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84-455: Lucullus started the fashion of building luxurious garden-palaces in the 1st century BC with the construction of his gardens ( horti ) on the Pincian Hill . The horti were a place of pleasure, almost a small palace, and offered the rich owner and his court the possibility of living in isolation, away from the hectic life of the city but close to it. The most important part of the horti

168-556: A Ptolemaic mother) kings of Egypt in place of the illegitimate Ptolemy XII Auletes . Though these brothers left Rome empty handed in about 72 BC, their plight was not forgotten and Lucullus now elevated one of them as king of Syria: Antiochus XIII , known as Asiaticus owing to the time he had spent living in Roman Asia province. Lucullus' old friend Antiochus of Ascalon accompanied him on this journey and died at Antioch. However, in his absence his authority over his army at Nisibis

252-750: A Seleucid rebellion in Syria with an experienced army which Lucullus nonetheless annihilated at the Battle of Tigranocerta . This battle was fought on the same (pre-Julian) calendar date as the Roman disaster at Arausio 36 years earlier, the day before the Nones of October according to the reckoning of the time (or October 6), which is Julian October 16, 69 BC. Tigranes retired to the northern regions of his kingdom to gather another army and defend his hereditary capital of Artaxata, while Lucullus moved off south-eastwards to

336-458: A dome with alternating concave and flat segments (a very rare form, found only in the Serapeum). The walls host three niches on each side, two of which were open as passages for side rooms, probably nymphaea . A few years after construction, the remaining niches were closed and covered with marble panels, which also covered the walls. The floor was also marble, while the dome and the upper part of

420-466: A fever in the villa of the horti in 98, and the emperors Hadrian and Aurelian had major works done there. The latter in particular had a porticus miliarensis built, probably a complex of portico, garden and riding stables, where he went to ride. Other restorations were carried out in the third century. It remained an imperial resort until it was sacked in 410 by the Goths under Alaric , who entered

504-548: A generous and just nature, but also his political traditionalism in contrast to contemporaries such as Cicero and Pompey , the former of whom was always eager to avoid administrative responsibilities of any sort in the provinces, while Pompey rejected every aspect of a normal career, seeking great military commands at every opportunity which suited him, while refusing to undertake normal duties in peaceful provinces. Two other notable transactions took place in 76 or 75 BC following Lucullus' return from Africa: his marriage to Claudia,

588-619: A history of the war in Greek. Lucullus was elected Quaestor in winter of 89-88 during the same elections Sulla was chosen as Consul with his friend Quintus Pompeius Rufus (whose son was married to Sulla's eldest daughter, Cornelia ). Lucullus was probably the Quaestor mentioned as the sole officer in Sulla's army who could stomach accompanying the Consul when he marched on Rome. In autumn of

672-536: A homonymous son. He divorced her about the year 66 BC, on his return to Rome after friction in Asia with her brother, Publius Clodius Pulcher . Servilia , the daughter of Livia and Quintus Servilius Caepio , sister of Servilia Major , and half-sister of Cato the Younger : also notorious for her loose morals, as she cheated on him, he forced himself to stay with her out of respect for her half-brother Cato. They had

756-602: A large part in the evolution of the taste and style of Roman art. It is similar to the figures of the pediment of the temple of Apollo Daphnephoros in Eretria and perhaps is also linked to the dying Niobid and the running Niobid of the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek in Copenhagen. The Niobid should have decorated the pediment of a Greek temple but was found hidden to save it from the barbarian raids that devastated

840-551: A large villa such as the Sallustian. The horti also housed a hippodrome ( circus ) built by Aurelian . A remarkably well-preserved pavilion of the villa can be seen at the centre of present-day Piazza Sallustio, 14 m below present street level. It was probably a summer triclinium like the Serapeum of Hadrian's Villa . The main part of the building was a large circular hall (11 m in diameter by 13 in height), covered by

924-591: A long march through very difficult mountain country directed at the old Armenian capital Artaxata . A battle took place near the River Arsanias, where Lucullus once again routed the Armenian royal army. However, he had misjudged the time needed for a campaign so far into the Armenian Tablelands, where the good weather was unusually short lived, and when the first snows fell around the time of

