Battus of Malta

In Greco-Roman mythology, Battus was a semi-legendary king of Malta who offered sanctuary to Anna Perenna, the sister of Dido, the Carthaginian founder in Virgil's Aeneid. Battus features briefly in Ovid's Fasti as the protector of Anna Perenna.

Appearance in Ovid's Fasti

After Dido's tragic death, Anna finds refuge from her brother Pygmalion on Malta, with Battus the king of the island and a wealthy host. 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 story linking Anna Perenna with Malta can only be found in Ovid, and derivative works. Another epic poet, Silius Italicus, bypasses Anna's arrival in Malta, and places her refuge with a King Battus in the Greek colony of Cyrene, in North Africa. 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. According to Anthony Bonano in his book "Malta: Phoenician, Punic and Roman", the real name of this king was Aristoteles and only started being called 'Battus' after becoming king of the colony, as, as described by Herodotus, 'Battus' was the local, North African word for 'king'. 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.