BATTUS

[Greek heroic] A shepherd of Neleus who witnessed the theft of Apollo's cattle by Hermes. When he, despite his vow to keep silent, told others about the theft, Hermes turned him into a stone (Ovid II, 688). The son of Polymnestus of Thera, and a descendant of Euphemus. An oracle had advised him to settle in Libya, which he did and founded there Cyrene (Catullus).