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1008-523: A perceived lack of reward in the form of plunder, had caused increasing insubordination. The more daring and ruthless veterans had probably been further encouraged by Lucullus' relatively mild acceptance of their first open mutiny in the Tablelands the previous autumn -especially the so-called Fimbrian legions who had murdered their first commander Lucius Valerius Flaccus and abandoned their second commander Gaius Flavius Fimbria . Instigated by Clodius,

1092-467: A series of demonstrations against the commander took place in his absence and by the time of his return he had largely lost control of his army and could not conduct further offensive operations. In addition Mithridates had returned to Pontus during the same winter, and crushed the garrison force Lucullus had left there under his legates Sornatius Barba and Fabius Hadrianus. Lucullus was left with no choice but to retreat to Pontus and Cappadocia and did so in

1176-530: A small, but apparently highly mobile, escort, journeyed to Syria in an attempt to permanently exclude Tigranes from all his southern possessions. Syria had been an Armenian province since 83 BC. About a decade later the dispossessed Seleucid princes had spent two years in Rome (one of them probably during Lucullus's consulship in 74 BC) lobbying the Senate and Roman aristocracy to make them (as legitimate Seleucids with

1260-1147: A son named Marcus. When he died he made Cato the guardian of the boy. - ed. René Henry Photius Bibliotheque , vol.IV: Codices 223-229 (Budé, Paris, 1965), 48-99: Greek with French translation - ed. Karl Müller FHG ( Fragmenta Historicorum Graecorum ), vol.III, 525ff.: Greek with Latin translation - ed. Felix Jacoby FGrH 434 ( Die Fragmente der griechischen Historiker , commenced 1923): Greek text, critical commentary in German - ed. Müller FHG , III, 602ff. - ed. Jacoby FGrH 257 - English translation and commentary by William Hansen, Phlegon of Tralles' Book of Marvels (University of Exeter Press, 1996) - ILS 60 (Latin career elogium from Arretium) - SIG 743, AE 1974 , 603 (both Greek from Hypata, as quaestor in late 88) - SIG 745 (Greek from Rhodes, when pro quaestore, 84/3) - Ins.Délos 1620 (Latin statue base titulus from Delos when pro quaestore, 85/80) - BE 1970, p. 426 (two Greek tituli when imperator, 72/66, from Andros and Klaros) Early books Triclinium A triclinium ( pl. : triclinia )

1344-474: Is a cultivar of the vegetable Swiss chard ( Beta vulgaris ); which is named "Lucullus" in his honour. Lucullus was extremely well educated in Latin and Greek, and showed a keen interest in literature and philosophy from earliest adulthood. He established lifelong friendships with the Greek poet Archias of (Syrian) Antioch , who migrated to Rome around 102 BC, and with one of the leading academic philosophers of

1428-538: Is a formal dining room in a Roman building. The word is adopted from the Greek triklinion ( τρικλίνιον )—from tri- ( τρι- ), "three", and klinē ( κλίνη ), a sort of couch , or rather chaise longue . Each couch was sized to accommodate a diner who reclined on their left side on cushions while some household slaves served multiple courses brought from the culina , or kitchen , and others entertained guests with music, song, or dance. The triclinium

1512-441: Is noted for his magnanimous administration of Asia province; he managed to calm Rome's resentful, near rebellious, Asian subjects and establish a modicum of peace. When Asia's Roman governor, Lucius Licinius Murena , started and fought the brief, so-called Second Mithridatic War (83-81 BC), Lucullus was not involved. Mytilene, capital of the island of Lesbos, rebelled during Lucullus administration of Asia. Lucullus tried to solve

1596-487: The dominus . As static, privileged space, dining rooms received extremely elaborate decoration, with complex perspective scenes and central paintings (or, here, mosaics). Dionysus , Venus , and still lifes of food were popular. Middle-class and elite Roman houses usually had at least two triclinia ; it is not unusual to find four or more. Here, the triclinium maius ("big dining room") would be used for larger dinner parties, which would typically include many clients of

1680-454: The Battle of Cabira . He did not pursue Mithridates immediately, but instead he finished conquering the kingdom of Pontus and setting the affairs of Asia into order. His attempts to reform the rapacious Roman administration in Asia made him increasingly unpopular among the powerful publicani back in Rome. Mithridates had fled to Armenia and, in 71 BC, Lucullus sent his brother-in-law Appius Claudius Pulcher (later consul in 54 BC) as envoy to

