It is interesting to notice that a garrison was placed in Abdera in direct contravention of the terms of the new confederacy (Meyer, Gesch.
Its mythical foundation was attributed to Heracles, its historical to a colony from Clazomenae in the 7th century B.C. But its prosperity dates from 544 B.C., when the majority of the people of Teos migrated to Abdera after the Ionian revolt to escape the Persian yoke (Herod.
The products of the interior were conveyed by the native Iberians to the maritime colonies, such as Abdera (Adra), Calpe (Gibraltar) or Malaca (Malaga), founded by the foreign merchants.
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The coast in the direction of the Euxine also was greatly feared by sailors, as the harbours were few and the sea proverbially tempestuous; but the southern shore was more attractive to navigators, and here we find the Greek colonies of Abdera and Mesambria on the Aegean, Perinthus on the Propontis, and, the most famous of all, Byzantium, at the meeting-point of that sea and the Bosporus.