Battus I of Cyrene or
Battus I (Battus in Greek:
Βάττος Ἀριστοτέλης), lived in the 7th century BC. He came from the island of Thera (modern
SantoriniSantorini is a small, circular archipelago of volcanic islands located in the southern Aegean Sea, about southeast from Greece's mainland. The largest island is known as Thēra , forming the southernmost member of the Cyclades group of islands, with an area of approximately and a 2001 census...
),and later founded the colony of
CyrenaicaCyrenaica is the eastern coastal region of Libya and also an ex-province or state of the country in the pre-1963 administrative system. What used to be Cyrenaica in the old system is now divided up into several "shabiyat"...
and its capital,
CyreneCyrene was an ancient Greek colony in present-day Shahhat; Libya, the oldest and most important of the five Greek cities in the region. It gave eastern Libya the classical name Cyrenaica that it has retained to modern times.Cyrene lies in a lush valley in the Jebel Akhdar uplands...
. He was the first king of Cyrenaica and also the first Greek king in Africa. Cyrenaica became the second Greek colony in
AfricaAfrica is the world's second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area. With a billion people in 61 territories, it accounts for about 14.8% of the...
and the most important. The first was
NaucratisNaucratis or Naukratis, , loosely translated as " power over ships" , was a city of Ancient Egypt, on the Canopic branch of the Nile river, 45 mi SE of the open sea and the later capital of Ptolemaic Egypt, Alexandria...
,
EgyptEgypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Western Asia...
. Cyrenaica is situated in modern North Eastern
LibyaLibya , officially the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya , is a country located in North Africa...
, near the Egyptian border.
Battus was born in an unknown village on the Greek island of Thera.
Battus I of Cyrene or
Battus I (Battus in Greek:
Βάττος Ἀριστοτέλης), lived in the 7th century BC. He came from the island of Thera (modern
SantoriniSantorini is a small, circular archipelago of volcanic islands located in the southern Aegean Sea, about southeast from Greece's mainland. The largest island is known as Thēra , forming the southernmost member of the Cyclades group of islands, with an area of approximately and a 2001 census...
),and later founded the colony of
CyrenaicaCyrenaica is the eastern coastal region of Libya and also an ex-province or state of the country in the pre-1963 administrative system. What used to be Cyrenaica in the old system is now divided up into several "shabiyat"...
and its capital,
CyreneCyrene was an ancient Greek colony in present-day Shahhat; Libya, the oldest and most important of the five Greek cities in the region. It gave eastern Libya the classical name Cyrenaica that it has retained to modern times.Cyrene lies in a lush valley in the Jebel Akhdar uplands...
. He was the first king of Cyrenaica and also the first Greek king in Africa. Cyrenaica became the second Greek colony in
AfricaAfrica is the world's second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area. With a billion people in 61 territories, it accounts for about 14.8% of the...
and the most important. The first was
NaucratisNaucratis or Naukratis, , loosely translated as " power over ships" , was a city of Ancient Egypt, on the Canopic branch of the Nile river, 45 mi SE of the open sea and the later capital of Ptolemaic Egypt, Alexandria...
,
EgyptEgypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Western Asia...
. Cyrenaica is situated in modern North Eastern
LibyaLibya , officially the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya , is a country located in North Africa...
, near the Egyptian border.
Background
Battus was born in an unknown village on the Greek island of Thera. What is known of Battus’ family background is from the Greek historian
HerodotusHerodotus of Halicarnassus was a Greek historian who lived in the 5th century BC and is regarded as the "Father of History" in Western culture. He was the first historian known to collect his materials systematically, test their accuracy to a certain extent and arrange them in a...
. His father, Polymnestus, was a Therean nobleman and his mother was named Phromina. She was a princess of Oaxus (a city on the Greek island of
CreteCrete is the largest of the Greek islands and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea at 8,336 km²...
