A shepherd from Pylos, Battus witnessed Hermes stealing Apollo's cattle. Though he promised his silence, he told many others. Hermes turned him to stone.
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BATTUS, the legendary founder of the Greek colony of Cyrene in Libya (about 630 B.C.).
150-156), Battus, having an impediment in his speech, consulted the oracle at Delphi, and was told to found a colony in Libya; according to the Theraeans, Battus was entrusted with this mission by their aged king Grinus.
In another version, there was civil war in Thera; Battus, leader of one party, was banished, and, on applying to the oracle, was recommended to take out a colony to "the continent" (Schol.
This was in the middle of the 7th century B.C. The result was Cyrene, so called (it was said) from a local nymph, who has been shown by Studniczka to have been a Nature goddess, like the Greek Artemis.
The kings henceforth bore alternately the names Battus and Arcesilaus, of which the first is said to be simply the native Libyan word for " king ": the latter is, of course, Greek.
Under Battus (570 B.C.?) a fresh band of settlers was invited from Greece, and the colony tended to become henceforth more maritime and democratic.