Abantide, Negroponte. [1] See Abantes.

1. The second-century Greek geographer Pausanias, in his Description of Greece, V, 22, mentions the term Abantide , which is rarely used, but Diderot does not appear to have consulted him. Pausanias offers a completely different explanation of its application from Diderot’s mistaken synonymy of the term with Negroponte (or Euboea). Pausanias writes: “[T]he country called Abantide and the city of Thronion were part of the Thesprotie of Epirus along the Ceraunian Mountains [in modern Albania—M.K.J.]. The Greek fleets having been scattered on their return from Troy, the Locrians from Thronion, at the mouth of the Boagrios river, and the Abantes of Euboea, each with their eight ships, were swept along toward the Ceraunian Mountains. They settled there, founded the city of Thronion, and by a mutual accord gave the name Abantide to all the portion of territory that they shared. But later, they were expelled from it after having been defeated in war by their Apollonian neighbours” (quoted by Jean-Luc Lamboley, “Myth as an Instrument for the Study of Greek and Indigenous Identities II: Myths in Western Greek Colonies,” in Joaquim Carvalho, ed., Religion, Ritual and Mythology: Aspects of Identity Formation in Europe, (Pisa: Edizioni Plus/Pisa University Press, 2006), p. 148.