He was probably born between 35 and 30 BCE in what is today Upper Bosnia. Bato belonged to the indigenous Daesitiates tribe, whose homeland was in what is today central Bosnia, and at the critical point in time he chose to lead his people in their struggle against their Roman occupiers. From 33 BC, the Daesitiates were under Roman rule as a semi-independent peregrine civitas. The civitas of the Daesitiates was part of provincia Illyricum with its capital in Salona on the Adriatic coast. Bato was probably a member of a distinguished indigenous family, and as an adult he was probably a political and military official of the Daesitiates.[citation needed]