The Ancient city of Abydos

An ancient city in Phrygia, Asia Minor, northeast of Troy, on the southern shore of the Hellespont (modern Dardanelles) at its narrowest point opposite ancient Sestos; home of the lover Leander. Nightly he swam the channel to visit Hero on the opposite shore where she was a priestess to Aphrodite. One night Hero’s signal lamp blew out during a storm, and Leander drowned. In her grief Hero threw herself into the sea.
The settlement lies near the site of an Athenian naval victory over the Spartans in 411 B.C.

Absyrtus

The son of Aeëtes and half-brother of Medeä. When Jason and Medeä fled Colchis after Jason and the Argonauts had obtained the Golden Fleece, they took Absyrtus with them. Pursued by the furious Aeëtes, Medeä ruthlessly murdered her young half-brother, cutting him into pieces. These she dropped one by one over the side of the boat so that Aeëtes had to stop to collect them for burial, thereby allowing time to escape.

Heracles's companion, Abderus

Friend of Heracles who during that hero’s eighth labor was left in charge of the flesh-eating mares of Diomedes, a savage king of the Bistones in Thrace, while Heracles repelled the attacking Bistones. He was, however, soon eaten by the monstrous horses. Having killed Diomedes, Heracles threw the king’s corpse to his own mares and then founded the city of Abdera to honor his lost friend before driving the mares back to Eurystheus.

Port of Abdera

A prosperous trading port within Thrace whose inhabitants, the Abderans, were synonymous with stupidity, even though the philosophers Democritus and Protagoras lived among them. The city was reputedly founded by Heracles in honor of his friend Abderus, who had been eaten by the flesheating mares of Diomedes during the eighth labor of Heracles when the great hero left the monstrous horses in his care.

Abas

1. A son of Celeus, king of Eleusis, and Metaneira; brother of Triptolemus. He mocked the visiting goddess Demeter while she wandered earth in search of her lost daughter, Persephone, for her eagerness in drinking a whole pitcher of barley water. In return Demeter instantly turned him into a lizard, a form in which he, at least, could survive without water.
2. A great warrior and twelfth king of Argos, the grandson of Danaus, the father of the twins Acrisius and Proetus, and the grandfather of Danaë. He was renowned for a sacred shield, which originally belonged to his grandfather and had the power to subdue revolt.