Abrotonum

Abrotonum (Ancient Greek: Ἀβρότονον) Abrotonon, pronounced Avrotonon, is an ancient Greek name of Thracian origin, as well as the name of a plant.

• Abrotonon, 6th-century BC was a Thracian the mother of Themistocles.[1][2][3] There is an epigram preserved Book VII of Anthologia Palatina (Epitaphs):[4]

• Abrotonon, the name of a hetaera. Plutarch refers to an Abrotonon from Thrace in his Erotikos (Ἐρωτικός).[5] In the first dialogue of Dialogues of the Courtesans of Lucian the name of an hetaera named Abrotonon is also mentioned.[6]

• Abrotonum, a plant of this name is mentioned from Pliny the Elder in his work Natural History[7]
• Abrotonum, a Phoenician city on the coast of North Africa, in the district of Tripolitana, between the Syrtes, usually identified with Sabratha though Pliny makes them different places.[8]

References

1. Smith, William (1867), "Abrotonum", in Smith, William (ed.), Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, 1, Boston, MA, p. 3
2. , Plutarch Θεμιστοκλής (Themistocles), chapt. 1
   «νόθος δὲ πρὸς μητρός, ὡς λέγουσιν· Ἀβρότονον Θρήισσα γυνὴ γένος· ἀλλὰ τεκέσθαι τὸν μέγαν Ἕλλησίν φημί Θεμιστοκλέα. Φανίας μέντοι τὴν μητέρα τοῦ Θεμιστοκλέους οὐ Θρᾷτταν, ἀλλὰ Καρίνην, οὐδ' Ἀβρότονον ὄνομα, ἀλλ' Εὐτέρπην» (He was "nothos" (the word in translation means bastard, but in the context means that his parents were not both Athenian citizens) from the part of his mother, who was as they say, Avrotonon, a woman from Thrace, but she gave birth to the great of the Greeks, Themistocles)
3. Aelian, Varia Historia xii. 43 κεφ XLIII: Τινές εξ ασήμων περιφανείς γεγόνασι (Some are becoming great even though they come from unknown parents): «...Θεμιστοκλής δέ ο τούς βαρβάρους καταναυμαχήσας, και μόνος συνιείς τάς τών Θεών εν τοίς χρησμοίς φωνάς, Θράττης υιός ήν, καί εκαλείτο η μήτηρ αυτού Αβρότονον...» (Themistocles, who has fought in naval battles with the barbars, and only him has understood the Gods' voices from the oracles, was a son of a Thracian woman and his mother was called Avrotonon)
4. Anthologia Palatina, Epitaphs, Book 7, epigram 306 (AP VII 306), p. 391 at Anthologia Graeca: ad fidem codicis oliim Palatini nunc Parisini ex apographo Gothano edita, volume 1, Friedrich Jacobs, Opus impressum typis Hertelio-Breitkopfianis, Lipsiae, 1813
   Αδέσποτον (Unknown author's)
   Αβρότονον Θρύϊσσα γυνή πέλον· αλλά τεκέσθαι
   τον μέγαν Έλλησιν φημί Θεμιστοκλέα
   Avrotonon, Thracian woman she was, but she gave birth
   to the great Greek which we call Themistocles
5. Plutarchi Eroticus et Eroticae narrationes, Plutarch, Typis et impensis Friderici Schulthessii, 1836, «...Άρα ουχ κράτιστον εξ αγοράς γαμείν Αβρότονόν τινά Θρήισσαν... (...so isn't it best to .... Avrotonon, some Thracian picked up from the market... », p. 16
6. Lucian, Dialogues of the Courtesans 1
   , ΓΛΥΚΕΡΑ: Τὸν στρατιώτην, Θαΐ, τὸν Ἀκαρνάνα, ὃς πάλαι μὲν Ἀβρότονον εἶχε, μετὰ ταῦτα δὲ ἠράσθη ἐμοῦ, τὸν εὐπάρυφον λέγω, τὸν ἐν τήι χλαμύδι, οἶσθα αὐτόν, ἥ ἐπιλέλησαι τὸν ἄνθρωπον;
   Glykera to Thais: Thais, do you remember that soldier, the Acarnanian, who had in the past Avrotonon and after that he became my lover, the one who was dressing up, that one with the chlamys, or have you forgotten him?
7. Natural History, Pliny the Elder, vol. 4, chapt. 34, page. 334
8. Stephanus of Byzantium, s.v.; Plin., Natural History, vol. 5. ch. 4.

Sources

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, William, ed. (1870). "Abrotonum". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.
•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, William, ed. (1854–1857). "Abrotonum". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography. London: John Murray.