View source for Abae

{{Short description|Ancient town in the northeastern corner of ancient Phocis, in Greece}}
{{Infobox historic site
| name                  = 
| native_name           = Ἄβαι
| native_name_lang       = Ancient Greek
| other_name        = Kalapodi
| image                 = File:Αρχαιολογικός χώρος Καλαποδίου.jpg
| image_size            = 280px
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| caption               = The archaeological site
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| map_type              = Greece
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| image_map_size        = 280px
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| coordinates           = {{coord|38|38|13.46|N|22|53|44.81|E|display=inline, title|type:landmark_source:dewiki}}<!--{{Coord|38.5957|22.9053|format=dms|display=inline, title}}{{coord|38|34|49|N|22|54|54|E|display=inline, title|type:landmark_source:dewiki}}-->
| gbgridref             = 
| map_dot_label         = Abae
| location              = [[Phocis (ancient region)|Ancient Phocis]]
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}}

'''Abae''' ({{langx|grc|Ἄβαι}}, ''{{Lang|grc-latn|Abai}}'')<ref>{{harvnb|Avery|1962|p=1}}</ref>{{efn-lr | The ancient history of the site is derived from references in ancient works. There is no continuous history. These references are called fragments. The Topos Text Project has undertaken to collect these fragments, combined with archaeological information, on various topics of ancient history. It has found at least 19 on Abae: {{cite web | title=Apollo of Abae (phthiotis) 19 Kalapodi | publisher=Topos Text | url=https://topostext.org/place/386229SAba | access-date=22 September 2020}} For example, one from {{Cite Stephanus|''s.v. Abae''}} states that Abae is "a city of the Phokians, where there is a sanctuary of Apollo. This was the oracle before the one in Delphi." The s.v. stands for sub verso, "under the heading."}} was an ancient town in the northeastern corner of [[ancient Phocis]], in [[Greece]], near the frontiers of the [[Opuntian Locrians]], said to have been built by the [[ancient Argos|Argive]] [[Abas (son of Lynceus)|Abas]], son of [[Lynceus]] and [[Hypermnestra]], and grandson of [[Danaus]]. This bit of legend suggests an origin or at least an existence in the [[Bronze Age]], and sites protohistory supports a continued existence in [[Iron-Age]] antiquity. It was famous for its [[oracle]] of [[Apollo]] [[Abaeus]],<ref name="DGRBM">{{harvnb|Schmitz|2013|p=1}}</ref> one of those consulted by [[Croesus]], king of [[Lydia]],<ref name = Her>{{harvnb|Herodotus|1920|p=53}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Hesychius|Schmidt|1867|p=2}}</ref><ref name = p2/> and [[Mardonius (general)|Mardonius]], among others.<ref>{{harvnb|Bell|1989|p=1}}</ref> The site of the oracle was rediscovered at [[Kalapodi]] and excavated in modern times{{r|pierattini2022|p=31}}. The results confirm an archaeological existence dating from the Bronze Age, as is suggested by the lore, and continuous occupation from the [[Aegean civilization|Early Bronze Age]] to the [[Greece in the Roman era|Roman Period]]{{r|pierattini2022|p=31}}.

==History==
Before the Persian invasion, the temple was richly adorned with treasuries and votive offerings.<ref>{{harvnb|Herodotus|2003|p=33}}</ref> It was twice destroyed by fire; the first time by the [[ancient Persia|Persians]] in the invasion of [[Xerxes I of Persia|Xerxes]] in their march through Phocis (480&nbsp;BCE), and a second time by the [[ancient Boeotia|Boeotians]] in the [[Third Sacred War|Sacred or Phocian War]] in 346&nbsp;BCE. It was rebuilt by [[Hadrian]].<ref>{{harvnb|Smith|2011|p=1}}</ref> Hadrian caused a smaller temple to be built near the ruins of the former one. In the new temple there were three ancient statues in brass of Apollo, [[Leto]], and [[Artemis]], which had been dedicated by the Abaei, and had perhaps been saved from the former temple. The ancient [[agora]] and the ancient theatre still existed in the town in the time of [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]]. According to the statement of [[Aristotle]], as preserved by [[Strabo]], [[Thracians]] from the Phocian town of Abae immigrated to [[Euboea]], and gave to the inhabitants the name of Abantes.<ref>{{Cite Pausanias|10|35|1}} ''et seq.''</ref><ref>{{Cite Herodotus|1.46, 8.134, 33.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite Diodorus|16.530}}</ref><ref>{{Cite Strabo|pp. 423, 445}}</ref><!--<ref name=Stephanus/>-->

