Lucullus Read online

  Currency in His Name

  Plutarch also notes en passant the economic acumen and skill of the young Lucullus in the winter of 87–86 BC, when he was credited with the minting of the money that was used in southern Greece during the war with Mithridates, money that was even named after the young quaestor (the so-called Lucullea).63 Lucullus’ fame spread widely abroad due to the swift circulation of the currency that bore his name.64 Soon enough, the economic official would dramatically and appreciably expand his résumé of military accomplishment and victory, and Lucullus would not need coins to spread his name and fame. He would become a worthy candidate for the mantle of the Roman Alexander.65

  Chapter 2

  The First Mithridatic War

  The city of Athens was the only Mycenaean settlement in Greece to have escaped the widespread devastation and social upheaval that heralded the advent of the so-called Dark Ages in Greece.1 While the circumstances of Athens’ relatively unscathed survival are unknown, what is certain is that the city of the virgin goddess of war Athena rose to tremendous prominence in the Classical Age, only to suffer untold misery and ruin in the Peloponnesian War that convulsed Greece in the later part of the fifth century BC. Athens was the city of the Parthenon, the great temple to Athena – and of the literary and cultural influence of Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides and Aristophanes, to name only the luminaries of classical drama. Athens had come to know phenomenal power and prestige in the heyday of Pericles and the great building projects in the years before the war with Sparta – just as it had known honour and renown for the great victories over the Persians in such immortal military engagements as Marathon and Salamis. While a shadow of its former self, Athens in the days of Lucullus was still a place of mystery, magic and mystique.

  The storied city of Athens was an obvious prize in the Roman war with Mithridates. The Pontic monarch was in firm control of the locale and its excellent harbour facilities. Sulla, for his part, was in serious need of financial resources to finance his major military undertakings. Lucullus was a key figure in the economic work that made the siege of Athens both possible and a realistic operation for an army that was weary and far from home. Mithridates was interested in attacking Athens, just as the Persians of the fifth century had set their sights on the fabled region of Attica. Control of Athens and its harbour facilities would enable the wily king to pose a credible threat across the Aegean Sea. Possession of the Piraeus, the harbour district of Athens, would allow for extensive military operations that could threaten Roman grain shipments from Egypt, as well as general commerce and economic exchange. Mithridates, in short, was not content merely to control the Asian side of the map – he wanted a foothold, and a significant one, in Europe.

  At this juncture, then, Sulla was not only in need of money – he also faced an enemy who had a significant geographic advantage. Plutarch makes clear what the problem was: Sulla was able to apply superior force on land, but Mithridates and his subordinates had control over the sea routes that were critical to the resupply of his forces in Athens.2 Greece is a jumble of islands, both Ionian and Aegean, and Mithridates at this point was more or less the master of the Aegean. The Romans had no real choice other than to engage with Mithridates in naval battles – and Lucullus was once again the man of the hour, the saviour for Sulla who would find the necessary means to ensure a Roman victory over the increasingly irritating Eastern enemy. Rome and Italy had only of late emerged from a state of serious crisis and near civil war, and the threat of an outbreak of renewed violence in the capital was very real. But for now, Mithridates was the pressing threat to Roman interests – the Republic was well on its way to becoming an Empire, and Greece could not be surrendered to Pontus, especially not the cultural if not juridical capital of Athens.

  We should note that the Romans were in a significantly weaker position than Mithridates due to a relative lack of naval power. Mithridates had been able to seize Aegean islands and to threaten mainland Greece precisely because he had a credible naval force, against which the Romans had very little to muster. Mithridates could transport and supply his forces with little threat of hindrance from his Roman adversaries. The Romans, conversely, were constantly under threat whenever they tried to take to the high seas. Sulla recognized that if Mithridates was to be defeated, he would need the hardware and resources to challenge control of the sea lanes. Lucullus would be tasked with this immense responsibility.3 Sulla’s actions might also be a significant benefit for the situation in Italy, as pirates and Mithriadatic warships did their part to choke off Roman grain from the breadbaskets of Egypt and the East.

  Overseas Mission

  According to Plutarch, Lucullus was sent by Sulla to Egypt and Libya with the command to secure naval vessels and supplies from Africa. Egypt was at the time an independent kingdom, something of a remnant of the struggle for empire and world war that had erupted in the aftermath of the death of Alexander and the subsequent division of his realms. It was the possession of the Ptolemies, though by the time Lucullus would have visited the kingdom, it was really a protectorate of Rome – squabbles and internecine fighting between family factions had seriously weakened the standing of Egypt in the eastern Mediterranean. Libya had been fully under Roman domination since the final collapse of Carthage in 146 BC, and the whole area was thus more or less secure under Roman control – the closest and most natural source of military aid that Sulla and his emissary could invoke in the struggle against Mithridates.

