Abdera, Thrace

Abdera Άβδηρα
Municipality
Remains of the ancient city of Abdera.
Abdera Location within the region
Coordinates: 40°56′N 24°58′E / 40.933°N 24.967°E / 40.933; 24.967
Country	Greece
Geographic region	Thrace
Administrative region	Eastern Macedonia and Thrace
Regional unit	Xanthi
Government
• Mayor	Georgios Tsitiridis[1] (since 2014)
Area
• Municipality	352.0 km2 (135.9 sq mi)
• Municipal unit	162.0 km2 (62.5 sq mi)
Elevation	41 m (135 ft)
Population  (2021)[2]
• Municipality	17,610
• Density	50/km2 (130/sq mi)
• Municipal unit	2,799
• Municipal unit density	17/km2 (45/sq mi)
• Community	1,172
Demonym(s)	Abderite, Abderian
Time zone	UTC+2 (EET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+3 (EEST)
Vehicle registration	AH

Abdera (Greek: Άβδηρα) is a municipality in the Xanthi regional unit of Thrace, Greece. In classical antiquity, it was a major Greek polis on the Thracian coast.

The ancient polis is to be distinguished from the municipality, which was named in its honor. The polis lay 17 km east-northeast of the mouth of the Nestos River, almost directly opposite the island of Thasos. It was a colony placed in previously unsettled Thracian territory, not then a part of Hellas, during the age of Greek colonization. The city that developed from it became of major importance in ancient Greece. After the 4th century AD it declined, contracted to its acropolis, and was abandoned, never to be reoccupied except by archaeologists.

During the Early Middle Ages, a new settlement emerged near the ancient city. It was called Polystylon (Greek: Πολύστυλον),^[3] and later considered as the New Abdera (Greek: Νέα Άβδηρα). In 2011 the modern municipality of Abdera was synoecized from three previous municipalities comprising a number of modern settlements. The ancient site remains in it as a ruin. The municipality of Abdera has 17,610 inhabitants (2021). The seat of the municipality is the town Genisea.^[4]