==Oracle==
Despite destruction of the town, the oracle was still consulted, e.g. by the [[Thebes (Greece)|Thebans]] before the [[Battle of Leuctra]] in 371 BCE.<ref name=p2>{{harvnb|Pausanias|1898|p=439}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Henderson|2000|p=351}}</ref> The temple, along with the village of the same name, may have escaped destruction during the Third Sacred War (355–346 BCE), due to the respect given to the inhabitants;<ref>{{harvnb|Henderson|2000a|p=381}}</ref> however, it was in a very dilapidated state when seen by Pausanias in the 2nd century CE,<ref name = PausX>{{harvnb|Pausanias|1898|p=440}}</ref> though some restoration, as well as the building of a new temple, was undertaken by Emperor Hadrian.<ref name=EB>{{harvnb|Hoiberg|2010|p=7}}</ref>

The sanctity of the shrine ensured certain privileges to the people of Abae,<ref>{{harvnb|Bilco|1882|p=172}}</ref> and these were confirmed by the Romans. The Persians did not reflect this opinion and would destroy all the temples that they overcame, Abae included. The Greeks pledged not to rebuild them as a memorial of the ravages of the Persians.<ref>{{harvnb|Henderson|2000a|p=581}}</ref>

Among the most exciting recent archaeological discoveries in Greece is the recognition that the sanctuary site near the modern village of [[Kalapodi]] is not only the site of the oracle of Apollon at Abae, but that it was in constant use for cult practices from early [[Helladic period|Mycenaean]] times to the Roman period. It is thus the first site where the archaeology confirms the continuity of [[Mycenaean religion|Mycenaean]] and Classical Greek religion, which has been inferred from the [[List of Mycenaean deities|presence of the names]] of Classical Greek divinities on [[Linear B]] texts from [[Pylos]] and [[Knossos]].{{efn-lr | See reports of the excavations of the German Archaeological Institute in Archaeological Reports for 2008/9 43-45, Archaeological Reports for 2007/8 47-49, Archaeological Reports for 2006/7 41-43, Archaeological Reports for 2005/6 68-69, Archaeological Reports for 2004/5 55-56.}}

The fortified site described below, originally identified as Abae by Colonel [[William Leake]] in the 19th century, is much more likely to be that of the Sanctuary of [[Artemis]] at [[Hyampolis]]:

"The [[polygon]]al walls of the acropolis may still be seen in a fair state of preservation on a circular hill standing about 500 ft. [150 m] above the little plain of [[Exarchos, Phthiotis|Exarcho]]; one gateway remains, and there are also traces of town walls below. The temple site was on a low spur of the hill, below the town. An early terrace wall supports a precinct in which are a [[stoa]] and some remains of temples; these were excavated by the [[British School at Athens]] in 1894, but very little was found."<ref>{{EB1911|wstitle=Abae|volume=1|page=6|inline=1}}</ref>

The oracle was mentioned in Oedipus Rex.<ref>Sophocles, ''Oedipus Tyrannus'' 897</ref>

==Attribution==
{{DGRG|wstitle=Abae}}

==Notes==
{{notelist-lr|20em}}

==References==
{{reflist|20em|refs=
<ref name="pierattini2022">
{{cite book
 | first = Alessandro
 | last = Pierattini
 | location = Cambridge
 | title = The Origins of Greek Temple Architecture
 | publisher = Cambridge University Press
 | year = 2022
}}
</ref>
}}

