Battos (shepherd)
Battos ( Greek Βάττος , from βαττολογεῖν battologeín "to chat ", so "chatterbox"; Latin Battus ) is a figure in Greek mythology . Battos was an old shepherd from Messenia who was tested by the god Hermes to see whether he could keep a promise even when he was exposed to temptation. The most famous design of the myth comes from the Metamorphoses of Ovid .
myth
Hermes had stolen a herd of cattle from Apollo and Battos was the only one who saw him stealing. Hermes promised Battos a cow if he didn't tell anyone. Hermes then initially disappeared, but came back to Battos disguised and asked him about the said herd. As a reward for his information, Battos would receive a bull in addition to his cow. He could not refuse this offer and told the disguised Hermes the location. Thereupon Hermes revealed himself:
“Are you betraying me to me?” Says the Atlantean, laughing,
“Me, faithless, to me?” And he hardens
his word-breaking heart into a rock . The stone is still called the traitor ,
And innocent rock has remained the shame of old.
In the Homeric Hymn to Hermes the traitor is an old man from Onchestus in Boeotia . A name is not mentioned there.
It is a moralizing saga, the subject of which is the evil consequences of corruption, talkativeness (the speaking name of the Battos indicates this) and broken words.
swell
- Ovid, Metamorphoses 2,676-707; Ibis 586
- Antoninus Liberalis , Metamorphoses 23 (= Hesiod fr. 256 M.-W.)
- Homeric Hymn 4 to Hermes 87ff .; 186ff.
literature
- Georg Knaack : Battos 1 . In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume III, 1, Stuttgart 1897, column 146.
- Adolf Schirmer : Battos . In: Wilhelm Heinrich Roscher (Hrsg.): Detailed lexicon of Greek and Roman mythology . Volume 1,1, Leipzig 1886, column 752 ( digitized version ).
Web links
- Battus at Ovid - Latin and German text on Gottwein.de