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
- ^ Strabo. Geography, 10.1.3.
- ^ Herodotus. Histories, 1.146.
- ^ 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"
- ^ Homer. Iliad, 2.536–542.
- ^ Homer. Iliad, 4.463-472.
- ^ Pausanias. Description of Greece, 5.22.4.
- ^ Pausanias. Description of Greece, 7.4.9.
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