1764-492: The Horti Caesaris , but after his death it was acquired by the historian Sallust, one of his closest friends, who developed it using his wealth acquired as governor of the province of Africa Nova (newly conquered Numidia ). In 36 BC on the death of the historian, the residence passed to his adopted great-grandson of the same name, and eventually to Claudius as imperial property but was maintained for several centuries by

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1848-575: The Pacca edict on the protection of the works found. Later work of identifying numerous works preserved in Italian and foreign museums has made it possible to trace them back to the Horti Sallustiani. The works found later included: The Niobid, an original of the 5th century BC, is believed be one of the numerous works brought to Rome from Greece by Augustus as spoils of war and which played

1932-607: The Roman Emperors as a public amenity. The gardens were enriched with many additional structures and monumental sculptures in the four centuries during which they evolved. Many emperors chose it as a temporary residence, as an alternative to the official seat on the Palatine Hill. Pliny writes that the remains of the guardians of the horti , Posio and Secundilla, were found there in the reign of Augustus and measured 10 feet 3 inches tall. The Emperor Nerva died of

2016-508: The klinē to the male sex. The Romans may have seen the first dining klinai used by the Etruscans but may have refined the practice when they later came to closer contact with the Greek culture. Dining was the defining ritual in Roman domestic life, lasting from late afternoon through late at night. Typically, nine to twenty guests were invited, arranged in a prescribed seating order to emphasize divisions in status and relative closeness to

2100-550: The African command, while the surviving Latin biography, far briefer but more even as biography than Plutarch, comments that he " ruled Africa with the highest degree of justice ". This command is significant in showing Lucullus performing the regular, less glamorous, administrative duties of a public career in the customary sequence and, given his renown as a Philhellene , for the regard he showed for subject peoples who were not Greek. In these respects his early career demonstrates

2184-530: The Apollo room was the large sum of 50,000 drachmae , Cicero and Pompey found themselves a short time later dining upon a most unexpectedly luxurious meal. On another occasion, the tale runs that his steward, hearing that he would have no guests for dinner, served only one not especially impressive course. Lucullus reprimanded him saying, "What, did not you know, then, that today Lucullus dines with Lucullus?" Among Lucullus' other contributions to fine dining, he

2268-480: The Armenian king-of-kings Tigranes II to demand the surrender of the Pontic king. In the letter conveyed by Appius, Lucullus addressed Tigranes simply as "king" ( basileus ), something received as an insult, and probably intended as such in order to provoke the proud Armenian monarch to war. Keaveney argues against such an interpretation, arguing that Lucullus was acting as a typical philhellene with no empathy towards

2352-514: The East to live a life of luxury. He had several known luxurious villas: The one near Neapolis included fish ponds and man-made extensions into the sea, and was only one of many elite senators' villas around the Bay of Naples . Pompey is said by Pliny and Vellleius Paterculus to have referred often to Lucullus as " Xerxes in a toga ". He finally held his triumph in 63 BC thanks in small part to

2436-518: The Greeks in the early seventh century BC. From there, it spread to its colonies in southern Italy ( Magna Graecia ) and was eventually adopted by the Etruscans . In contrast to the Greek tradition of allowing only male guests into the formal dining room, called andrōn , while everyday meals were taken with the rest of the family in the oikos , the Etruscans seem not to have restricted the use of

2520-516: The Mithridatic fleet lay in wait. After Lucullus had defeated the Mithridatic admiral Neoptolemus in the Battle of Tenedos , he helped Sulla cross the Aegean to Asia. After a peace had been agreed, Lucullus stayed in Asia and collected the financial penalty Sulla imposed upon the province for its revolt. Lucullus, however, tried to lessen the burden that these impositions created. Lucullus

2604-566: The Roman Republic in 94 BC. He then sailed to Egypt to try and secure ships from king Ptolemy IX Soter II . In Alexandria, Ptolemaic Egypt's capital, he was well received, but there would be no aid or help. Ptolemy had decided to sail a safe course between Rome and Pontus. From Alexandria Lucullus sailed to Cyprus; evading the Cilician pirates , he went to Rhodos (Rome's naval ally). The Rhodians supplied him with additional ships. Rhodos

