ABANTIAS, or ABANTIS, in Ancient Geography, a name of the island Eubœæ in the Egean sea, extending along the coast of Greece, from the promontory Sunium in Attica to Thessaly, and separated from Bœœtia 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 σπίδω Κεαντιῶες, from wearing their hair long behind, having in a battle experienced the inconvenience of wearing long hair be-
fore. From cutting their hair before, they were called Guretes.