A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology

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. (Hdt. 4.150, 155.) By his father's side he was of the blood of the Minyae, and 17th in descent from Euphemus the Argonaut. (Hdt. 4.150; Pind. P. 4.17, 311, 455, &c.; Apollon. 4.1750; Thrige, Res. Cyren. §§ 8, 11.) He is said to have been first called "Aristoteles" (Pind. P. 5.116; Callim. Hymn. in Apoll. 76); and we are left entirely to conjecture for the origin of the name "Battus," which he afterwards received. Herodotus (4.155) 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 Βάττος to have been derived from Βατταρίζω, and to have been expressive of the alleged impediment in his speech. (Suid. and Hesych. sub voce Βατταρίζειν; comp. Thrige, § 12; Strab. xiv. p.662); while Thrige (l.c.) considers the name to be of kindred origin with Βησσοί, the appellation of the oracular priests of Dionysus among the Satrae. (Hdt. 7.111.) 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. In either case, the command was not obeyed but with reluctance and after a long delay. (Hdt. 4.150_156.) According, again, to Menecles, an historian, perhaps of Barca (apud Schol. ad Pind. Pyth. 4.10; 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 Justin (13.7) 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 Ἀρχηγέτης. (Callim. Hymn. in Apoll. 65, &c., 55, &c.; Spanheim, ad loc.; comp. Müller, Dor. 2.3. §§ 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. (Müller, Orchom. p. 344), and from this point apparently we must begin to reckon the 40 years assigned by Herodotus (4.159) 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. (Hdt. 4.157,158; 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. P. 5.72, &c.; Aristot. apud Schol. ad Aristoph. Plut. 925; Paus. 3.14.) Diodorus tells us (Exc. de Virt. et Vit. p. 232), that he governed with the mildness and moderation befitting a constitutional king; and Pindar (Pind. P. 5.120, &c.) celebrates his pious works, and especially the road (σκυρωτὴ ὁδός, comp. Böckh, Publ. Econ. of Athens, bk. 2.100.10) which he caused to be made for the sacred procession to Apollo's temple, also built by him. (Callim. Hymn. in Apoll. 77.) Where this road joined the Agora, the tomb of Battus was placed, apart from that of the other kings. (Pind. P. 5.125, &c.; Catull. 7.6.) His subjects worshipped him as a hero, and we learn from Pausanias (10.15), 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. (Ἀρκεσίλαος) was a son of the above (Hdt. 4.159); but nothing is recorded of him except that he reigned, and apparently in quiet, for 16 years, B. C. 599-583.

3. BATTUS II., surnamed "the Happy," principally from his victory over Apries (Βάττος ὁ Εὐδαίμων), 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 4.159, 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. (Hdt. 4.159, comp. 100.161.) This influx apparently giving rise to farther encroachments

4. son of Battus II., was surnamed "the oppressive" (Χαλεπός), from his attempting probably to substitute a tyranny for the Cyrenaean constitution, which had hitherto been similar to that of Sparta. It was perhaps from this cause that the dissensions arose between himself and his brothers, in consequence of which the latter withdrew from Cyrene, and founded Barca, at the same time exciting the Libyan tribes to revolt from Arcesilaus, who, in his attempt to quell this rebellion, suffered a signal defeat at Leucon or Leucoe, a place in the region of Marmarica. He met his end at last by treachery, being strangled by his brother or friend, Learchus. His wife, Eryxo, however, soon after avenged his death by the murder of his assassin. His reign lasted, according to some, from 560 to 550 B. C.; according to others, from 554 to 544. (Hdt. 4.160; Diod. Exc. de Virt. et Vit. p. 232; Plut. de Virt. Mul. pp. 260, 261; Thrige, §§ 35, 37.)

