Abaris was a
Scythian or
Hyperborean priest and prophet of
Apollo, who is said to have visited
Greece about
770 BC, or two or three centuries later, fleeing a
plague in Scythia. According to the legend, he travelled throughout the country, living without food and riding on a golden arrow, the gift of the god Apollo; he healed the sick, foretold the future, worked
miracles, and delivered Sparta from a plague. The magical arrow gave Abaris the power to fly, cure the sick, be invisible, and
prophesy[?]. He is said to have given the arrow to
Pythagoras.
Suidas credits Abaris with several works: Scythian oracles, the visit of Apollo to the Hyperboreans, expiatory formulas, and a prose theogony.
based on an article from a 1911 encyclopedia