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

47U BATTUS.
is merely a dialectic form for Bassarus or Bassareus,
a surname of Bacchus. Naeke, lastly, conceives
Battarus to be the name of a slave who was a skilful flute-player, or perhaps a shepherd, and who
had formerly lived with the author of the " Dirae"
on his estate, and remained there after the poet
had been driven from it. Each of these conflicting
opinions is supported by something or other that
occurs in the poem itself; but it is impossible to
elicit anything that would decide the question.
(Wernsdorf, Poet. Let. Min. iii. p. xlviii. &c.;
Naeke, in the Rhein. Mus. ii. 1, p. 113, &c.) [L. S.]
BATTUS (BUir-os), a shepherd of Neleus, who
saw Hermes driving away the cattle he had stolen
from Apollo. The god promised to reward him if
he would not betray what he had seen. Battus
promised on oath to keep the secret; but as Hermes
mistrusted him nevertheless, he assumed a different
appearance, returned to Battus, and promised him
a handsome present, if he would tell him who had
stolen the cattle of Apollo. The shepherd was
tempted, and related all he knew, whereupon
Hermes touched him with his staff, and changed
him into a stone. (Ovid, Met. ii. 688, &c.; Anton.
Lib. 22.) [L. S.]
BA'TTUS and the BATTIADAE (BrroT0S,
BarTTidSc), kings of Cyrene during eight generations. (Herod. iv. 163; comp. Thrige, Res Cyrencnsisum, ~ 42.)
1. BATTUS I., the leader of the colony from
Thera to Cyrene, was son of Polymnestus, a Theraean noble, his mother, according to one account,
being a Cretan princess. (Herod. iv. 150, 155.)
By his father's side he was of the blood of the
Minyae, and 17th in descent from Euphemus the
Argonaut. (Herod. iv. 150; Pind. IPyth. iv. 17,
311, 455, &c.; Apoll. Rhod. iv. 1750; Thrige,
Res. Cyren. g~ 8, 11.) He is said to have been
first called " Aristoteles" (Pind. Pyth. v. 116;
Callim. Hymn. in Apoll. 76); and we are left
entirely to conjecture for the origin of the name
" Battus," which he afterwards received. Herodotus (iv. 155) tells us, that it was the Libyan
word for " king," and believes that the oracle
which commanded the colonization of Libya applied it to him with reference to his future dignity.
Others again have supposed Ba'rros to have been
derived from Barrapifw, and to have been expressive of the alleged impediment in his speech.
(Suid. and Hesych. s. v. Barrapi'eiv; comp. Thrige,
~ 12; Strab. xiv. p. 662); while Thrige (I. c.) considers the name to be of kindred origin with
B77r-oaa, the appellation of the oracular priests of
Dionysus among the Satrae. (Herod. vii. 111.)
No less doubt is there as to the cause which led to
the colonization of Cyrene. According to the account of the Cyrenaeans, Battus, having gone to
consult the Delphic oracle about the removal of the
physical defect above-mentioned, was enjoined to
lead a colony into Libya; while the story of the
Theraeans was, that this injunction was laid on
their king Grinus, and that he pointed to Battus
as a younger and fitter man for the purpose. Ini
either case, the command was not obeyed but with
reluctance and after a long delay. (Herod. iv. 150
-156.) According, again, to Menecles, an historian, perhaps of Barca (ap.Schol. ad Pind. Pyth. iv.
10; comp. Thrige, ~~ 3, 15), Battus was driven
forth from Thera by civil war, and was ordered by
Apollo not to return to his country, but to betake
himself to the continent. Lastly, the account of

BATTU'S.
Justin (xiii. 7) is a strange mixture of the two
stories in Herodotus with the fable of Apollo's love
for the nymph Cyrene. (Comp. Thrige, ~ 17.)
Amidst these statements, the one thing certain is,
that Battus led forth his colonists in obedience to
the Delphic oracle, and under a belief in the protection of Apollo 'Ap-1erryr7s. (Callim. Hymn. in
Apoll. 65, &c., 55, &c.; Spanheim, ad loc.; comp.
Miller, Dor. ii. 3. ~~ 1, 7; Thrige, ~~ 11, 16, 76.)
Of the several opinions as to the period at which
the colonists first sailed from Thera, the most probable is that which places; it about 640 B. c.
(Miller, Orchosm. p. 344), and from this point apparently we must begin to reckon the 40 years
assigned by HIerodotus (iv. 159) to the reign of
Battus I. It was not, however, till after a settlement of two years in the island Platea, and between six and seven at Aziris on the main-land,
that Cyrene was actually founded, about 631 B. c.
(Herod. iv. 157, 158; Thrige, ~~ 22-24), whence
Ovid (Ibis, 541) calls Battus " conditor tardae
Cyrrhae."
Little further is known of the life of Battus I.
He appears to have been vigorous and successful
in surmounting the difficulties which beset his infant colony, in making the most of the great natural
advantages of the country, and in subjugating the
native tribes, with the assistance, it is said, of the
Lacedaemonian Anchionis. (Pind. Pytih. v. 72,
&c.; Aristot. ap. Schol. ad Aristoph. PIlut. 925;
Paus. iii. 14.) Diodorus tells us (Exc. de Virl. et
Vit. p. 232), that lie governed with the mildness
and moderation befitting a constitutional king;
and Pindar (Pyth. v. 120, &c.) celebrates his pious
works, and especially the road (oKcupcWr) ds's,
comp. Bbckh, Pitbt. Econ. of Athens, bk. ii. c. 10)
which he caused to be made for the sacred procession to Apollo's temple, also built by him. (Callim.
I'ymn. in Apoll. 77.) Where this road joined
the Agora, the tomb of Battus was placed, apart
from that of the other kings. (Pind. Pyth. v. 125,
&c.; Catull. vii. 6.) His subjects worshipped him
as a hero, and we learn from Pausanias (x. 15),
that they dedicated a statue of him at Delphi, representing him in a chariot driven by the nymph
Cyrene, with Libya in the act of crowning him.
(See Thrige, ~~ 26, 28.)
2. ARCESILAUS I. ('ApmceorlAaos) was a son of
the above (Herod. iv. 159); but nothing is recorded
of him except that he reigned, and apparently in
quiet, for 16 years, B. c. 599-583.
3. BATTUS It., surnamed "the Happy," principally from his victory over Apries (Badrros'
'Eraijwv\), was the son of No. 2, and the third
king of the dynasty; for the opinion of those who
consider that Herodotus has omitted two kings
between Arcesilaus I. and the present Battus, is
founded on an erroneous punctuation of iv. 159,
and is otherwise encumbered with considerable
chronological difficulties. (Thrige, ~~ 29, 42, 43;
comp. Plut. Cor. 11.) In this reign, Cyrene
received a great accession of strength by the influx of a large number of colonists from various
parts of Greece, principally perhaps from Peloponnesus and from Crete and the other islands, whom
the state invited over under the promise of a new
division of lands (probably to enable herself to
make head against the neighbouring Libyans), and
who were further urged to the migration by the
Delphic oracle. (iHerod. iv. 159, comp. c. 161.)
This influx apparently giving rise to further ean