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2688-482: The Via Sallustiana runs today, and resting against the hill behind and connected to other remains of poorly preserved buildings. To the south there is a semi-circular covered room divided into three areas with partitions, two of which still retain ancient mosaics in black and white and the remains of wall paintings probably from a later time; the third room towards the south is occupied by a flight of stairs to

2772-463: The area in the 5th century AD. The Nike Ludovisi and the famous Ludovisi Throne, both Greek originals brought to Rome, may have been placed in the Temple of Venus Erycina which was later incorporated into the horti . The throne came from the sanctuary of Aphrodite (Venus) at Locri ; in 1982 it was shown to fit exactly into remaining blocks in the temple's foundations. Some verses of Ovid suggest

2856-418: The autumn equinox his army mutinied and refused to advance any further. Lucullus led them back south to the warmer climes of northern Mesopotamia and had no trouble from his troops there despite setting them the difficult task of capturing the great Armenian fortress of Nisibis, which was quickly stormed and made the Roman base for the winter of 68–67 BC. That winter Lucullus left his army at Nisibis and, taking

2940-656: The beginning of the separate, more conservative, school eventually called the Old Academy. Plutarch reports that Lucullus lost his mind towards the end of his life, intermittently developing signs of insanity as he aged. Plutarch, however, seems to be somewhat ambivalent as to whether the apparent madness was actually the result of the administration of a purported love potion or other explicable cause, hinting that his alleged precipitous mental decline (and his concomitant withdrawal from public affairs) may have been at least in part conveniently feigned in self-protection against

3024-507: The biographical compendium of famous Romans published by his contemporary Marcus Terentius Varro . Two biographies of Lucullus survive today, Plutarch 's Lucullus in the famous series of Parallel Lives , in which Lucullus is paired with the Athenian aristocratic politician and Strategos Cimon , and # 74 in the slender Latin Liber de viris illustribus , of late and unknown authorship,

3108-505: The cities to the Roman side. From there he crossed to Cyrene where the famous Hellenic colony in Africa was in dire condition following a vicious and exhausting civil war of nearly seven years' duration. Lucullus' arrival seems to have put a belated end to this terrible conflict, as the first official Roman presence there since the departure of the proconsul Caius Claudius Pulcher, who presided over its initial administrative incorporation into

3192-559: The city at the gates of the Horti Sallustiani . The complex was severely damaged and never rebuilt. However, the gardens were not finally deserted until the 6th century. During the planting of 16th century vineyards and especially in the early 17th century when Cardinal Ludovico Ludovisi , nephew of Pope Gregory XV , purchased the site and constructed the Villa Ludovisi , many important sculptures were discovered. In

3276-466: The conflict through diplomacy, but eventually he launched an attack on the city state, defeated her militia in a pitched battle in front of her walls and started a siege. After some time Lucullus pretended to give up on the siege and sailed away. When the Mytileneans entered the remnants of his camp, Lucullus ambushed them, killing 500 of the enemy and enslaving 6,000. Lucullus returned in 80 BC and

3360-419: The east with so much captured booty that the vast sums of treasure, jewels, priceless works of art, and slaves could not be fully accounted for. On his return Lucullus poured enormous sums into private building projects, husbandry and even aquaculture projects, which shocked and amazed his contemporaries by their magnitude. He also patronised the arts and sciences lavishly, transforming his hereditary estate in

3444-646: The eastern kingdoms in the course of the Third Mithridatic War , exhibiting extraordinary generalship in diverse situations, most famously during the Siege of Cyzicus in 73–72 BC, and at the Battle of Tigranocerta in Armenian Arzanene in 69 BC. His command style received unusually favourable attention from ancient military experts, and his campaigns appear to have been studied as examples of skilful generalship. Lucullus returned to Rome from

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3528-594: The entrance of the room. In Roman-era dwellings, particularly wealthy ones, triclinia were common and the hosts and guests would recline on pillows while feasting . The Museum of Archeology in Arezzo, Italy and the House of Cairo in Pompeii offer what are thought to be accurate reconstructions of triclinia . The custom of using klinai ("dining couches") while taking a meal rather than sitting became popular among

