Abdera [key], town, NE Greece, in Thrace, near the mouth of the Mesta River. It is a small agricultural settlement. Founded (c.650 b.c.) by colonists from Clazomenae, it was destroyed by the Thracians (c.550 b.c.) and rebuilt (c.500 b.c.) by refugees from Teos. The town passed to Macedon in 352 b.c. and in 198 b.c. became a free city under Roman rule. The term Abderite was used by the ancient Greeks as a synonym for stupid. However, the philosophers Protagoras, Leucippus, and Democritus lived there.
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