). Her father, Etearchus or Eteachos, was King of Oaxus. When Phronima’s mother, then Queen of Oaxus (whose name is unknown) died, Etearchus remarried. Phronima’s stepmother (whose name is also unknown) became Queen. She did everything to torment Phromina, most notably by falsely accusing her of fornication. When Etearchus heard of this, he befriended a Therean merchant living in Oaxus called Themiston and convinced him to swear an oath that he would perform any task the king asked him to do. Etearchus fetched Phronima, had her put in Themiston’s charge, and asked him to throw her into the sea. Themiston, in order to clear himself of the obligation, took Phronima on his ship, lowered her into water with a rope, and hauled her back in the ship (i.e. he did not kill her as ordered). Themiston then sailed with Phronima back to his home island of Thera. There, Phronima became the mistress of a distinguished nobleman called Polymnestus, who was a member of the
MinyanAccording to Greek mythology, the Minyans were an autochthonous group inhabiting the Aegean region. However, the extent to which the prehistory of the Aegean world is reflected in literary accounts of legendary peoples is subject to repeated revision....
family of the Euphemidae. Phronima bore Polymnestus a son, Battus. Herodotus does not give his real name, but according to
PindarPindar , was an Ancient Greek lyric poet. Of the canonical nine lyric poets of ancient Greece, Pindar is the one whose work is best preserved...
, his birth name was Aristotle. Justin gives him the name of Aristaeus and states after his death in Cyrene he was worshipped by the name of Aristaeus. In any case, Battus in ancient Greek means
stammer (because he had a speech impediment as a child), while in the Libyan language battus means
king. Herodotus opines that he was not known as Battus until he left for Libya .
Delphic Consultations
In
ca. 639 BC the king of Thera, Grinnus, travelled from the island to visit the oracle of
DelphiDelphi is both an archaeological site and a modern town in Greece on the south-western spur of Mount Parnassus in the valley of Phocis...
, to seek advise on various matters. At that time, Thera had a severe drought and there was no rainfall for seven years. The population was also increasing and could no longer support its residents. One of the men that accompanied the king was Battus. When Grinnus asked for the priestess' advice, she gave him a seemingly irrelevant response. She told him that he must go to Libya and found a city there, on advise from the God
ApolloIn Greek and Roman mythology, Apollo , is one of the most important and many-sided of the Olympian deities...
. The king was too old for this journey and commissioned Battus to complete the task. The only problem was that neither of them knew where Libya was .
When Grinnus and Battus returned to Thera, the drought had worsened and the people were in great distress. The king sent some Thereans to once again seek the advice of the Oracle. The priestess repeated the same message, that they must found a colony in Libya for their fortunes to mend.
Grinnus then sent a group of men from the island to travel to Crete to inquire about the natives of Libya or anyone who had been to Libya. The group of men landed in Itanus and met a fisherman called Corobius, who explained to the men that he had once been blown out of course and ended up on Platea, an island off the Libyan coast.
Initial Efforts
The Thereans paid Corobius to come with them to Thera and shortly after, with a small party and Corobius as pilot, they set sail for Libya. The men landed on Platea and left Corobius there with enough supplies for a short while and then returned to their island bringing good news about finding the new colony. Corobius agreed to wait on Platea for a length of time, however his supplies began to run out. Luckily, a
SamianSamos is a Greek island in the North Aegean sea, south of Chios, north of Patmos and the Dodecanese, and off the coast of Asia Minor.-Geography:...
vessel bound for Egypt under command of Colaeus was re-routed to Platea due to poor weather conditions. The crew gave Corobius enough food to last one year. Colaeus and his crew were anxious to reach their destination as easterly winds prevented them to travel to Egypt and they were driven as west as the Pillar of Hercules (modern
Strait of GibraltarThe Strait of Gibraltar is a narrow strait that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea and separates Spain from Morocco...