3612-520: The family estate near Tusculum. The conquest agnomen of Ponticus is sometimes incorrectly appended to his name in modern texts. In ancient sources it is attributed only to his consular colleague Marcus Aurelius Cotta after the latter’s capture and brutal destruction of Heraclea Pontica during the Third Mithridatic War. Lucullus was included in the biographical collections of Roman leading generals and politicians, originating in

3696-517: The father's testament, and now in Pompeius' absence the latter's intimate and hereditary political ally Gaius Memmius co-ordinated the opposition to Lucullus' claim to a triumph . Memmius delivered at least four speeches de triumpho Luculli Asiatico , and the antagonism towards Lucullus aroused by the Pompeians proved so effective that the enabling law ( lex curiata ) required to hold a triumph

3780-477: The garage of the American Embassy on the side on via Friuli, and a wall with niches along via Lucullo. A large Hadrianic cistern also survives under Collegio Germanico at the corner of Via San Nicola da Tolentino and Via Bissolati consisting of two levels: the first, 1.8 m high, acts as a substructure to the second (overall 39 x 3.3 m). Testimony of the importance and wealth of the Horti Sallustiani are

3864-515: The great works of art found, many of them ancient Greek originals, even though numerous robberies took place over the centuries. The sculpture found in the 16th and 17th centuries included: Almost all the works found in the late 19th century were sold to the great collectors of Europe and America, first of all Jacobsen , founder of the Glyptothek of Copenhagen, with the mediation of antique and art dealers who worked for illicit export, violating

3948-452: The highlands of Tusculum into a hotel-and-library complex for scholars and philosophers. He built the famous horti Lucullani (Palace and gardens of Lucullus) on the Pincian Hill in Rome, and became a cultural innovator in the deployment of imperial wealth. His achievements led Pliny the Elder to refer to him as "Xerxes in a Toga". He died during the winter of 57–56 BC and was buried at

4032-470: The important but currently disturbed states of Cyrene and Ptolemaic Egypt. Lucullus set out from the Piraeus in mid winter 87-6 BC with three Greek yachts ( myoparones ) and three light Rhodian biremes, hoping to evade the prevailing sea power of the Pontic fleets and their piratic allies by speed and taking advantage of the worst sailing conditions. He initially made Crete , and is said to have won over

4116-654: The kingdom of the Corduene on the frontiers of the Armenian and Parthian empires. During the winter of 69–68 BC both sides opened negotiations with the Parthian king, Arsaces XVI, who was presently defending himself against a major onslaught from his rival Phraates III coming from Bactria and the far east. In the summer of 68 BC Lucullus resumed the war against Tigranes, crossing the Anti-Taurus Range in

4200-509: The late 19th century the building fever of the construction of Rome as the capital included the destruction of modern villas that populated the Quirinale. It was a lost opportunity to study the archaeology of the site. The ancient topography was irrevocably altered with the filling of the valley between the Pincio and Quirinal hills where these horti existed. Nevertheless, excavations led to

4284-524: The later complex was the temple of Venus Erycina which stood at the bottom of the valley, a Republican building located just outside the Porta Collina and incorporated in the horti under Caesar. This small temple was reminiscent of a Hellenistic tholos , a very common type in the late Republican age and a typical element of large suburban villas. The connection to Venus, goddess of love, fertility and nature, and therefore protector of horti suited

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4368-571: The lots, but he got himself appointed governor of Cilicia after its governor ( Lucius Octavius ) died, reputedly by recommendation from Praecia . He also got himself the command of the Third Mithridatic War against Mithridates VI of Pontus . This was a highly sought after command for Mithridates ruled very rich lands. On his way to Cilicia , his proconsular province, Lucullus landed his legion somewhere in Asia province. He initially planned to march from Asia to western Cilicia and invade Pontus from

4452-490: The main sources for which appear to go back to Varro and his most significant successor in the genre, Gaius Julius Hyginus . Lucullus was a member of the prominent gens Licinia , and of the family, or stirps , of the Luculli, which may have been descended from the ancient nobility of Tusculum . He was grandson of Lucius Licinius Lucullus , consul in 151 BC, and son of Lucius Licinius Lucullus , praetor in 104 BC, who

