Abia (mythology)

Abia was honored by the Heraclid Cresphontes for having built a temple to Heracles in Ira, by changing of the name of the town of Ira to Abia. Abia was one of the seven cities promised by Agamemnon to Achilles in his attempt to convince him to rejoin the Trojan War. At a later time, Abia would join the Achaean League.

In Pausanias' Description of Greece the origin of the city's name and the stories surrounding it is explained:

"There is in our time a city Abia in Messenia on the coast, some twenty stades distant from the Choerius valley. They say that this was formerly called Ire and was one of the seven cities which Homer says that Agamemnon promised to Achilles. When Hyllus and the Dorians were defeated by the Achaeans, it is said that Abia, nurse of Glenus the son of Heracles, withdrew to Ire, and settling there built a temple to Heracles, and that afterwards for this reason Cresphontes, amongst other honors assigned to her, renamed the city after Abia. There was a notable temple of Heracles here, and also of Asclepius."[2]

• Pausanias, Description of Greece with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
• Pausanias, Graeciae Descriptio. 3 vols. Leipzig, Teubner. 1903. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Schmitz, Leonhard (1870). "Abia". In Smith, William (ed.). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. 1. p. 2.