==Reference bibliography==
{{Refbegin|2}}
* {{cite encyclopedia | editor-last = Avery | editor-first = Catherine A. | encyclopedia = The New Century Classical Handbook | publisher = Appleton-Century-Crofts, Inc. | location = New York, NY | year = 1962 | lccn = 62-10069 | title = Abae }}
* {{cite book | last = Bell | first = Robert E. | title = Place-Names in Classical Mythology | publisher = [[ABC-CLIO]] | year = 1989 | location = Santa Barbara, CA | isbn = 978-0874365078 | url-access = registration | url = https://archive.org/details/placenamesinclas00bell }}
* {{cite journal | last = Bilco | first = J. | journal = Bulletin de Correspondance Hellénique | title = Lettre du roi Philippe aux habitants d'Abae | volume = 6 | pages = 171–175 | year = 1882 | doi = 10.3406/bch.1882.4191 | url = http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/bch_0007-4217_1882_num_6_1_4191 }}
* {{cite book | editor-last = Henderson | editor-first = Jeffrey | title = Pausanian Description of Greece | year = 2000 | orig-year = 1926 | translator = W. H. S. Jones | translator2 = H. A. Ormerod | volume = II: Books III-V | publisher = Harvard University Press | location = Cambridge, UK | isbn = 0-674-99207-5 }}
* {{cite book | editor-last = Henderson | editor-first = Jeffrey | title = Pausanian Description of Greece | year = 2000a | orig-year = 1935 | translator = W. H. S. Jones | translator2 = H. A. Ormerod | volume = IV: Books VIII §22 — X | publisher = Harvard University Press | location = Cambridge, UK | isbn = 0-674-99328-4 }}
* {{cite book | author = Herodotus | author-link = Herodotus | translator = Godley, A. D. | year = 1920 | title = Herodotus | publisher = William Heinemann | location = London, UK | volume = I: Books I and II | isbn = 9780674991316 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=8RsMAAAAIAAJ&q=herodotus+histories }}
* {{cite book | author1 = Herodotus | author-link = Herodotus | editor-last = Powell | editor-first = J. Enoch | title = Herodotus, Book VIII | publisher = Duckworth Publishers | year = 2003 | location = London, UK | orig-year = 1939 | isbn = 978-0862920043 | language = grc | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Bu8VAAAAYAAJ&q=abae&pg=PA177 }}
* {{cite encyclopedia | last1 = Hesychius | last2 = Schmidt | first2 = Mauricius | year = 1867 | encyclopedia = Hesychii Alexandrini lexicon | language = grc | title = Ἄβαι | publisher = Sumptibus Hermanni Dufftii (Libraria Maukiana) | author-link = Hesychius of Alexandria | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=PNI9AAAAcAAJ&q=%22Hesychii+Alexandrini+lexicon%22 | edition = 2nd }}
* {{cite encyclopedia | editor-last = Hoiberg | editor-first = Dale H. | encyclopedia = Encyclopædia Britannica| title = Abae | edition = 15th | year = 2010 | publisher = Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. | volume = 1: A-ak Bayes | location = Chicago, Illinois | isbn = 978-0-85229-961-6 | lccn = 2002113989 }}
* {{cite book | author1 = Pausanias | author-link = Pausanias (geographer) | title = Pausanias's Description of Greece | translator = Frazer, J. G. | publisher = Macmillan and Company, Limited | location = London, UK | year = 1898 | volume = V }}
* {{Cite encyclopedia|last=Schmitz |first=Leonhard |title=Abaeus |editor-last=Smith |editor-first=William |encyclopedia=[[Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology]] |volume=1: Abaeus - Dysponteus |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge, UK |year=2013 |orig-year=1867 |url=http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/0010.html |series=Cambridge Library Collection - Classics |isbn=978-1108060820  |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080714093030/http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/0010.html |archive-date=2008-07-14 }}
* {{cite encyclopedia | last = Smith | first = William | author-link = William Smith (lexicographer) | title = Abæ | encyclopedia = A new classical dictionary of biography, mythology, and geography, partly based on the "Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology" | publisher = Nabu Press | year = 2011 | orig-year = 1850 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=5_oGAAAAQAAJ | isbn = 978-1172756001 }}
{{Refend}}

==External links==
{{EB1911 poster|Abae}}
{{Commons category}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20120318060323/http://www.dainst.org/en/project/kalapodi?ft=28 German Archaeological Institute] (German)
* [http://www.lisa.gerda-henkel-stiftung.de/projectvideo_diary.php?nav_id=931&video_id=1101 10-part documentary series] (German)
* [https://chronique.efa.gr/index.php/fiches/voir/168/ Excavation archive] of the [[British School at Athens]] and [[École française d’Athènes|French School at Athens]] (English and French)
{{Ancient Greece topics}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Ancient Greek cities]]
[[Category:Cities in ancient Greece]]
[[Category:Populated places in ancient Phocis]]
[[Category:Former populated places in Greece]]
[[Category:Classical oracles]]