the name of two men.
1. ABDI'AS (Lat. Abdias, the Greek text not being extant), one of the minor prophets (2 Esdras [Vulg. 4 Esdras], 1:39), elsewhere called OBADIAH (See OBADIAH) (q.v.).
2. AB'DIAS, of Babylon, is said to have flourished about the year 59, and to have been one of the seventy disciples; but his very existence is somewhat doubtful. The work attributed to him, viz. Historia Certaminis Apostolici, in ten books, was written in the 8th or 9th century. It may be found in Fabricii Cod. Apocryph. Nov. Test. 2, 988; and was published also by Lazius (Basle, 1551, and Paris, 1160). A German translation is given in Barbery, Bibliothek d. N.-T. Apokryphen (Stuttg. 1841), p. 391 sq. — Gieseler, Ch. Hist. 1:67; Cave, Hist. Lit. anno 59; Baronius, Annal. ann. 44.