). By their luck they landed at the wealthy trading post of
TartessusTartessos was a harbor city and its surrounding culture on the south coast of the Iberian peninsula , at the mouth of the Guadalquivir river. It was mentioned by Herodotus, Strabo, in Pliny's Natural History, and in the fourth-century Avienus's literary travel itinerary Ora Maritima, long after...
.
When the group of Thereans returned to their island and had told everyone of the new settlement, they decided then to send a new party of people representing the seven villages of the island (drawn by lot). The King and the people picked Battus as the leader for the journey to Platea. Battus and the others sailed in two penteconters. When the two ships had reached the coast, Battus could not decide what next to do and ordered that they sail back home. When they returned to Thera, however, the locals refused to allow them back on the shore and threw things at them from the harbour, shouting for Battus and his crew to go back.
Founding of Cyrene
Battus and the two ships journeyed once more to Platea, where they lived for two years, unable to establish themselves properly there . Leaving one man on the island, they returned to Delphi and consulted the Oracle again about Libya and their current poor conditions. She advised them to settle on the mainland. So, they sailed back to Platea, and established a settlement, a town called Aziris (south of Platea near a river and many valleys) . The Thereans lived there for six years on friendly terms with the Libyans. After a treaty with the locals, the Libyans persuaded them to leave Aziris and took them west through fine agricultural country called Irasa to Apollo's Fountain. The Libyan guides told Battus and his group of men ‘this is the place for you settle in, for here there is a hole in the sky’. This may refer to amount of great rainfall in the area, which is rare in Africa.
Battus named this new settlement (founded in
ca. 630 BC) Cyrene. The name comes from a fountain called "Cyre", which was believed to have been consecrated to
ApolloIn Greek and Roman mythology, Apollo , is one of the most important and many-sided of the Olympian deities...
. In addition to naming the settlement, Battus made all the colonists swear an oath. There is an inscription dated from the 4th century BC, which claims to contain the original oath.
Although little is known of Battus' reign, he appeared to govern with mildness and moderation. He was also apparently a vigorous ruler, successful in cementing a colony and taking advantages of the natural surrounding environment.
Death
Battus died in 600 BC and was worshipped as a
heroicHero cults were one of the most distinctive features of ancient Greek religion. In Homeric Greek, "hero" refers to a man who was fighting on either side during the Trojan War...
figure by his subjects. His grave is near the marketplace which joins the road he ordered the construction of, leading to the temple of Apollo. A statue of Battus was dedicated at Delphi, by the subjects of Cyrene. He is represented riding in a chariot driven by the nymph of
CyreneIn Greek mythology, as recorded in Pindar's 9th Pythian ode, Cyrene was the daughter of Hypseus, King of the Lapiths. When a lion attacked her father's sheep, Cyrene wrestled with the lion. Apollo, who was present, immediately fell in love with her and kidnapped her. He took her to North...
, with a figure symbolising Libya in the act of crowning him King.
His dynasty is known as
The Battiad dynasty. He was succeeded by his son
Arcesilaus IArcesilaus I or Arcesilaus I of Cyrene was the second Greek king of Cyrenaica and the second king of the Battiad dynasty.-Ancestry:...
.
Sources
- Boardman, John, The Greeks Overseas, Penguin, Harmondsworth, 1973 (1964)
- Herodotus, The Histories, Book 4.
- Morkot, R., The Penguin Historical Atlas of Ancient Greece, Penguin Books, The Bath Press - Avon, Great Britain, 1996.
- Burn, A R. The Penguin History Greece, Penguin Books, Clay Ltd, St Ives P/C, England, 1990.
- http://books.google.com/books?id=yFoGAAAAQAAJ&pg=RA1-PA476&lpg=RA1-PA476&dq=battus+i+of+cyrene&source=web&ots=t0ry2lDq05&sig=de4r9u7WwS3ocdHqMZvG-z6ZZU4
- http://www.livius.org/ct-cz/cyrenaica/cyrenaica.html
- http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Battus
- http://www.mediterranees.net/dictionnaires/smith/cyrene.html