What is "abas"

n. (plural of aba English)

Abas or ABAS may refer to:

Abas was an ancient Greek sophist and a rhetorician about whose life nothing is known. The Suda ascribes to him historical commentaries (in Greek ιστoρικά απoμνηατα) and a work on rhetoric (in Greek τέχνη ρητoρική). What Photius in his Myrobiblion quotes from him, belongs probably to the former work.

In Greek mythology, Abas was the son of Lynceus of the royal family of Argos, and Hypermnestra, the last of the Danaides. Abas himself was the twelfth king of Argos. His name probably derives from a Semitic word for "father". The name Abantiades generally signified a descendant of this Abas, but was used especially to designate Perseus, the great-grandson of Abas, and Acrisius, a son of Abas. A female descendant of Abas, as Danaë, was called Abantias.

Abas was a successful conqueror, and was the founder of the city of Abae in northeastern Phocis, home to the legendary oracular temple to Apollo Abaeus, and also of the Pelasgic Argos in Thessaly. When Abas informed his father of the death of Danaus, he was rewarded with the shield of his grandfather, which was sacred to Hera. Abas was said to be so fearsome a warrior that even after his death, enemies of his royal household could be put to flight simply by the sight of this shield.

With his wife Ocalea (or Aglaea, depending on the source), he had three sons: the twins Acrisius (grandfather of Perseus) and Proetus, and Lyrcos, and one daughter, Idomene. He bequeathed his kingdom to Acrisius and Proetus, bidding them to rule alternately, but they quarrelled even while they still shared their mother's womb.

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

• Abas, king of Argos.
• Abas, the son of Poseidon and Arethusa. 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 and Chalcodon, and through the latter grandfather of Elephenor, who is known to have accidentally killed him. Also given as Abas' children are Alcon, Arethusa and Dias, of whom the latter was said to have founded a city Athenae on Euboea.
• Abas, an Argive seer, son of Melampus and Iphianeira. He was the father of Coeranus, Idmon, and Lysimache.
• Abas, a companion of Perseus.
• Abas, one of Diomedes' companions, whom Aphrodite turned into a swan.
• 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. Other traditions relate the same story of a boy, Ascalabus, and call his mother Misme.
• Abas, a defender of Thebes against the Seven. He and his sons Cydon and Argus were killed in the battle.
• Abas, a Centaur who attended the wedding of Pirithous and Hippodamia.
• Abas, the son of the Trojan Eurydamas; he fought in the Trojan War and was killed by Diomedes.
• Abas, another defender of Troy, was killed by Sthenelus.

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.

Abas is both a given name and a surname. Notable people with the name include:

• Abas (sophist), an ancient Greek sophist and rhetorician
• Abas, the ancient writer of a work entitled Troia from which Maurus Servius Honoratus (ad Aen. ix. 264) has preserved a fragment
• Abas I of Armenia (?–953), king of Armenia from 928 to 953
• Abas Ermenji (1913–2003), Albanian politician and historian
• Elisha Abas (born 1971), Israeli pianist
• Salleh Abas (born 1929), Malaysian chief justice
• Stephen Abas (born 1978), American wrestler

Abas is an extinct genus of algae consisting of only one known species: Abas wittii. Originally observed as a fossil genus classified with diatom spore forms under the name Syringidium. Abas was observed to be live from the Eocene to Oligocene epoch appearing in tropical sites.