Greco-Roman The Greco-Roman civilization (; also Greco-Roman culture; spelled Graeco-Roman in the Commonwealth), as understood by modern scholars and writers, includes the geographical regions and countries that culturally—and so historically—were di ...

mythology Myth is a folklore genre consisting of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not objectively true, the identification of a narrat ...

, Battus ( grc, Βάττος) was a semi-legendary king of

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

who offered sanctuary to

Anna Perenna Anna Perenna was an old Roman deity of the circle or "ring" of the year, as indicated by the name (''per annum''). Festival Anna Perenna's festival fell on the Ides of March (March 15), which would have marked the first full moon in the year in th ...

, the sister of

Dido Dido ( ; , ), also known as Elissa ( , ), was the legendary founder and first queen of the Phoenician city-state of Carthage (located in modern Tunisia), in 814 BC. In most accounts, she was the queen of the Phoenician city-state of Tyre (t ...

, the

Carthaginian The term Carthaginian ( la, Carthaginiensis ) usually refers to a citizen of Ancient Carthage. It can also refer to: * Carthaginian (ship), a three-masted schooner built in 1921 * Insurgent privateers; nineteenth-century South American privateers, ...

founder in

Virgil Publius Vergilius Maro (; traditional dates 15 October 7021 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He composed three of the most famous poems in Latin literature: t ...

Aeneid The ''Aeneid'' ( ; la, Aenē̆is or ) is a Latin Epic poetry, epic poem, written by Virgil between 29 and 19 BC, that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Troy, Trojan who fled the Trojan_War#Sack_of_Troy, fall of Troy and travelled to ...

Ovid Pūblius Ovidius Nāsō (; 20 March 43 BC – 17/18 AD), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace, with whom he is often ranked as one of the th ...

. ''

Fasti In ancient Rome, the ''fasti'' (Latin plural) were chronological or calendar-based lists, or other diachronic records or plans of official and religiously sanctioned events. After Rome's decline, the word ''fasti'' continued to be used for simil ...

'', Book III, March 15. Battus features briefly in

as the protector of Anna Perenna.

Appearance in Ovid's ''Fasti''

After Dido's tragic death, Anna finds refuge from her brother

Pygmalion Pygmalion or Pigmalion may refer to: Mythology * Pygmalion (mythology), a sculptor who fell in love with his statue Stage * ''Pigmalion'' (opera), a 1745 opera by Jean-Philippe Rameau * ''Pygmalion'' (Rousseau), a 1762 melodrama by Jean-Jacques ...

on Malta, with Battus the king of the island and a wealthy host. The "fertile island" of Melite, near

Cossyra Pantelleria (; Sicilian: ''Pantiddirìa'', Maltese: ''Pantellerija'' or ''Qawsra''), the ancient Cossyra or Cossura, is an Italian island and comune in the Strait of Sicily in the Mediterranean Sea, southwest of Sicily and east of the Tunis ...

, provided hospitality to Anna, with Battus saying that ‘''This land, however small, is yours.''’ Battus would have continued to provide sanctuary to Anna and her companions, but in the third year of her exile, Anna's brother came in her pursuit. The king hated war, as the island was a peaceable sanctuary, and asked Anna to flee for her own safety. She fled at his command, with Battus giving her a ship.

Controversy

According to Frazer, Ovid is the only source for a king named Battus on Malta. However, Dougall records the discovery of a punic inscription identifying a king Battus on a sepulcher in Malta. In fact, Dougall mentions how in 1761 an underground sepulcher was found in "''khasam ta byn Hysae,"'' that is Bengħisa, in the south side of the island of Malta. The sepulcher had an inscription, made up of forty-seven letters in four lines. The characters were mostly unreadable, however the last line was agreed to state "''hal byn bat malek,''" which signified "''for the son of Bat, the king."'' The same inscription was recorded in the ''Vocabolario Maltese'' published by Mikiel Anton Vassalli in 1796. The story linking Anna Perenna with Malta can only be found in Ovid, and derivative works. Another epic poet,

Silius Italicus Tiberius Catius Asconius Silius Italicus (, c. 26 – c. 101 AD) was a Roman senator, orator and Epic poetry, epic poet of the Silver Age of Latin literature. His only surviving work is the 17-book ''Punica (poem), Punica'', an epic poem about th ...

, bypasses Anna's arrival in Malta, and places her refuge with a King Battus in the Greek colony of Cyrene, in

North Africa North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in ...

. In both stories, Anna is seen to find safety in Battus' kingdom, with both versions having the king advise Anna to flee for another place of refuge because of Pygmalion, and in both stories Battus is represented as a rich and hospitable king. Moreover, Battus is the historical name of the first Greek king to have established a colony in Cyrene, with at least three other kings bearing that same name. The existence of King Battus on Malta, or at least the occurrence of a pre-existing tradition of a reigning Phoenician king on Malta, is the source of significant controversy in Maltese classical literature. Battus' link with Malta is usually dismissed, and it is generally accepted that he reigned over Cyrene. Busuttil (1970) singles out the parallels with Italicus' story as evidence that Ovid places King Battus on Malta purely for literary purposes. Busuttil then focuses on Ovid's indications that in his contemporary times Malta was prosperous and its agriculture fertile. Any links with Battus' kingdom, according to Busuttil, might have resulted from Malta borrowing iconography from Cyrene, most notably for its coins.

References

Kings in Roman mythology Ovid Maltese political people {{AncientRome-myth-stub