4536-498: The meal for his guests. However, Lucullus outsmarted them, and succeeded in getting Pompey and Cicero to allow that he specify which room he would be dining in. He ordered that his slaves serve him in the Apollo Room, knowing that his service staff was schooled ahead of time as to the specific details of service he expected for each of his particular dining rooms: as the standard amount specified to be outlaid for any given dinner in

4620-507: The most important influential senators, Quintus Caecilius Metellus Numidicus (consul 109 and censor 102) and Lucius Caecilius Metellus Dalmaticus (consul 119 and Pontifex Maximus ), the latter of which was also the father of Sulla 's third wife Caecilia Metella . Lucullus possibly served as military tribune in 89 BC; Plutarch notes that he served as an officer under Sulla during the Social War before his quaestorship. He wrote

4704-488: The mother of Julius Caesar . During his consulship he defended Sulla's constitution from the efforts of Lucius Quinctius to undermine it. He supported a plea from Pompey, campaigning against the rebel Sertorius on the Iberian peninsula , for funds and reinforcements. He was probably also involved in the decision to make Cyrene into a Roman province. Initially, he drew Cisalpine Gaul as his proconsular command in

4788-527: The owner . Smaller triclinia would be used for smaller dinner parties, with a more exclusive set of guests. Hence, their decoration was often at least as elaborate as that found in larger triclinia . As in the larger triclinia , wine, food, and love were always popular themes. However, because of their association with patronage and because dining entertainment often included recitation of highbrow literature like epics , dining rooms could also feature more "serious" themes. As in many houses in Pompeii , here

4872-407: The partial discovery of a nymphaeum probably dating from Hadrian's renovation of the horti. Its walls were encrusted with enamels, pumice and shells, which framed small landscapes and scenes with animals and flowers painted in bright colours. The sculptural decoration included a round altar with four Seasons and the beautiful group of Artemis and Iphigenia with a doe, now in Copenhagen. Also part of

4956-604: The political manoeuvering of both Cato and Cicero. His triumph was remembered mostly due to his covering the Circus Flaminius with the arms of the enemies he had faced during the campaign. So famous did Lucullus become for his banqueting that the word lucullan now means lavish, luxurious and gourmet . Once, Cicero and Pompey succeeded in inviting themselves to dinner with Lucullus, but, curious to see what sort of meal Lucullus ate when alone, forbade him to communicate with his slaves regarding any preparation of

5040-466: The rest back to sea. Lucullus sunk or captured 32 ships of the royal fleet. Lucullus finished off the Mithridatic army in Bithynia and then moved through Galatia (which was allied to Rome by now) into Pontus. He was wary of drawing into a direct engagement with Mithridates, due to the latter's superior cavalry. However, after several small battles and many skirmishes, Lucullus finally defeated him at

5124-467: The rise to power of his political opponents, such as the popular party, during a time in which the political stakes were often life and death. Lucullus' brother Marcus oversaw his funeral. His tomb has been located near his villa in Tusculum . Lucullus married Clodia, (one of the daughters of Appius Claudius Pulcher the consul of 79 BC) at the earliest 76 BC. With her he had a daughter and possibly

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5208-626: The same year Sulla sent Lucullus ahead to Greece to assess the situation while he himself oversaw the embarkation of his army. Lucullus arrived in Greece and took over from Quintus Bruttius Sura who had been able to stop the Mithridatic invasion in northern Greece. When Sulla arrived with the main army, Lucullus served him as a quaestor again; he minted money that was used during the war against Mithridates in southern Greece (87-86 BC). The money Lucullus minted, as per Roman custom, bore his name:

5292-462: The sensibilities of non-Greeks. However, this is refuted by Lucullus' conduct during his administration of Africa ( c.  77–75 BC ), the period of his career most conspicuously missing from the Greek biography by Plutarch. In 69 BC, Lucullus invaded Armenia . He began a siege of the new Armenian imperial capital of Tigranocerta in the Arzenene district. Tigranes returned from mopping up

5376-423: The smaller dining room ( triclinium minus ) forms a suite with the adjoining cubiculum and bath. In later republican times, after the introduction of round tables of citrus wood , the three couches were replaced by one of crescent shape (called sigma from the form of the Greek letter), which as a rule was only intended to hold five persons. The two corner seats ( cornua ) were the places of honor that, on

