:''For other cities with the same name see [[Abdera]]''

[[Image:Abdera location.jpg|thumb|250px|Location of Abdera and its two successive [[metropolis]]es, [[Clazomenae]] and [[Teos]].]]
[[Image:Abderacoin.png|thumb|200px|right|The chief coin type, with griffon.]]
[[Image:Abdera.JPG|thumb|Ruins of the ancient city of Abdera.]]

'''Abdera''' (Άβδηρα) was a town on the coast of [[Thrace]] 17 km east-northeast of the mouth of the [[Nestos]], and almost opposite [[Thasos]]. At coordinates {{coor dm|40|57|N|24|59|E}}, the site now lies in the [[Xanthi Prefecture]] of modern [[Greece]]. The current municipality of Abdera, or Avdira, has 3,917 inhabitants (2001).

Its mythical foundation was attributed to [[Heracles]] (on behalf of his fallen friend [[Abderus]]), its historical one to a colony from [[Klazomenai]]. This historical founding was traditionally dated to [[654 BC]], which is unverified, although evidence in [[7th century BC]] [[Pottery of ancient Greece|Greek pottery]] tends to support it.<ref name="OCD">{{cite encyclopedia
| last = Hornblower
| first = Simon
| authorlink =
| title = Abdera
| encyclopedia = The Oxford Classical Dictionary
| volume =
| pages = 1
| publisher = Oxford University Press
| location = Oxford
| date = 1996
| url =
| accessdate = }}</ref> But its prosperity dates from [[544 BC]], when the majority of the people of Teos (including the poet [[Anacreon]]) migrated to Abdera to escape the [[Iran|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.

In [[513 BC]] and [[512 BC]], the Persians conquered Abdera. In [[492 BC]], the Persians again conquered Abdera, this time under [[Darius I]]. It later became part of the [[Delian League]] and fought on the side of Athens in the [[Peloponnesian war]].

Abdera was a wealthy city, the third richest in the League, due to its production of corn and status as a prime port for trade with the interior of Thrace and the [[Odrysian kingdom]].<ref name="OCD"/>

A valuable prize, the city was repeatedly sacked: by the [[Triballi]] in [[376 BC]], [[Philip II of Macedon]] in [[350 BC]]; later by [[Lysimachus|Lysimachos of Thrace]], the [[Seleucid Empire|Seleucids]], the [[Ptolemaic dynasty|Ptolemies]], and again by the Macedonians. In [[170 BC]] the Roman armies and those of [[Eumenes II|Eumenes II of Pergamon]] besieged and sacked it.

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,<ref>Cicero, ''[[Epistulae ad Atticum]]''. 4.17.3, 7.7.4.</ref> but it counted among its citizens the philosophers [[Democritus]] and [[Protagoras]], and historian and philosopher [[Hecataeus of Abdera]].

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 harbor; on the southwestern hills are the remains of the medieval settlement of [[Polystylon]].

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

==Sources==
*Grant, Michael. ''A Guide to the Ancient World''. Michael Grant Publications, 1986.

===Notes===
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://icarus.umkc.edu/sandbox/perseus/pecs/page.5.a.php Richard Stillwell, ed. ''Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites'', 1976:] "Abdera, Thrace, Greece"
*http://www.culture.gr/2/21/211/21119a/e211sa05.html (English)
*http://www.avdera.gr/ (Greek)
{{Wikisource1911Enc|Abdera}}
{{1911}}
{{Catholic}}
{{Xanthi}}

[[Category:Xanthi Prefecture]]
[[Category:Cities and towns in Greece]]
[[Category:Titular Sees]]
[[Category:Ancient Greek cities]]

[[ar:أبديرة]]
[[bg:Абдера]]
[[ca:Abdera]]
[[cs:Abdéra]]
[[da:Abdera, Thrakien]]
[[de:Abdera]]
[[el:Άβδηρα]]
[[es:Abdera]]
[[fr:Abdère (ville)]]
[[gl:Abdera]]
[[ko:압데라]]
[[it:Abdera]]
[[he:אבדרה]]
[[la:Abdera (Thracia)]]
[[pl:Abdera (kolonia grecka)]]
[[pt:Abdera]]
[[ro:Abdera, Tracia]]
[[ru:Абдеры]]
[[sk:Abdéra]]
[[sr:Абдера]]
[[fi:Abdera]]
[[sv:Abdera]]