Abantes

Abantes

Abantes

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The Abantes or Abantians (Greek: Ἄβαντες, Ábantes) were an ancient Greek tribe. Their home was Euboea.

History

The Abantes were a Proto-Greek tribe. Aristotle considered them to be Thracian and from the Phocian city of Abae.[1][2] They migrated to the island of Euboea.[1] Afterwards, it became known as Abantia or Abantis.[3][4] They also lived in Argos, Chalcis, Histiaea, Sikion, Cerinthus, Dios, Styra, Phocis, Epirus, and Illyria.[5][6] Arethousa, daughter of Hyperes, is said to have mothered Abas with Poseidon. According to myth Abas became the first king of the Abantes.[7][8] Abas had a son named Chalkodon who became the second king of the Abantes. He was killed by Amphitryon whilst besieging Thebes. His son was Elephenor, who became the third king of the Abantes.[9][10] In the Iliad, Homer mentions the Abantes among the Greek allies in the Trojan War.[11][12] Their leader was Elephenor. The Trojan warrior Agenor killed Elephenor.[13] According to Homer they fought on the Greek side in the Trojan War with 40 warships. The Abantes had a reputation for being fierce spearmen and a warlike people.[14][15] When the Trojan War concluded, the Abantes wandered around for a while, and finally settled in the region of Thesprotia.[1] Herodotus states that many Abantes from Euboea had established colonies in Chios and Asia Minor.[1][2] Homer described the Abantes wearing their hair short in the front and long in the back.[16] This style of haircut was designed to prevent enemy warriors from grabbing their hair.[17][18][19]

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.[20] Another colony was sent to Chios, but eventually it was defeated and the survivors forced to flee.[21]

References

  1. [1]
    Protopsaltis, Demetrios (2012). An Encyclopedic Chronology of Greece and Its History. p. 63. ISBN 978-1-4691-4001-8.
  2. [2]
    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"
  3. [3]
    Dowden, Ken (2014-03-18). Death and the Maiden: Girls' Initiation Rites in Greek Mythology. Routledge. p. 162. ISBN 978-1-317-74546-4.
  4. [4]
    Bagnall, Roger S; Brodersen, Kai; Champion, Craige B; Erskine, Andrew; Huebner, Sabine R, eds. (2013-01-21). The Encyclopedia of Ancient History (1 ed.). Wiley. doi:10.1002/9781444338386.wbeah02001. ISBN 978-1-4051-7935-5.
  5. [5]
    Murray, Augustus (1924). "Illiad". ToposText. Archived from the original on July 3, 2022. Retrieved 2023-02-03.
  6. [6]
    Jr, Raymond F. Person; Wooffitt, Robin; Rae, John P. (2021-12-30). Bridging the Gap Between Conversation Analysis and Poetics: Studies in Talk-In-Interaction and Literature Twenty-Five Years after Jefferson. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-000-53328-6.
  7. [7]
    Hard, Robin (2019-12-09). The Routledge Handbook of Greek Mythology. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-317-22806-6.
  8. [8]
    Hyginus, Fabulae 157
  9. [9]
    Grant, Michael; Hazel, John (2004-08-02). Who's Who in Classical Mythology. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-134-50942-3.
  10. [10]
    Smith, William (1867). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. C.C. Little and J. Brown. p. 9.
  11. [11]
    Homer. Iliad, 2.536–542.
  12. [12]
    Carvalho, Joaquim (2006). Religion, Ritual and Mythology: Aspects of Identity Formation in Europe. PLUS, Pisa University Press. ISBN 978-88-8492-404-9.
  13. [13]
    Homer. Iliad, 4.463-472.
  14. [14]
    Tsetskhladze, G. R. (2018-07-17). Ancient Greeks West and East. BRILL. p. 123. ISBN 978-90-04-35125-7.
  15. [15]
    Wheeler, Everett L. (2017-05-15). The Armies of Classical Greece. Routledge. p. 169. ISBN 978-1-351-89459-3.
  16. [16]
    Dodd, David; Faraone, Christopher A. (2013-09-05). Initiation in Ancient Greek Rituals and Narratives: New Critical Perspectives. Routledge. p. 123. ISBN 978-1-135-14365-7.
  17. [17]
    Boardman, John (1973). "Heroic Haircuts". The Classical Quarterly. 23 (2): 196–197. doi:10.1017/S0009838800036661. ISSN 1471-6844. S2CID 246879334.
  18. [18]
    Almagor, Eran; Skinner, Joseph (2013-10-24). Ancient Ethnography: New Approaches. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4725-3759-1.
  19. [19]
    Anthon, Charles (1841). A Classical Dictionary: Containing an Account of the Principal Proper Names Mentioned in Ancient Authors, and Intended to Elucidate All the Important Points Connected with the Geography, History, Biography, Mythology, and Fine Arts of the Greeks and Romans. Together with an Account of Coins, Weights, and Measures, with Tabular Values of the Same. Harper & Brothers. p. 4.
  20. [20]
    Pausanias. Description of Greece, 5.22.4.
  21. [21]
    Pausanias. Description of Greece, 7.4.9.
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