Abaris the Hyperborean was a legendary or semi-legendary sage, healer and priest known to the ancient Greeks. In Greek mythology, according to tradition, the Hyperboreans were a mythical people who lived to the far north of Greece, near the Ural Mountains. ... Ancient Greece is the term used to describe the Greek-speaking world in ancient times. ...

According to Herodotus (4.36) he was said to have traveled around the world with an arrow, eating no food. Plato (Charmides 158C) classes him amongst the "Thracian physicians", who practice medicine upon the soul as well as the body by means of "incantations" (epodai). A temple to Persephone at Sparta was attributed to Abaris (Pausanias 9.10). Bust of Herodotus at Naples Herodotus of Halicarnassus (Greek: Ήροδοτος, Herodotos) was a historian who lived in the 5th century BC (484 BC-ca. ... Plato Plato (Greek: Πλάτων, Plátōn) (c. ... The Thracians were an Indo-European people, inhabitants of Thrace and adjacent lands (present-day Bulgaria, Romania, Republic of Moldova, northeastern Greece, European Turkey and northwestern asiatic Turkey, eastern Serbia and parts of Republic of Macedonia). ... A Statue of Persephone In Greek mythology, Persephone (Greek Περσεφόνη, Classical Greek Persephónē, Modern Greek Persefóni) was the queen of the Underworld, the Kore or young maiden, and the daughter of Demeter. ... Sparta (Σπάρτη) was a city in ancient Greece, whose territory included, in Classical times, all Laconia and Messenia, and which was the most powerful state of the Peloponnesus. ... Pausanias was Greek traveller and geographer of the 2nd century A.D., who lived in the times of Hadrian, Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius. ...

A particularly rich trove of anecdote is found in Iamblichus's Vita Pythagorica. Here, Abaris is said to have purified Sparta and Knossos, among other cities, from plagues (VP 92-93). Abaris also appears in a climactic scene alongside Pythagoras at the court of the Sicilian tyrant Phalaris. The two sages discuss divine matters, and urge the obstinate tyrant towards virtue (ibid. 215-221). Iamblicus also (disapprovingly) attributes to Abaris a special expertise at animal sacrifice (ibid. 93). Iamblichus (ca. ... Sparta (Σπάρτη) was a city in ancient Greece, whose territory included, in Classical times, all Laconia and Messenia, and which was the most powerful state of the Peloponnesus. ... Knossos Knossos (35°18′N 25°10′E; alternative spellings Knossus, Cnossus, Gnossus, Greek Κνωσσός; see also List of traditional Greek place names) is the largest Bronze Age archaeological site on Crete, probably the ceremonial and political center of the Minoan culture. ... This topic is considered to be an essential subject on Wikipedia. ... Sicilian disambiguates here; see also Sicilian language or Sicilian Defence. ... A tyrant (from Greek τύραννος týrannos) is a usurper of rightful power, possessing absolute power and ruling by tyranny. ... For the genus of grass, see Phalaris (grass). ... Sacrifice is the practice of offering food, or the lives of animals or people to the gods, as an act of propitiation or worship. ...

The Suda attributes a number of books to Abaris, including a volume of Scythian Oracles in dactylic hexameter, a prose theogony, a work on purifications, and an account of Apollo's visit to the Hyperboreans. Suda (Σουδα or alternatively Suidas) is a massive 10th century Byzantine Greek historical encyclopædia of the ancient Mediterranean world. ... Dactylic hexameter is a form of meter in poetry or a rhythmic scheme. ... Theogony is a poem by Hesiod describing the origins of the gods of Greek mythology. ... Statue of Apollo at the British Museum Apollo (Greek: Απόλλων, Apóllōn; Απελλων) is a god in Greek and Roman mythology, the son of Zeus and Leto, and the twin of Artemis (goddess of the hunt), one of the most important and many-sided of the Olympian divinities. ...

References

• Plato's Charmides in the most famous passage concerning Αβάρις Υπερβορέος.
• History of Herodotus, in the classical translation of George Rawlinson (ed. and tr., vol. 3, Book 4, Chapters 2-36, 46-82. New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1885.)
• Plato. Platonis Opera, ed. John Burnet. Oxford University Press. 1903.

Wikisource has original 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica text related to:

Abaris

This article incorporates text from the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica, a publication in the public domain. Plato Plato (Greek: Πλάτων, Plátōn) (c. ... The Charmides is a dialogue of Plato, discussing the nature and utility of temperance. ... Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Wikisource – The Free Library – is a Wikimedia project to build a free, wiki library of primary source texts, along with translations of source-texts into any language and other supporting materials. ... The 11th edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica (1910-1911) is the most famous edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica. ... The public domain comprises the body of all creative works and other knowledge—writing, artwork, music, science, inventions, and others—in which no person or organization has any proprietary interest. ...