Proper name

• ABAS (Ἄβας). 1. A son of Metaneira, was changed by Demeter into a lizard, because he mocked the goddess when she had come on her wanderings into the house of her mother, and drank eagerly to quench her thirst. (Nicander, Theriaca; Natal Com. v. 14; Ov. Met. v. 450.) Other traditions relate the same story of a boy, Ascalabus, and call his mother Misme. (Antonin. Lib. 23.) 2. The twelfth King of Argos. He was the son of Lynceus and Hypermnestra, and grand­son of Danaus. He married Ocaleia, who bore him twin sons, Acrisius and Proetus. (Apollod, ii. 2. § 1 ; Hygin. Fab. 170.) When he informed his father of the death of Danaus, he was re­warded with the shield of his grandfather, which was sacred to Hera. He is described as a successful conqueror and as the founder of the town of Abae in Phocis (Paus. x. 35. § 1), and of the Pelasgic Argos in Thessaly. (Strab. ix. p. 431.) The fame of his warlike spirit was so great, that even after his death, when people ​revolted, whom he had subdued, they were put to flight by the simple act of showing them his shield. (Virg. Aen. iii. 286; Serv. ad loc.) It was from this Abas that the kings of Argos were called by the patronymic Abantiads. [Abantiades.] (Wikisource | public domain)
• ABAS (Ἄβας) 1. A Greek sophist and rhetorician about whose life nothing is known. Suidas (s. v. Ἄβας: compare Eudocia, p. 51) ascribes to him ἱστορικὰ ἀπομνήματικα and a work on rhetoric (τέχνη ῤητορική). What Photius (Cod. 190. p. 150, b. ed. Bekker) quotes from him, belongs probably to the former work. (Compare Walz, Rhetor. Graec. vii. 1. p. 203.) 2. A writer of a work called Troica, from which Servius (ad Aen. ix. 264) has preserved a fragment. (Wikisource | public domain)

(adjective) : Abas, antis, m.=˝Αβας.
* The twelfth king of Argos, son of Lynceus and Hypermnestra, grandson of Danaūs, father of Acrisius, and grandfather of Perseus. His shield was gained by Aeneas, Verg. A. 3, 286.
* Hence derivv.
* A Centaur, son of Ixion, Ov. M. 12, 306.
* An Ethiopian, Ov. M. 5, 126.
* A companion of Dionedes, Ov. M. 14, 505.
* A companion of Aeneas, Verg. A. 1, 121.
* A Tuscan chieftain, Verg. A. 10, 170 and 427.

s. TLL