Eurybatus of Ephesus betrayed Croesus, king of Lydia, to the Persians. Croesus, a client of the Persians, wary of the growing power of Cyrus in the land of the Medes, and finding Persian forces on the banks of the Halys, the border of his territory, dispatched his agent Eurybatus with gold to recruit Greek mercenaries; instead Eurybatus went over to Cyrus, revealing his master's plans. (Herodotus, The Persian War) [1] His name passed into a proverbial scoundrel among the Greeks This is the scoundrel Eurybatus that Lucian lists among arch-villains in his essay [2]


The historical general Eurybatus, leader of the forces of Corcyra, makes an appearance in Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War [3].

For the mythological figures See Eurybatus