Abdera, Thrace

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For other cities with the same name see Abdera

The chief coin type, with griffon.

Abdera was a town on the coast of Thrace 17 km ENE of the mouth of the Nestos, and almost opposite Thasos. At coordinates [40°57′N 24°59′E], the site now lies in the Xanthi Prefecture of modern Greece.

Its mythical foundation was attributed to HeraclesHis founding act was connected to the taming of the Mares of Diomedes, its historical one to a colony from Clazomenae in the 7th century BC. But its prosperity dates from 544 BC, when the majority of the people of Teos migrated to Abdera after the Ionian Revolt to escape the Persian yoke (Herodotus i.168); the chief coin type, a griffon, is identical with that of Teos; the rich silver coinage is noted for the beauty and variety of its reverse types.

The town seems to have declined in importance after the middle of the 4th century BC. The air of Abdera was proverbial in Athens as causing stupidity; but among its citizens was the philosopher Democritus, Protagoras and Hecataeus of Abdera historian and Skeptic philosopher. The ruins of the town may still be seen on Cape Balastra; they cover seven small hills, and extend from an eastern to a western harbour; on the southwestern hills are the remains of the medieval settlement of Polystylon. The city was a member of the Delian League. It was repeatedly sacked, as a valuable prize: by the Triballi (376 BC), Philip II of Macedon, 350 BC; Lysimachos of Thrace' the Seleucids, the Ptolemies, and again to the Macedonians. In 170 BC the Roman armies and those of Eumenes II of Pergamon besieged and sacked it.

Abdera is a titular see of the Roman Catholic Church in the province of Rhodope on the southern coast of Thrace, now called Bouloustra.

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