Battus III of Cyrene

Who is Battus III of Cyrene?

Battus III of Cyrene, surnamed The Lame was the fifth Greek Cyrenaean king and a member of the Battiad dynasty.

Battus was the son and only child of king Arcesilaus II and queen Eryxo. His paternal grandfather was the third Cyrenaean King, Battus II, while is paternal grandmother is unknown. His maternal grandmother was the princess Critola, while is maternal grandfather was a noble whose name is unknown and was murdered by Learchus in 550 BC. Battus II and Critola were siblings and were children to the second Cyrenaean King Arcesilaus I. Their paternal grandfather was the first Cyrenaean King, Battus I.

Battus received the surname The Lame because he was born with a defective leg that caused him to limp. Battus was proclaimed King in 550 BC by his maternal uncle Polyarchus, when his uncle and his mother Eryxo had successfully plotted to kill Learchus, who murdered Arcesilaus II and attempted to become king.

During his reign, Battus realised that Cyrenaica had become an unstable state, from the unstable relations with the Libyans, Egyptian Pharaoh Amasis II and the attempted overthrow of his late father and himself from Learchus.