5460-401: The so called Lucullea . As the Roman siege of Athens was drawing towards a successful conclusion, Sulla's strategic attention began to focus more widely on subsequent operations against the main Pontic forces, and combating Mithridates' control of the sea lanes. He sent Lucullus to collect such a fleet as might be possible from Rome's allies along the eastern Mediterranean seaboard, first to

5544-558: The south. In Asia province he found the two Fimbrian legions , veterans from the previous Mithridatic Wars, waiting for him. Upon hearing the news of Cotta's defeat he set out to relieve the besieged Cotta in Bithynia . Lucullus had to fight Mithridates by land and sea therefore he assembled a large army and also raised a fleet amongst the Greek cities of Asia. With this fleet he defeated the enemy's fleet off Ilium and then off Lemnos . On land, through careful manoeuvring and trickery, he

5628-502: The spring of 67 BC. Despite his continuous success in battle, Lucullus had still not captured either one of the monarchs. In 66 BC, with the majority of Lucullus' troops now openly refusing to obey his commands, but agreeing to defend Roman positions from attack, the senate sent Pompey to take over Lucullus' command, at which point Lucullus returned to Rome. The opposition to him continued on his return. In his absence Pompey had shamefully usurped control over Sulla's children, contrary to

5712-641: The time, Antiochus of Ascalon . During his long delay in the royal palace at Alexandria in the summer of 86 BC Lucullus witnessed the beginning of the major schism in the Platonic Academy in the 1st century BC, the so-called Sosos Affair. His friend and companion Antiochos of Ascalon received, evidently from the Library of Alexandria , a copy of a work by the scholarch of the Academy, Philo of Larissa , so radical in its sceptical stance that Antiochos

5796-434: The transfer of the cult statue from Magna Graecia to Rome. [REDACTED] Media related to Horti Sallustiani (Rome) at Wikimedia Commons Lucullus Lucius Licinius Lucullus ( / lj uː ˈ k ʌ l ə s / ; 118 –57/56 BC) was a Roman general and statesman , closely connected with Lucius Cornelius Sulla . In culmination of over 20 years of almost continuous military and government service, he conquered

5880-555: The two upper floors, while the north one was interspersed with a room used as a latrine. The brick stamps of this building confirm a date of 126. The dating is significant because it shows the developments of imperial private architecture after the Domus Augustana , and the evolution from the Domus Aurea model over nearly 50 years. Among the other remains in the complex is a cryptoporticus with wall paintings, now in

5964-438: The unfortunate issue of his many struggles and toils entitled him to fall back upon a life of ease and luxury...[for] in the life of Lucullus, as in an ancient comedy, one reads in the first part of political measures and military commands, and in the latter part of drinking bouts, and banquets, and what might pass for revel-routs, and torch-races, and all manner of frivolity. He used the vast treasure he amassed during his wars in

6048-485: The walls were decorated with stucco. A grandiose basilica room was framed by two side buildings on two floors, while the upper part of the building had a large panoramic terrace, linked to a gallery. It was one of the main nuclei in a spectacular location at the bottom of the valley dividing the Quirinale from the Pincio. It was supported by thick walls with arches and buttresses resting on the Servian Walls where

6132-470: The youngest daughter of Appius Claudius Pulcher , and his purchase of the Marian hilltop villa at Cape Misenum from Sulla's eldest daughter Cornelia. Sulla dedicated his memoirs to Lucullus, and upon his death made him guardian of his son Faustus and daughter Fausta , preferring Lucullus over Pompey . In 74 BC, Lucullus served as consul along with Marcus Aurelius Cotta , the half-brother of Aurelia

6216-588: Was able to escape Lucullus's siege, but most of his soldiers perished at Cyzicus. The Pontic fleet tried to sail east into the Aegean , but Lucullus led his fleet against them. He captured a detachment of 13 ships between the island of Tenedos and the mainland harbour of the Achaeans . The main Pontic force, however, had drawn their ships to shore at a site difficult of approach, the small island of Neae between Lemnos and Scyros ; Lucullus then sent infantry by land across Neae to their rear, killing many and forcing

