Map of the Roman Empire - Abydos

Abydos
N-5 on the Map

Abydos Greek Harbour City on the Hellespont near Canakkale.

Abydos - Abydos （Aβυδος).
A town of the Troad on the Hellespont, and a Milesian colony, nearly opposite to Sestos, but a little lower down the stream. The bridge of boats which Xerxes (q.v.) constructed over the Hellespont, B.C. 480, commenced a little higher up than Abydos, and touched the European shore between Sestos and Madytus. - Harry Thurston Peck. Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities. New York. Harper and Brothers. 1898.

ABY�DUS （Aβυδος, Abydum, Plin. Nat. 5.32: Eth. Aβυδηνός, Abydenus), a city of Mysia on the Hellespontus, nearly opposite Sestus on the European shore. It is mentioned as one of the towns in alliance with the Trojans. (Il. 2.836.) Aidos or Avido, a modern village on the Hellespont, may be the site of Abydos, though the conclusion from a name is not certain. Abydus stood at the narrowest point of the Hellespontus, where the channel is only 7 stadia wide, and it had a small port. It was probably a Thracian town originally, but it became a Milesian colony. (Thuc. 8.61.) At a point a little north of this town Xerxes placed his bridge of boats, by which his troops were conveyed across the channel to the opposite town of Sestus, B.C. 480. (Hdt. 7.33.) The bridge of boats extended, according to Herodotus, from Abydus to a promontory on the European shore, between Sestus and Madytus. The town possessed a small territory which contained some gold mines, but Strabo speaks of them as exhausted. It was burnt by Darius, the son of Hystaspes, after his Scythian expedition, for fear that the Scythians, who were said to be in pursuit of him, should take possession of it (Strab. p. 591); but it must soon have recovered from this calamity, for it was afterwards a town of some note; and Herodotus (5.117) states that it was captured by the Persian general, Daurises, with other cities on the Hellespont (B.C. 498), shortly after the commencement of the Ionian revolt. In B.C. 411, Abydus revolted from Athens and joined Dercyllidas, the Spartan commander in those parts. (Thuc. 8.62.) Subsequently, Abydus made a vigorous defence against Philip II., king of Macedonia, before it surrendered. On the conclusion of the war with Philip (B.C. 196), the Romans declared Abydus, with other Asiatic cities, to be free. (Liv. 33.30.) The names of Abydus and Sestus are coupled together in the old story of Hero and Leander, who is said to have swam across the channel to visit his mistress at Sestus. The distance between Abydus and Sestus, from port to port, was about 30 stadia, according to Strabo. - Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) William Smith, LLD, Ed.