  Appian also records the embassy of Lucullus in search of support for Sulla’s efforts.4 Appian notes that Lucullus was sent on a secret mission to Alexandria and Syria, to secure naval assistance from local potentates who were famous for their people’s prowess in sea combat. On the return voyage to Athens, he was to join forces with Rome’s allies from the island of Rhodes. It was a long and dangerous mission; the seas were hardly pacified, and there was no guarantee that Lucullus would find a friendly, warm reception at all ports of call. It was in several important regards Lucullus’ introduction to the challenges of the vast territory of the eastern Mediterranean, and the first experience the young officer had in dealing with the varied peoples of Rome’s eastern borders: client kings, Greek colonists and provincial administrations.

  The fact that the philosopher Antiochus (on whom we shall say more shortly) accompanied Lucullus on this mission has received some commentary from scholars. For the cynical, this was more evidence of tendencies in the man that were open to criticism, that Lucullus was more interested in the life of Greek philosophy than the hard demands of contemporary Roman military and diplomatic life.5

  Crete

  Plutarch notes that Lucullus left on his mission in winter (87–86 BC); the time of year was unsafe, indeed hazardous for navigation – a clear sign of the urgency of the mission. The waters were also by no means free of the threat of both piracy and Mithridatic naval forces. The first stop that Lucullus made on his mission was the great island of Crete, the storied home of the Minoan civilization that was famous for the legends of the minotaur, the labyrinth and the intervention of the Athenian hero Theseus in rescuing the youth of his realm from death at the hands of the monstrous bull.

  Crete was not an entirely civilized and tranquil place in the early first century BC. It was a notable refuge for pirates, and the population of the island was not considered particularly trustworthy in the matter of supporting Roman imperial ambitions in the eastern Mediterranean. Crete was in fact still some twenty years away from complete Roman conquest. It is interesting to note that Lucullus apparently made a quite positive impression on the islanders. Crete was a poor place and unlikely to be able to supply much in the way of quantifiable aid to the Romans – but at the very least, the island could be persuaded not to side with Mithridates, and to remain effectively neutral in the forthcoming struggle. The history of the island had changed much from the days when it was the centre of the so-called thalassocracy of King Minos.

  One interesting extant source of info
rmation on the part played by Crete in the military and political intrigues of the period is the geographer Strabo (64–63 BC – c. AD 25), who records (X.4.9) that Crete had anciently been a well-governed, well-managed realm (i.e., under Minos and his legendary thalassocracy), only to succumb to anarchy and piracy. Strabo blames the Cretans for doing more damage to Roman interests in the Mediterranean than anyone else except the Etruscans. Rome is said finally to have subdued the threat of Cretan piracy, and also the peril posed by the Cilicians of southern Asia Minor, who more or less succeeded the Cretans as the main danger to safe navigation in the region. Whatever the exact circumstances in Crete in the winter of 87–86 BC, it is likely to Lucullus’ credit that the island would pose no threat to Rome during the Mithridatic War. Rome had good reason to be afraid of perils emanating from the ancient land. The Cilicians had essentially allowed themselves to be Mithridates’ navy, or at least a key part of it, and Crete was more or less open to use for Cilician naval bases.

  Scholars argue over the exact point of not only the visit to Crete, but more generally of the entire naval tour of Lucullus on behalf of Sulla. It is conceivable that one focus of the mission was solidifying support for Sulla at a difficult time in domestic affairs for Rome. But the priority was certainly the war with Mithridates and the pirate peril that was closely, indeed inextricably linked to the king’s machinations in the eastern Mediterranean. It would not be for Lucullus to solve the pirate problem, and certainly not at this moment in history – his rival Pompey would eventually receive the glory for protecting the seas of the East. But if Lucullus was not destined to receive the glory for extirpating the pirate scourge, Mark Antony’s father, as we shall soon see, would find not merely an absence of glory, but lasting disgrace for his failure to tame the problem.

  North Africa

  From Crete, Lucullus made his way to the south-west to the coast of Libya and the city of Cyrene – the so-called Athens of Africa (not far from the contemporary Shahaat). Cyrene was the legendary home of the great Hellenistic poet Callimachus (311–240 BC), and could boast an impressive literary pedigree and history in the Hellenized world that had emerged from Alexander’s conquests. Cyrene is famous in Christian lore as the home of the Simon who helped to carry the cross for Christ. It was also the birthplace of Eratosthenes (c. 276–195/194 BC), the Greek mathematician, astronomer and philosopher who is famous as the author of the Catasterisms, a collection of star myths.

  Here in Plutarch’s account, we find another hint of the literary and cultural work of Lucullus.6 No doubt Lucullus was delighted to visit a city of such literary and philosophical renown. But there were more pressing matters to occupy Sulla’s legate, and he tended to them with skill and speed. Lucullus found Cyrene in a state of disorder and confusion, and he reminded the people of an oracle about the locale that was attributed to Plato – namely that Cyrene was difficult to govern when fortune and luck were good.7 Once again, Lucullus is said to have been successful, quelling the trouble in Libya and receiving a warm welcome from the inhabitants. We have no idea exactly how Lucullus settled the affairs of Cyrene. From Plutarch’s account, however, there emerges a picture of an eminent statesman, of a man who was able to impart a sense of peace and direction to a troubled realm. No doubt Lucullus’ interest in Greek culture and civilization aided him in his settlement of affairs among the Greeks of North Africa. If circumstances in the eastern Mediterranean made it advisable for Lucullus to stay longer than he might otherwise have wished in Cyrene, it certainly would have served him well to be on good terms with the local population and ruling class. But he never had to pretend to be a lover of Greek culture; one imagines that his time in Cyrene was enjoyable, and certainly preferable to hazarding the dangerous seas en route from Libya to Egypt. Lucullus may well have been compelled to stay in Cyrene longer than one with the benefit of hindsight might have wished, but Cyrene was, admittedly, not an unpleasant place to visit.