6300-513: Was able to trap Mithridates' army at Cyzicus . According to Appian and Plutarch Lucullus had 30,000 infantry and 1,600-2,500 cavalry while Mithridates was rumoured to have as many as 300,000 men in his force. Since Mithridates had superior numbers Lucullus refused to give battle, he decided to starve his enemy into submission. Lucullus blockaded Mithridates' huge army on the Cyzicus peninsula and let famine and plague do his work for him. Mithridates

6384-404: Was characterized by three lecti (singular lectus : bed or couch), called triclinares ("of the triclinium "), on three sides of a low square table, whose surfaces sloped away from the table at about 10 degrees. Diners would recline on these surfaces in a semi-recumbent position. The fourth side of the table was left free, presumably to allow service to the table. Usually, the open side faced

6468-449: Was convicted for embezzlement during his Sicilian command (104/3) and exiled in c.  102 BC . The family of his mother Caecilia Metella (born c.  137 BC ), was a powerful nobile family at the height of its success and influence in the last quarter of the 2nd century BC when Lucullus was born. She was the youngest child of Lucius Caecilius Metellus Calvus (consul 142 and censor 115–14), and half-sister of two of

6552-646: Was delayed for three years. In this period Lucullus was forced to reside outside the pomerium , which curtailed his involvement in day-to-day politics centred on the Forum. Instead of returning fully to political life (although, as a friend of Cicero , he did act in some issues ) he mostly retired to extravagant leisure, or, in Plutarch's words: quitted and abandoned public affairs, either because he saw that they were already beyond proper control and diseased, or, as some say, because he had his fill of glory, and felt that

6636-532: Was elected curule aedile for 79, along with his brother Marcus Terentius Varro Lucullus , and gave splendid games. The most obscure part of Lucullus' public career is the year he spent as praetor in Rome, followed by his governorship of Roman Africa , which probably lasted the usual two-year span for this province in the post-Sullan period. Plutarch's biography entirely ignores this period, 78 BC to 75 BC, jumping from Sulla's death to Lucullus' consulate. However Cicero briefly mentions his praetorship followed by

6720-495: Was famous for its naval strength and the marine acumen of its sailors; the Rhodian contingent would turn out to be a most welcome aid. In the waters near Rhodos Lucullus' fleet defeated a Mithridatic contingent. He then secured Cnidus and Cos, drove the Mithridatic military from Chios, and attacked Samos. From there he would work his way North. Lucullus won another victory off Cape Lecton . From Lecton Lucullus sailed to Tenedos where

6804-418: Was responsible for bringing the sour cherry , (a species of) the sweet cherry and the apricot to Rome, developing major facilities for aquaculture, and being the only person in Rome with the ability to provide thrushes for gastronomic purposes in every season, having his own fattening coops. Cicero once called Lucullus 'Piscinarius' - fish fancier. Among the various edible plants associated with Lucullus

6888-610: Was seriously undermined by the youngest and wildest of the Claudian brothers, Publius Clodius Pulcher , apparently acting in the interests of Pompey , who was eager to succeed Lucullus in the Mithridatic War command. Although a brother-in-law of Lucullus, Clodius was also frater in some form (whether a first cousin frater consobrinus or uterine brother) of Pompey's wife Mucia Tertia . The long campaigning and hardships that Lucullus' troops had endured for years, combined with

6972-585: Was sufficiently disturbed to doubt the attribution of authorship to his old teacher. But more recent pupils of Philo, chiefly Herakleitos of Tyre, were able to assure him of the book's authenticity. Antiochos and Herakleitos dissected it at length in Lucullus' presence, and in the ensuing weeks while the Roman party continued to await the arrival of the king from the south, Antiochos composed a vigorous polemic against Philo entitled Sosos , which marked his definitive break with Philo's so-called "Sceptical Academy", and

7056-426: Was undoubtedly the planting, very often as topiary in geometric or animal shapes. Among the greenery there were often pavilions, arcades for walking away from the sun, fountains, spas, temples and statues, often replicas of Greek originals. In the 3rd century AD the total number of horti occupied about a tenth of Rome and formed a green belt around the centre. The property originally belonged to Julius Caesar as

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