Abdēra, a town of Hispania Bætica, built by the Carthaginians. Strabo, bk. 3.——A maritime city of Thrace, built by Hercules, in memory of Abderus, one of his favourites. The Clazomenians and Teians beautified it. Some suppose that Abdera the sister of Diomedes built it. The air was so unwholesome, and the inhabitants of such a sluggish disposition, that stupidity was commonly called Abderitica mens. It gave birth, however, to Democritus, Protagoras, Anaxarchus, and Hecatæus. Mela, bk. 2, ch. 2.—Cicero, Letters to Atticus, bk. 4, ltr. 16.—Herodotus, bk. 1, ch. 186.—Martial, bk. 10, ltr. 25.
Abdēria, a town of Spain. Apollodorus, bk. 2, ch. 5.
Abderītes, a people of Pæonia, obliged to leave their country on account of the great number of rats and frogs which infested it. Justin, bk. 15, ch. 2.
Abdērus, a man of Opus in Locris, arm-bearer to Hercules, torn to pieces by the mares of Diomedes, which the hero had entrusted to his care when going to war against the Bistones. Hercules built a city, which, in honour of his friend, he called Abdera. Apollodorus, bk. 2, ch. 5.—Philostratus, bk. 2, ch. 25.
Abeătæ, a people of Achaia, probably the inhabitants of Abia. Pausanias, bk. 4, ch. 30.—Pliny, bk. 4, ch. 6.
Abella, a town of Campania, whose inhabitants were called Abellani. Its nuts, called avellanæ, and also its apples, were famous. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 7, li. 740.—Justin, bk. 20, ch. 5.—Silius Italicus, bk. 8, li. 544.
Abelux, a noble of Saguntum, who favoured the party of the Romans against Carthage. Livy, bk. 22, ch. 22.
Abenda, a town of Caria, whose inhabitants were the first who raised temples to the city of Rome. Livy, bk. 45, ch. 6.
Abia, formerly Ire, a maritime town of Messenia, one of the seven cities promised to Achilles by Agamemnon. It is called after Abia, daughter of Hercules and nurse of Hyllus. Pausanias, bk. 4, ch. 30.—Strabo, bk. 8.—Homer, Iliad, bk. 9, li. 292.
Abii, a nation between Scythia and Thrace. They lived upon milk, were fond of celibacy, and enemies to war. Homer, Iliad, bk. 13, li. 6.—According to Curtius, bk. 7, ch. 6, they surrendered to Alexander, after they had been independent since the reign of Cyrus.