It probably was originally a Thracian town, but was afterwards colonized by Milesians. Here Xerxes crossed the strait on his bridge of boats when he invaded Greece.
Abydos is celebrated for the vigorous resistance it made against Philip V of Macedon (200 B.C.), and is famed in story for the loves of Hero and Leander.
The town remained till late Byzantine times the toll station of the Hellespont, its importance being transferred to the Dardanelles, after the building of the "Old Castles" by Sultan Mahommed II (c. 1456).