Lucius Licinius Lucullus (consul 151 BC)
Lucius Licinius Lucullus was a Roman politician who became consul in 151 BC.
Lucullus was sent to Hispania Citerior (Nearer Spain, on the east coast of Hispania) when the senate rejected a proposal for a peace treaty with the Celtiberians by Marcus Claudius Marcellus to end the Numantine War (154–152 BC). However, Marcellus went ahead with his plan and quickly concluded a treaty before Lucullus got there. Lucullus was disappointed and, "being greedy of fame and needing money because he was in straitened circumstances",[1] he attacked the Vaccaei, a Celtiberian tribe which lived further north and who were not at war with Rome, and did so without the authorisation of the senate. He claimed that they had mistreated the Carpetani as an excuse.
He pitched camp by the town of
He was imprisoned by the tribunes for attempting to enforce a troop levy too harshly.
Appian emphasised the greed of Lucullus and said that he fought these campaigns for the sake of gold and silver, which he thought were abundant all over Hispania. However, the people he attacked did not have any and did not even "set any value on those metals". He added that Lucullus was never called into account for his actions.[5]
While he was in Turdetania, the Lusitanians, who were also rebelling, carried out raids in the area. Lucullus invaded Lusitania and, according to Appian, he depopulated it. He was not meant to get involved. The war with the Lusitanians was under the jurisdiction of Servius Sulpicius Galba, the praetor of Hispania Ulterior (Further Spain, roughly modern Andalusia) and Lucullus was wintering in his province. However, Appian wrote that Galba was even more greedy than Lucullus. He let him do so and did the same on the other side of Lusitania. Galba, too, was in search for booty, and slaughtered a large number of Lusitanians by treachery. He, too, was not held to account.[6]
Lucullus built a temple dedicated to Fortuna in the Velabrum to celebrate his "success". He adorned it with statues which Lucius Mummius Achaicus, who defeated the Achaean League in Greece, had lent him. Later Mummius asked for his statues back, but Lucullus told him that it would be irresponsible because they were now dedicated to the goddess. Cassius Dio wrote that Mummius lent him his statues because of his amiable and charitable nature.[7]
Children
Lucullus was the father of the Lucius Licinius Lucullus who was praetor in 104 BC and led Roman forces against rebel Sicilian slaves in the Second Servile War (104–100 BC). He was the grandfather of Lucius Licinius Lucullus, who was consul in 74 BC, and the Roman commander in the first part of the Third Mithridatic War (74-63 BC) until 67 BC, and Marcus Terentius Varro Lucullus, who was consul in 73 BC and proconsul of Macedonia in 72 BC.[8]
See also
- Licinia (gens)
Notes
- ^ Appian, Roman History, Book 6, The Wars in Spain, 51
- ^ Appian, Roman History, Book 6, The Wars in Spain, 51–52
- ^ Appian, Roman History, Book 6, The Wars in Spain, 53–54
- ^ Appian, Roman History, Book 6, The Wars in Spain, 55
- ^ Appian, Roman History, Book 6, The Wars in Spain, 55
- ^ Appian, Roman History, Book 6, The Wars in Spain, 59–60
- ^ Cassius Dio, Fragments of Book 22, 76
- ^ Arthur Keaveney, Lucullus: A Life 1992, pp. 2, 4
References
- Appian: Roman History, Volume I, Books 1–8.1 (Loeb Classical Library), Loeb, 1989; ISBN 978-0674990029
- Arthur Keaveney, Lucullus, A Life, Gorgias Press; W/A New PostScr edition, 2009; ISBN 978-1607240785
- Cassius Dio, Roman History, Volume I, Books 25-25 (Loeb Classical Library), Loeb, 1989; ISBN 978-0674990418