Abantes

The Abantes or Abantians (Greek: Άβαντες, Ábantes) were an ancient Greek tribe and specifically an Ionian one. Their home was Euboea.

Origins

Aristotle states that the Abantes were Thracians from Abae in Phokis (Phocis).[1] The Abantes were definitely Ionians themselves and many ended up assimilated into the other Ionian populations.[2][3]

The Iliad

In the Iliad, Homer mentions the Abantes among the allies of the Greeks in the Trojan War.[4] Their leader was Elephenor the son of Chalkodon. The Trojan warrior Agenor killed Elephenor.[5]

Colonies

Pausanias writes that they contributed to a colony from Thronium in Thesprotis. The local area became known as Abantis. Eventually it was conquered by Apollonia with the help of Corinth.[6]

Another colony was sent to Chios, but eventually it was defeated and the survivors forced to flee.[7]

References
  1. Strabo. Geography, 10.1.3.
  2. Herodotus. Histories, 1.146.
  3. Chios: a conference at the Homereion in Chios, 1984, page 180 by John Boardman, C. E. Vaphopoulou-Richardson - 1986 "... made war upon the Abantes and Carians dwelling in Chios in his time, ...than this. Unlike the Carians the Abantes seem to have been Greeks"
  4. Homer. Iliad, 2.536–542.
  5. Homer. Iliad, 4.463-472.
  6. Pausanias. Description of Greece, 5.22.4.
  7. Pausanias. Description of Greece, 7.4.9.
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