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LUCULLUS

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Originally appearing in Volume V17, Page 111 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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LUCULLUS , the name of a See also:

Roman plebeian See also:family of the Licinian gens. By far the most famous of its members was See also:Lucius LICIN1us LUCULLUS (c. I ro-56), surnamed Ponticus from his victories in See also:Asia See also:Minor over See also:Mithradates VI. of See also:Pontus. His See also:father, of the same name, had held an important military command in See also:Sicily, but on his return to See also:Rome he was prosecuted on a See also:charge of See also:bribery and condemned to See also:exile. His See also:mother was See also:Caecilia, of the family of the Metelli, and See also:sister of See also:Quintus See also:Caecilius See also:Metellus Numidicus. See also:Early in See also:life he attached himself to the party of See also:Sulla, and to that party he remained See also:constant. He attracted Sulla's See also:notice in the Social See also:War (9o) and in 88, when Sulla was appointed to the command of the war against Mithradates, accompanied him as See also:quaestor to See also:Greece and Asia Minor. While Sulla was besieging See also:Athens, Lucullus raised a See also:fleet and drove Mithradates out of the Mediterranean. He won a brilliant victory off Tenedos, and had he been more of a patriot and less of a party See also:man he might have ended a perilous war. In 84 See also:peace was concluded with Mithradates. Sulla returned to Rome, while Lucullus remained in Asia, and by See also:wise and generous See also:financial reforms laid the See also:foundation of the prosperity of the See also:province. The result of his policy was that he became extremely popular with the provincials, but offended many of the See also:publicani, a powerful class which farmed the public See also:revenue.

In 8o he returned to Rome as See also:

curule See also:aedile, in which capacity he exhibited See also:games of exceptional magnificence. Soon after-wards (77) he was elected See also:praetor, and was next appointed to the province of See also:Africa, where he again won a See also:good name as a just and considerate See also:governor. In 74 he became See also:consul, and went to Asia at the See also:head of about 30,000 See also:foot and 2000 See also:horse, to defend the province of See also:Bithynia against Mithradates, who was besieging his colleague, See also:Marcus Aurelius See also:Cotta, in See also:Chalcedon on the Propontis. Mithradates was forced to retire along the See also:sea-See also:coast till he halted before the strong See also:city of See also:Cyzicus, which he besieged. Lucullus, however, cut off his communications on the See also:land See also:side, and, aided by See also:bad See also:weather, forced him to raise the See also:siege. In the autumn of 73 Lucullus marched to Cabeira or Neocaesarea, where the See also:king had gone into See also:winter quarters with a vague See also:hope that his son-in-See also:law, See also:Tigranes, king of See also:Armenia, and possibly even the Parthians, might come to his aid. Al-though the forces of Mithradates were far See also:superior in See also:numbers, his troops were no match for the Roman legionaries. A large detachment of his See also:army having been cut up by one of Lucullus's See also:lieutenant-generals, the king decided on instant See also:retreat. The retreat soon became a disorderly See also:flight, Mithradates himself escaping with difficulty into Lesser Armenia. Thus Pontus, with the exception of some of the maritime cities, such as See also:Sinope, See also:Heraclea and Amisus, became Roman territory. Two years were occupied in the See also:capture of these strongholds, while Lucullus busied himself with a See also:general reform of the See also:administration of the province of Asia. His next step was to demand the surrender of Mithradates and to threaten Tigranes with war in the event of refusal.

In the See also:

spring of 69, at the head of only two legions, he marched through Sophene, the See also:south-western portion of Armenia, crossed the See also:Tigris, and pushed on to the newly-built royal city, Tigranocerta, situated on one of the affiuents of that See also:river. A See also:motley See also:host, made up out of the tribes bordering on the See also:Black Sea and the See also:Caspian, hovered See also:round his small army, but failed to hinder him from laying siege to the See also:town. Lucullus showed consummate military capacity, contriving to maintain the siege and at the same See also:time to give See also:battle to the enemy's vastly superior forces. There might now have been peace but for the interference of Mithradates, who pressed Tigranes to renew the war and to seek the aid and See also:alliance of See also:Parthia. The See also:Parthian king, however, preferred a His See also:brother, MARCUS See also:LICINIUS LUCULLUS, was adopted by Marcus Terentius See also:Varro, and was hence known as Marcus Terentius Varro Lucullus. In 82 B.C. he served under Sulla against See also:Marius. In 79 he was curule aedile with his brother, in 77 praetor, in 73 consul with See also:Gaius See also:Cassius Varus. When praetor he forbade the carrying of arms by slaves, and with his colleague in the consulship passed the lex Terentia See also:Cassia, to give authority for purchasing See also:corn with the public See also:money and retailing it at a fixed See also:price at Rome. As proconsul in See also:Macedonia he made war with See also:great See also:cruelty against the Dardani and Bessi, and compelled them to acknowledge the supremacy of Rome. Having enjoyed a See also:triumph, he was sent out to the See also:East to See also:settle the affairs of the provinces conquered by his brother. He sided with See also:Cicero during the Catilinarian See also:conspiracy, did his utmost to prevent his banishment, and subsequently supported his claim for the restoration of his See also:house. He was one of the better representatives of the optimates, and enjoyed some reputation as an orator.

See Cicero, De Domo, 52; See also:

Pro Tullio, 8; In Verrem, iii. 70, V. 21; See also:Florus, iii. 4, 7; See also:Ammianus See also:Marcellinus See also:xxvii. 4, I I ; See also:Plutarch, Sulla, 27; Lucullus, 35, 36, 43 ; See also:Orelli's Onomasticon Tullianum.

End of Article: LUCULLUS

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