5. BATTUS III., or "the lame" (Χωλός), son of Arcesilaus JI., reigned from B. C. 550 to 530, or, as some state it, from 544 to 529. In his time, the Cyrenaeans, weakened by internal seditions, apprehensive of assaults from Libya and Egypt, and distressed too perhaps by the consciousness of the king's inefficiency, invited Demonax, a Mantinean, by the advice of the Delphic oracle, to settle the constitution of the city. The conflicting claims of the original colonists with those of the later settlers, and the due distribution of power between the sovereign and the commonalty, were the main difficulties with which he had to deal. With respect to the former point, he substituted for the old division of tribes an entirely new one, in which however some privileges, in regard to their relation to the Περίοικοι, were reserved to those of Theraean descent; while the royal power he reduced within very narrow limits, leaving to the king only certain selected lands, and the enjoyment of some priestly functions (τεμένεα καὶ ἱπωσύνας), with the privilege probably (see Hdt. 4.165) of presidency in the council. We hear nothing more recorded of Battus III. The diminution of the kingly power in his reign is not to be wondered at, when we remember that the two main causes assigned by Aristotle (Aristot. Pol. 5.10, ad fin. ed. Bekk.) for the overthrow of monarchy had been, as we have seen, in full operation at Cyrene,--viz. quarrels in the royal family, and the attempt to establish a tyrannical government. (Hdt. 4.161; Diod. l.c.; Plut. l.c.; Thrige, § 38; Müller, Dor. 3.4.5, 3.9.13.)

6. son of Battus III. by Pheretime, reigned, according to Thrige (§ 39), from 530 to about 514 B. C. In the early part of his reign he was driven from Cyrene in an attempt to recover the ancient royal privileges, and, taking refuge in Samos, returned with a number of auxiliaries, whom he had attached to his cause by the promise of a new division of lands. With their aid he regained the throne; on which, besides taking the most cruel vengeance on his enemies, he endeavoured further to strengthen himself by making submission to Cambyses, and stipulating to pay him tribute, B. C. 525. (Hdt. 4.162_165, comp. 3.13, 91, 2.181.) Terrified, however, according to Herodotus (4.164), at the discovery that he had subjected himself to the woe denounced against him, under certain conditions, by an obscure oracle (comp. 4.163), or, more probably, being driven out by his subjects, who were exasperated at his submission to the Persians (see 4.165, ad fin.), he fled to Alazir, king of Barca, whose daughter he had married, and was there slain, together with his father-in-law, by the Barcaeans and some Cyrenaean exiles. (Herod. iv 164, 167; see Thrige, §§ 39-41.)

7. BATTUS IV. is called "the Handsome" (ὁ καλός) by Heracleides Ponticus. (See Thrige, § 38, n. 3.42.) It has been doubted by some whether there were any kings of the family after Arcesilaus III., but this point seems to be settled by Herodotus (4.163) and by Pindar. (Pyth. 4.115.) The opinion of those, who suppose the names of two kings to have been omitted by Herodotus between Arcesilaus I. and Battus " the lame," has been noticed above. Of Battus IV. we know nothing. It is not improbable, however, that he was the son of Arcesilaus III., and was in possession of the throne at the period of the capture of Barca by the Persians, about 512 B. C. (Hdt. 4.203.) At least the peaceable admission of the latter into Cyrene (Herod. l.c.) may seem to point to the prevalence there of a Medizing policy, such as we might expect from a son or near relative of Arcesilaus III. The chronology of this reign is involved in as much obscurity as the events of it, and it is impossible therefore to assign any exact date either to its beginning or its end. (See Thrige, §§ 42-44.)

8. son probably of Battus IV., is the prince whose victory in the chariot-race at the Pythian games, B. C. 466, is celebrated by Pindar in his 4th and 5th Pythian odes; and these, in fact, together with the Scholia upon them, are our sole authority for the life and reign of this last of the Battiadae. From them, even in the midst of all the praises of him which they contain, it appears, that he endeavoured to make himself despotic, and had recourse, among other means, to the expedient (a favourite one with tyrants, see Aristot. Pol. 3.13, 5.10, 11, ed. Bekk.) of ridding himself of the nobles of the state. Indeed