  Up to this point in the miniature tour of the eastern Mediterranean that Sulla had enjoined on him, Lucullus had experienced no hostile threat. That changed, apparently, when he departed Cyrene for Egypt. Plutarch relates that his vessels were attacked by pirates, and that most of his ships were lost. The biographer does not record what supplement (if any) Lucullus had received from Crete and Cyrene, but does note the initial fleet that had left Athens: three light Greek sailing vessels and three Rhodian biremes – a not particularly impressive flotilla, and one that might easily have been overwhelmed by a pirate force. Plutarch presents Lucullus as succeeding in escaping, and there is no hint that a better commander might have saved the day or won a victory. Appian observes (XII.33) that Lucullus travelled through hostile waters in a fast sailing vessel, changing from one ship to another in order to conceal his movements; nothing of this trick is in Plutarch. Again, this period in our subject’s life is the stuff of classic adventure. Lucullus risked life and limb on his quest to support Sulla’s efforts to secure Roman interests in the East. Lucullus was very much an underdog – and he was acquitting himself appreciably well under challenging circumstances.

  Alexandria

  When Lucullus arrived in the port of Alexandria in Ptolemaic Egypt, he was welcomed as a king, and became the first foreigner to be received as an overnight guest in the royal palace.8 One might well think of the very different reception that would be accorded to Pompey, and to the eventual arrival of Julius Caesar at the height of the sibling tensions between Cleopatra and her brother Ptolemy XIII. Lucullus would in many regards end his career in a distant second place to Pompey, but at least his arrival in Alexandria would not cost him his head.

  The Mithridatic hostilities had left the eastern Mediterranean in a state of convulsion and upheaval. And indeed Egypt was in a state of disarray, no less than its neighbours. The king in Alexandria was Ptolemy Soter II, who had the distinction of being the Egyptian monarch three times – his brother and rival serving in the intervening periods. Ptolemy had just taken the throne for the third time in 88 BC, and would remain in power until his death in 81. His brother Ptolemy Alexander I had left the kingdom of Egypt to Rome in his will; his brother had good reason to fear that Lucullus would insist that the inheritance be honoured, and that Rome be allowed to take possession of the realm.

  Plutarch here offers more insight into his characterization of the morality of Lucullus. Ptolemy offered the Roman commander an amazingly rich assortment of treasures and great wealth, but Lucullus accepted only what was necessary for his expenses. He was offered the chance to visit the great landmarks of Egypt, the splendours of Memphis and elsewhere in the ancient kingdom, but he refused, citing the grounds that his commander Sulla was sleeping under the open air on the very front line against Mithridates. We are very far from the portrait of Lucullus that would be painted by his enemies; our Lucullus is a young commander of unquestionable loyalty to his commander, the quintessential Roman who is concerned with honour and sobriety.

  Ptolemy was a not unintelligent king. He recognized the great peril in which he found himself, and the fact that he was trapped between the uncertain situation in Rome under Sulla, and the equally ambiguous situation of Mithridates’ eastern exploits and would-be conquests. No one could have been more generous and lavish in his reception of Lucullus, but there would be no tangible aid or help from Egypt either. Lucullus would depart from Alexandria with nary a ship to support his fledgling naval operations. He was promised the security of Egyptian aid in sailing as far as the island of Cyprus, that fabulous, storied land where the goddess Aphrodite was said first to have stepped dry-shod from the sea. Ptolemy knew that the Alexandrians were the only power in the region that could hope to provide a counterbalance to the Cilician pirates and Mithridates’ naval grip in the East. Ptolemy realized that he was in a unique position to serve as something of a balance between Rome and Pontus – at any rate, caution was no doubt the recommendation of his court.

  Lucullus may have been immune from the hazards of bribery and any succumbing t
o luxury, but he was also shrewd. As he prepared to depart from Egypt, Ptolemy is said to have presented him with an expensive emerald. Once again he refused the ostentatious gift. But the king noted that the stone bore his own likeness, and Lucullus realized that to reject the present was to expose himself to the charge that he was an enemy of the king. He thus accepted the stone and the royal offer of aid for the journey to Cyprus – and along the way to the great island he planned to try to secure the precious support of additional naval forces. What is uncertain is the exact status of the relationship between Egypt and Rome at the time that Lucullus departed from the court of the Ptolemies. It is unknown whether a formal treaty was struck, or, if so, what exactly the terms of such a treaty might have been.9