Abas (mythology)

In Greek mythology, the name Abas (Greek: Ἄβας; gen.: Ἄβαντος) is attributed to several individuals:

• Abas, king of Argos.^[1]
• Abas, the son of Poseidon and Arethusa.^[2] A Thracian by birth, Abas founded a tribe known as the Abantians or Abantes. Abas and his Abantian followers migrated to the island of Euboea, where he subsequently reigned as king. He was father of Canethus^[3] and Chalcodon, and through the latter grandfather of Elephenor, who is known to have accidentally killed him.^[4] Also given as Abas' children are Alcon, Arethusa and Dias, of whom the latter was said to have founded a city Athenae on Euboea.^[5]
• Abas, an Argive seer, son of Melampus and Iphianeira. He was the father of Coeranus, Idmon, and Lysimache.^[6][7][8]
• Abas, a companion of Perseus.^[9]
• Abas, one of Diomedes' companions, whom Aphrodite turned into a swan.^[10]
• Abas, a son of Metaneira who was changed by Demeter into a lizard, because he mocked the goddess when she had come on her wanderings into the house of his mother, and drank eagerly to quench her thirst.^[11] Other traditions relate the same story of a boy, Ascalabus, and call his mother Misme.^[12]
• Abas, a defender of Thebes against the Seven. He and his sons Cydon and Argus were killed in the battle.^[13]
• Abas, a Centaur who attended the wedding of Pirithous and Hippodamia.^[14]
• Abas, the son of the Trojan Eurydamas; he fought in the Trojan War and was killed by Diomedes.^[15]
• Abas, another defender of Troy, was killed by Sthenelus.^[16]

In the Aeneid, the name Abas belongs to two companions of Aeneas:

• Abas, a captain whose ship was routed in the storm off Carthage.
• Abas, an Etruscan ally from Populonia in the war against the Rutulians and the Latians.

References

1. Swanson, Roy Arthur (1974-01-01). Pindar's Odes. Ardent Media. ISBN 9780672612459. Missing |last1= in Authors list (help)
2. Hyginus, Fabulae, 157
3. Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica, 1. 79
4. Tzetzes on Lycophron, 1034
5. Stephanus of Byzantium s. v. Athēnai
6. Bibliotheca 1. 9. 13
7. Hyginus, Fabulae, 14
8. Pausanias, Description of Greece, 1. 43. 5
9. Ovid, Metamorphoses, 5. 126
10. Ovid, Metamorphoses, 14. 505
11. Ovid, Metamorphoses, 5. 450
12. Antoninus Liberalis, Metamorphoses, 23
13. Statius, Thebaid, 7. 646; 9. 758
14. Ovid, Metamorphoses, 12. 306
15. Homer, Iliad, 5. 148
16. Quintus Smyrnaeus, Fall of Troy, 11. 81

Sources

• Schmitz, Leonhard (1867). "Abas". In William Smith. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology 1. Boston: Little, Brown and Company. pp. 1–2.
•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, William, ed. (1870). "^{article name needed}". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.
• Greek Mythology Link - Dictionary: Abarbarea to Aetius