ABANTIAS, or ABANTIS, a name of the island Eubœa, in the Egean sea, extending along the coast of Greece, from the promontory Sunium of Attica to Theffaly; and separated from Bœotia by a narrow strait, called Euripus. From its length the island was formerly called Macris: afterwards Abantias, or Abantis, from the Abantes, a people originally of Thrace, called by Homer ἄντες ἰσχυράς, from wearing their hair long behind, having in a battle experienced the inconvenience of wearing it long before; and from cutting their forelocks, they were called Curetes. (Abanteus, the epithet; Ovid.) See ABANTES.