Battus

Battus, the leader of a body of Dorian Greeks who left the island of Thera in about 630 BC at the bidding of the Delphic Oracle, to colonize Cyrene in Libya (North Africa). Battus, like other founders, achieved semi-mythical status. He was said to be a descendant of the ancient race of heroes known as the Minyae and of the Argonaut Euphemus. His strange name has been variously interpreted, as the Libyan word for king or as meaning ‘stammerer’ from his supposed speech impediment. His descendants ruled Cyrene for more than two hundred years. The father of the poet Callimachus was a Cyrenaean of royal descent called Battus; hence the poet is often called ‘Battiades’ (‘son of Battus’).