ABANTIAS, or ABANTIS, in Ancient Geography, a name of the island Eubœa in the Egean Sea, extending about 100 miles along the coast of Greece, 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 orietis Keuonitis, 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.