ABANTIAS, or ABANTIS (anc. geog.), a name of the island Eubœa in the Egean sea, extending along the coast of Greece, from the promontory Sium of Attica to Thessaly, 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 ὁρῶντες Ἀβαντίας, from wearing their hair long behind, having in a battle experienced the inconvenience of wearing long hair before. From cutting their hair before, they were called Curetes.