Known for its produce and fishing, Abdera dominated one of the best overland routes from the AEGEAN SEA to the ISTER (Danube) River and EUXINE (Black) Sea. Abdera was colonized primarily by the Ionian city TEOS in the mid‐sixth century BCE, after an earlier settlement of the site by CLAZOMENAE (1.168). Thereafter, Abdera was a center of Greco‐Thracian relations (cf. 7.137.3), and much of the population seems to have been a mixture of Greeks and Thracians who followed many Thracian practices, including the worship of DIONYSUS.
Abdera may have served as a naval base for Persian operations under DARIUS I in the 490s (6.46–48). During XERXES’ invasion of Greece in 480, Abdera enthusiastically supported the Persians. On its way to Greece, Xerxes’ army was provisioned from Abdera, which prompted one Abderite (MEGACREON) to quip that if Xerxes’ forces had needed two meals from the city, the residents would have been better off fleeing than being crushed by the expense (7.120). Upon Xerxes’ retreat after the Battle of SALAMIS, Abdera was so welcoming to the king that he declared a pact of FRIENDSHIP with the city and presented the residents with a GOLD sword (akinakēs) and gold TIARA. Herodotus also reports, though does not believe, the Abderite claim that their city was the first place Xerxes felt safe enough to undo his belt (8.120). This story is remarkable because it shows no sign that Abdera was later ashamed of its association with PERSIA.
SEE ALSO: Colonization; Medize; Nymphodorus; Persian Wars; Sources for Herodotus; Timesius
FURTHER READING
1 IACP no. 640 (872–75).
2 Isaac, Benjamin. 1986. The Greek Settlements in Thrace until the Macedonian Conquest, 73–108. Leiden: Brill.
3 Moustaka, Aliki, Eudokia Skarlatidou, Maria‐Christina Tzannes, and Yaşar Ersoy, eds. 2004. Klazomenai, Teos and Abdera: Metropoleis and Colony. Thessaloniki: University Studio Press.
ABDUCTION , see RAPE; WOMEN IN THE HISTORIES
ABROCOMES (Ἀβροκόμης, ὁ)
MARGARET COOL ROOT
University of Michigan
Abrocomes (7.244.2) was one of the two sons of DARIUS I by his niece‐wife PHRATAGUNE. He was thus one of Artanes’ two grandsons—both of whom died at THERMOPYLAE in 480 BCE along with their grandfather.
SEE ALSO: Artanes son of Hystaspes
FURTHER READING
1 Balcer, Jack Martin. 1993. A Prosopographical Study of the Ancient Persians Royal and Noble c. 550–450 B.C., 108–9. Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press.
ABRONICHUS (Ἀβρώνιχος, ὁ)
CHRISTOPHER BARON
University of Notre Dame
Athenian, son of LYSICLES, of the DEME Lamptrae, assigned to bring news of the fate of LEONIDAS and the Greek army at THERMOPYLAE to the fleet at ARTEMISIUM in 480 BCE Abronichus’ arrival there after the naval battle had been fought convinced the fleet to withdraw (8.21). After the war, Abronichus (perhaps more correctly spelled Habronichus) served as an ambassador to SPARTA in conjunction with THEMISTOCLES’ ruse to rebuild Athens’ WALLS despite Spartan reluctance to allow it (Thuc. 1.91.3). Abronichus’ name appears on a number of ostraca from the 480s (Lang 1990, 47 nos. 124–27; see DEMOCRACY). The fictional letters ascribed to Themistocles allude (4.24, after emendation) to a proposed MARRIAGE between Abronichus’ son, named Lysicles, and Themistocles’ daughter Sybaris (cf. Plut. Them. 32).
SEE ALSO: Athens; Messengers; Polyas; Sybaris
REFERENCE
1 Lang, Mabel L. 1990. The Athenian Agora. Vol. XXV, Ostraka. Princeton: American School of Classical Studies at Athens.
FURTHER READING
1 Cortassa, Guido, and Enrica Culasso Gastaldi, eds. 1990. Le lettere di Temistocle. 2 vols. Padua: Editoriale Programma.
2 Doenges, Norman A., ed. 1981. The Letters of Themistokles. New York: Arno Press.
ABYDOS ( Ἄβυδος, ἡ)
MEHMET FATIH YAVUZ
Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University
A Greek POLIS at the narrowest point of the HELLESPONT on the Asian shore opposite SESTOS, near modern Çanakkale. Abydos was a natural crossing point between EUROPE and ASIA (7.33–36; Strabo 13.1.22/C591). The city had an excellent HARBOR (now Nagara Limanı) protected from the main current of the straits by Cape Nagara, and a fertile territory (Polyb. 16.29) extending to DARDANUS on the southwest (Hdt. 7.43.2). Abydos also possessed GOLD mines, though these were exhausted by the first century BCE (Xen. Hell. 4.8.37; Callisthenes BNJ 124 F54; Strabo 14.5.28/C680)
Abydos was founded by MILETUS (Thuc. 8.61.1) in the first half of the seventh century with the permission of the Lydian king GYGES (Strabo 13.1.22/C590). The city came under Persian rule after the fall of LYDIA c. 545 BCE When the Persian king DARIUS I invaded SCYTHIA (c. 513), DAPHNIS, the tyrant of Abydos, and several other Hellespontine TYRANTS installed or supported by the Persians were ordered to sail to the mouth of the ISTER (Danube) and were assigned to guard the bridge over the river (Hdt. 4.138.1). When news of the Persian failure in Scythia reached the Hellespontine region, Abydos and several Greek poleis threw off Persian rule. Darius returned to Asia via the Hellespont (4.143.1; 5.11.1) and punished Abydos (Strabo 13.1.22/C591). The city joined the IONIAN REVOLT in 499 but was captured by the Persian general DAURISES in 496 (Hdt. 5.117).
XERXES assembled his army and navy at Abydos to cross the Hellespont in 480. Sitting on a throne of white marble made by the people of Abydos, Xerxes surveyed his army “that filled the coast and the plains of Abydos” (7.44–45). Xerxes built two pontoon BRIDGES between Abydos and Sestos (7.33–36) and crossed to Europe. The citizens of Abydos did not join the expedition and remained at home to guard the bridges (7.95.2). After the defeat of the Persian navy at SALAMIS, Xerxes and his army were ferried to Abydos since the bridges had been damaged by a storm (8.117, 130). Following the Greek victory at MYCALE in 479, Abydos was captured by the Greek ALLIES who were anxious to secure the crossing point and the bridges (9.114).
After the PERSIAN WARS, the city joined the DELIAN LEAGUE but revolted against ATHENS and became a Spartan ally in 411 (Thuc. 8.62). By the King’s Peace in 386 Abydos returned to Persian rule, which ended after the Macedonian king Alexander III’s victory at Granicus in 334. Although badly damaged by the siege of Philip V of Macedon in 200 BCE (Polyb. 16.31–34), Abydos prospered in the Roman and Byzantine periods as it served as an important customs station on the Hellespont (Leaf 1923, 130–31).
