Aboniteichos (Gr. Ἀβώνου τεῖχος, Ethnos: Ἀβνουτειχείτης: İnebolu) was a town on the coast of Paphlagonia, memorable as the birthplace of the impostor Alexander, of whom Lucian has left us an amusing account in the treatise bearing his name.^[1] According to Lucian, Alexander petitioned the emperor (probably Antoninus Pius) that the name of his native place should be changed from Aboniteichos to Ionopolis; and whether the emperor granted the request or not, we know that the town was called Ionopolis in later times.^[2] Not only does this name occur in Marcian of Heraclea^[3] and Hierocles,^[4] but on coins of the time of Antoninus and Lucius Verus we find the legend Ionopoliton (ΙΩΝΟΠΟΛΙΤΩΝ), as well as Abonoteichiton (ΑΒΩΝΟΤΕΙΧΙΤΩΝ). The modern İnebolu is evidently only a corruption of Ionopolis.^[5][6][7][8]

It was the site of a second century AD temple of Apollo.^[9]

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This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography by William Smith (1856).

This article incorporates text from the public-domain Catholic Encyclopedia of 1913.