Baton of Athens
ancient Greek comic poet
Baton (Ancient Greek: Βάτων) was an Athenian comic poet of the New Comedy, who flourished about 280 BCE.
We have fragments of the following comedies by him:
The Aetolian(s) (Αἰτωλός or Αιτωλοί)
The Euergetes (Ευεργέται)
Audrophonos (Αυδροφόνος)
Deceiving Together (Συνεξαπατῶν)
His plays appear to have been chiefly designed to ridicule the philosophers of the day.
His name is incorrectly written in some passages of the ancient authors, variously as "Battos" (Βάττος), "Batton" (Βάττων), or "Bathon" (Βάθων).
References
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, Philip (1870). "Baton". In Smith, William (ed.). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. Vol. 1. p. 474.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Baton of Athens” as ancient Greek comic poet. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the people & ideas register because the source frames it as ancient Greek comic poet. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jan 10, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q3636219. VIAF identifies the subject as 29920402. None of the 3 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1870.
Public reputation and documentary evidence do not always develop together; absence from a summary is not evidence of historical absence. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.
- Establishing names and roles
- Building a first chronology
- Locating cited institutions
Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Baton of Athens”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Baton of Athens primary sources, Baton of Athens archive and Baton research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Baton of Athens”?
- Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
- How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Baton of Athens” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.