According to
Herodotus, he was said to have traveled around the world with an
arrow symbolizing Apollo, eating no food.
Heraclides Ponticus (c. 390 BC–c. 310 BC) wrote that Abaris
flew on it.
Plato (
Charmides 158C) classes him amongst the "
Thracian physicians" who practice medicine upon the soul as well as the body by means of "
incantations" (,
epodaí). A temple to
Persephone at
Sparta was attributed to Abaris by
Pausanias (9.10). Alan H. Griffiths compares Abaris to
Aristeas in terms of being a "
shamanistic missionary and savior-figure" and notes Pindar places Abaris during the time of
Croesus.
Phalaris A particularly rich trove of anecdotes 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). Iamblichus also attributes a special expertise at
extispicy to Abaris, the art of divination through the examination of anomalies in the entrails of animals. The
Suda attributes a number of books to Abaris, including a volume of
Scythian Oracles in
dactylic hexameter, a prose
theogony, a poem on the marriage of the river Hebrus, a work on purifications, and an account of
Apollo's visit to the Hyperboreans. Such works, however, if they were really current in ancient times, were no more genuine than his reputed
correspondence with Phalaris the tyrant. He is among the authors (=
FGrHist 34) whose fragments were collected in
Felix Jacoby's
Fragmente der griechischen Historiker. A more securely historical Greco-Scythian philosopher, who travelled among the
Hellenes in the early sixth century, was
Anacharsis. Eighteenth century Bath architect John Wood, the Elder wrote about Abaris, and put forth the fanciful suggestion that he should be identified with King
Bladud. ==Modern impact==