=Abas=, a mountain in Syria, where the Euphrates rises.――――A river of Armenia Major, where Pompey routed the Albani. _Plutarch_, _Pompey_.――――A son of Metanira, or Melaninia, changed into a lizard for laughing at Ceres. _Ovid_, _Metamorphoses_, bk. 5, fable 7. ――――The 11th king of Argos, son of Belus, some say of Lynceus and Hypermnestra, was famous for his genius and valour. He was father to Prœtus and Acrisius, by Ocalea, and built Abæ. He reigned 23 years, B.C. 1384. _Pausanias_, bk. 2, ch. 16; bk. 10, ch. 35.――_Hyginus_, fable 170, &c.――_Apollodorus_, bk. 2, ch. 2.――――One of Æneas’s companions, killed in Italy. _Virgil_, _Æneid_, bk. 10, li. 170.―――― Another lost in the storm which drove Æneas to Carthage. _Virgil_, _Æneid_, bk. 1, li. 125.――――A Latian chief, who assisted Æneas against Turnus, and was killed by Lausus. _Virgil_, _Æneid_, bk. 10, li. 170, &c.――――A Greek, son of Eurydamus, killed by Æneas during the Trojan war. _Virgil_, _Æneid_, bk. 3, li. 286.――_Homer_, _Iliad_, bk. 5, li. 150.――――A centaur, famous for his skill in hunting. _Ovid_, _Metamorphoses_, bk. 12, li. 306.――――A soothsayer, to whom the Spartans erected a statue in the temple of Apollo, for his services to Lysander. _Pausanias_, bk. 10, ch. 9.――――A son of Neptune. _Hyginus_, fable 157.――――A sophist who wrote two treatises, one on history, the other on rhetoric. The time in which he lived is unknown.――――A man who wrote an account of Troy. He is quoted by Servius in _Virgil_, _Æneid_, bk. 9. =Abāsa=, an island in the Red sea, near Æthiopia. _Pausanias_, bk. 6, ch. 26. =Abasītis=, a part of Mysia in Asia. _Strabo._ =Abassēna=, or =Abassinia=. _See:_ Abyssinia. =Abassus=, a town of Phrygia. _Livy_, bk. 38, ch. 15. =Abastor=, one of Pluto’s horses. =Abătos=, an island in the lake near Memphis in Egypt, abounding with flax and papyrus. Osiris was buried there. _Lucan_, bk. 10, li. 323. =Abdalonīmus=, one of the descendants of the kings of Sidon, so poor, that to maintain himself, he worked in a garden. When Alexander took Sidon, he made him king, in the room of Strato the deposed monarch, and enlarged his possessions on account of the great disinterestedness of his conduct. _Justin_, bk. 11, ch. 10.―― _Curtius_, bk. 4, ch. 1.――_Diodorus_, bk. 17. =Abdēra=, a town of Hispania Bætica, built by the Carthaginians. _Strabo_, bk. 3.――――A maritime city of Thrace, built by Hercules, in memory of Abderus, one of his favourites. The Clazomenians and Teians beautified it. Some suppose that Abdera the sister of Diomedes built it. The air was so unwholesome, and the inhabitants of such a sluggish disposition, that stupidity was commonly called _Abderitica mens_. It gave birth, however, to Democritus, Protagoras, Anaxarchus, and Hecatæus. _Mela_, bk. 2, ch. 2.――_Cicero_, _Letters to Atticus_, bk. 4, ltr. 16.――_Herodotus_, bk. 1, ch. 186.――_Martial_, bk. 10, ltr. 25.