Abas (mythology)

In Greek mythology, the name Abas (/ă'-bas/; Ancient Greek: Ἄβας; gen.: Ἄβαντος means "guileless" or "good-hearted") is attributed to several individuals:

  • Abas, king of Argos.[1]
  • Abas, 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,[4] and through the latter grandfather of Elephenor, who is known to have accidentally killed him.[5] In some accounts, Abas was also called the father of Canthus[6] (alternatively the son of Canethus and thus, his grandson). Also given as Abas' children are Alcon, Arethusa and Dias, of whom the latter was said to have founded a city Athenae on Euboea.[7]
  • Abas, 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.[8][9][10] Other traditions relate the same story of a boy, Ascalabus, and call his mother Misme.[11]
  • Abas, an Argive seer, son of Melampus[12] and Iphianeira. He was the father of Coeranus,[13] Idmon,[14][15] and Lysimache.[12]
  • Abas, companion of Perseus.[16]
  • Abas, a Centaur who attended the wedding of Pirithous and Hippodamia.[17]
  • Abas, defender of Thebes against the Seven. He and his sons Cydon and Argus were killed in the battle.[18]
  • Abas, a Theban charioteer during the war of the Seven Against Thebes. At the beginning of the battle, he is pierced by Pheres with a spear and left groaning for his life.[19]
  • Abas, son of the Trojan Eurydamas and brother of Polyidus; he fought in the Trojan War and was killed by Diomedes.[20]
  • Abas, servant of King Lycomedes on the island of Scyros. His job was to keep an eye on shipping traffic from the watchtower and to report directly to the king whether ships arrive at the port. When Odysseus came to the island with his ship to persuade Achilles, who was concealed as a girl, to take part in the War against Troy, the dutiful Abas was the first to report to the king that unknown sails were approaching the coast.[21]
  • Abas, another defender of Troy, was killed by Sthenelus.[22]
  • Abas, one of Diomedes' companions, whom Aphrodite turned into a swan.[23]

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

Notes
  1. Swanson, Roy Arthur (1974-01-01). Pindar's Odes. Ardent Media. ISBN 9780672612459.
  2. Hyginus, Fabulae 157
  3. Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 1.79
  4. Eustathius on Homer, Iliad 281.43
  5. Tzetzes on Lycophron, Alexandra 1034
  6. Valerius Flaccus, Argonautica 1.453
  7. Stephanus of Byzantium, Ethnica s.v. Athēnai
  8. Ovid, Metamorphoses 5.450
  9. Nicander, Theriaca
  10. Natalis Comes, Mythologiae 5.14
  11. Antoninus Liberalis, Metamorphoses 24
  12. Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 1.9.13
  13. Pausanias, Graeciae Descriptio 1.43.5
  14. Hyginus, Fabulae 14.2
  15. Apollonius of Rhodes, Argonautica 1.142
  16. Ovid, Metamorphoses 5.126
  17. Ovid, Metamorphoses 12.306
  18. Statius, Thebaid 7.646 & 9.758
  19. Statius, Thebaid 8.446
  20. Homer, Iliad 5.148
  21. Statius, Achilleid 8.446
  22. Quintus Smyrnaeus, Posthomerica 11.84
  23. Ovid, Metamorphoses 14.505
  24. Virgil, Aeneid 1.102 '
  25. Virgil, Aeneid 10.166 ff.
  26. Virgil, Aeneid 10.428
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References

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, William, ed. (1870). "Abas". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.

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