Abdera (now Polystilo), an ancient city of Thrace, on the S. coast, at or E. of the mouth of the river Nestus. It was a flourishing town in the times of the Persian wars with Greece, and preserved its importance under the Ro-nians. Its inhabitants were proverbial for their ignorance and stupidity, from which ill repute they were not saved by the lustre that Demo-critus, Protagoras, Anaxarchus, and Hecatseus threw around the name of the town as their birthplace. Lucian, La Fontaine, and Wieland have made them subjects of their satire. Coins of this city are numerous.