A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

2 ABELLIO.
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.]
[L. S.]
ABAS ("Aay ). 1. A Greek sophist and
rhetorician about whose life nothing is known.
Suidas (s. v. '"Aas: compare Eudocia, p. 51)
ascribes to him LeroptKa.d mroeavcpatra and a work
on rhetoric (TriE pv'ropt c). 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. [L. S.]
ABASCANTUS ('A@dceaVTros), a physician of
Lugdunum (Lyons), who probably lived in the
second century after Christ. He is several times
mentioned by Galen (De Compos. Medicam. seeund.
Locos, ix. 4. vol. xiii. p. 278), who has also preserved
an antidote invented by him against the bite of
serpents. (De Antid. ii. 12. vol. xiv. p. 177.) The
name is to be met with in numerous Latin inscriptions in Gruter's collection, five of which refer
to a freedman of Augustus, who is supposed by
Kiuhn (Additcm. ad Elench. Medic. Vet. ac J. A.
Fabricio in " Bibl. Gr." Ethib.) to be the same
person that is mentioned by Galen. This however
is quite uncertain, as also whether lapaec'inos
'AgdenavOos in Galen (De Compos. M1ledicam.
secund. Locos. vii. 3. vol. xiii. p. 71) refers to the
subject of this article. [W. A. G.]
ABDOLO'NIMUS or ABDALO'NIMUS, a
gardener, but of royal descent, was made king of
Sidon by Alexander the Great. (Curt. iv. 1; Just.
xi. 10.) Hle is called Ballonymus by Diodorus.
(xvii. 46.)
ABDE'RUS (CAfdnspos), a son of Hermes, or
according to others of Thromius the Locrian. (Apollod. ii. 5. ~ 8; Strab. vii. p. 33 1.) He was a favourite
of Heracles, and was torn to pieces by the mares
of Diomedes, which Heracles had given him to
pursue the Bistones. Heracles is said to have
built the town of Abdera to honour him. According to Hyginus, (Fab. 30,) Abderus was a servant
of Diomedes, the king of the Thracian Bistones,
and was killed by Heracles together with his
mnaster and his four men-devouring horses. (Compare Philostrat. Heroic. 3. ~ 1; 19. ~ 2.) [L. S.]
ABDIAS ('AgSnas), the pretended author of an
Apocryphal book, entitled The History of the Apostolical contest. This work claims to have been written
in Hebrew, to have been translated into Greek by
Eutropius, and thence into Latin by Julius Africanus. It was however originally written in Latin,
about A. D. 910. It is printed in Fabricius,
Codex/ Apocrn?,plhus Novi Test. p. 402. 8vo. Hamb.
1703. Abdias was called too the first Bishop of
Babylon. [A. J. C.]
ABE'LLIO, is the name of a divinity found in
inscriptions which were discovered at Comminges
in France. (Gruter, Inscr. p. 37, 4; J. Scaliger,
Lectioes Ausonianae, i. 9.) Buttmann (alI/i/ytzolo/us,
i. p. 167, &c.) considers Abellio to be the same
name as Apollo, who in Crete and elsewhere was
called 'AS/Atos, and by the Italians and some Dorians Apello (Fest. s. v. Apellinem; Eustath. ad
II. ii. 99), and that the deity is the same as the
Gallic Apollo mentioned by Caesar (Bell. Gall. vi.

ABISARES.
17), and also the same as Belis or Belenus mentioned by Tertullian (Apologet. 23) and Herodian
(viii. 3; comp. Capitol. Maximin. 22). As the
root of the word he recognises the Spartan BiAa,
i. e. the sun (Hesych. s. v.), which appears in the
Syriac and Chaldaic Belus or Baal. [L. S.]
ABE'RCIJUS, ST. ('AgEiptos), the supposed
successor of St. Paplas in the see of Hierapolis,
flourished A. D. 150. There are ascribed to him,
1. An Epistle to the Emperor Marcus Aurelius, of
which Baronius speaks as extant, but he does
not produce it; and, 2. A Book of Discipline
(,3i@Aoes 6t6acrcaAias) addressed to his Clergy; this
too is lost. See 1lllstr. Eccles. Orient. Script.
Vitae, a P. Halloix. Duac. 1636. [A. J. C.]
A'BGARUS, A'CBARUS, or AU'GARUS
("AGyapos, "AicGapoY, AViyapoy), a name common
to many rulers of Edessa, the capital of the district
of Osrhoene in Mesopotamia. It seems to have
been a title and not a proper name. (Procop.
Bell. Pers. ii. 12.) For the history of these kings
see Bayer, " Historia Osrhoeina et Edessena ex
nummis illustrata," Petrop. 1734. Of these the
most important are:
1. The ally of the Romans under Pompey, who
treacherously drew Crassus into an unfavorable
position before his defeat. lie is called Augarus
by Dion Cassius (xl. 20), Acbarus the phylarch
of the Arabians in the Parthian history ascribed
to Appian (p. 34. Schw.), and Ariamnes by Plutarch. (Crass. 21.)
2. The contemporary of Christ. See the following article.
3. The chief, who resisted Meherdates, whom
Claudius wished to place on the Parthian throne:
he is called a king of the Arabians by Tacitus
(Ann. xii. 12.14), but was probably an Osrho'nian.
4. The contemporary of Trajan, who sent presents to that emperor when he invaded the east,
and subsequently waited upon him and became his
ally. (Dion Cass. 1xviii. 18. 21.)
5. The contemporary of Caracalla, who acted
cruelly towards his nation, and was deposed by
Caracalla. (Dion Cass. lxxvii. 12.)
A'IGARUS, Toparch of Edessa, supposed by
Eusebius to have been the author of a letter
written to our Saviour, which he found in a church
at Edessa and translated from the Syriac. The
letter is believed to be spurious. It is given by
Eusebius. (Hist. Eccl. i. 13.) [A. J. C.]
A'BIA ('AGLa), the nurse of Hyllus, a son of
Heracles. She built a temple of Heracles at Ira
in Messenia, for which the Heraclid Cresphontes
afterwards honoured her in various other ways,
and also by changing the name of the town of Ira
into Abia. (Paus. iv. 30. ~ 1.) [L. S.]
ABELOX, ABELUX or ABILYX ('AGiAvm),
a noble Spaniard, originally a friend of Carthage,
betrayed the Spanish hostages at Saguntun, who
were in the power of the Carthaginians, to the
Roman generals, the two Scipios, after deceiving
Bostar, the Carthaginian commander. (Liv. xxii.
22; Polyb. iii. 98, &c.)
ABI'SARES or ABI'SSARES ('Agiudp7s),
called Embisarus ('Egieo-apos) by Diodorus (xvii.
90), an Indian king beyond the river Hydaspes,
whose territory lay in the mountains, sent embassies to Alexander the Great both before and after
the conquest of Porus, although inclined to espouse
the side of the latter. Alexander not only allowed
him to retain his kingdom, but increased it, and