Battos I.

Battos I ( Greek Βάττος ), the son of the Theraean Polymnastos, was around 631-599 BC. King of Cyrene . His mother was Phronime, daughter of Etearchus, king of Oaxos . Herodotus tells his story in detail in the 4th book of his histories .

Under Battos' leadership, Greek colonists who came to North Africa from the island of Thera founded around 631 BC. The colony of Cyrene. The Battiad dynasty (royal names Battos and Arkesilaos) goes back to him , which lasted until about 440 BC. Ruled. The hero's grave of Battos on the agora of Cyrene could be proven archaeologically.

Allegedly Battos is said to have stuttered. This is probably a misinterpretation of his name adopted in Libya (originally his name was probably Aristotle; Pindar Epinikia 5,87.), Which was derived from a local ruler title, but the Greek historians used the word for stammer (βατταρίζω) from their own vocabulary remembered. Battos is said to have ruled for 40 years. However, one should not take this number too literally, which in antiquity and in the Orient had the general symbolic value of a large number.

literature

Eduard Meyer : Battos (3) . In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume III, 1, Stuttgart 1897, Col. 147 f.
Helmut Berve : The tyranny among the Greeks . Munich 1967.

predecessor	Office	successor
-	King of Cyrene 631-599 BC Chr.	Arkesilaos I.

personal data
SURNAME	Battos I.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Founder of the Cyrene colony
DATE OF BIRTH	6th century BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH	6th century BC Chr.