1. Birth – Family

Lucius Valerius Flaccus was born in the 2^nd half of the 2^nd cent. BC. He descended from a family of high social status and wealth. He was involved in the military and political events of the period, without playing a major role, though.¹

2. Action

His action in Asia Minor seems to have started in 94 or 93 BC, when he became the praetor and governor of the Roman province of Asia. In 86 BC, Flaccus became the consul of Asia, sharing the consulship with Cinna. As a result of the ongoing conflict between Sulla and Rome, which had started in 88 BC, the senate sent Flaccus to Asia, in charge of two legions, in order to replace Sulla in the governorship of the province of Asia and to assume command of the Mithridatic War I against Mithridates VI. Flaccus was accompanied by Fimbria, who seems to have had greater military experience.

Flaccus’ dispatch to Asia, via Macedonia, started problematically in the autumn of 86 BC. A part of his fleet was destroyed in a storm soon after his departure from Brundisium (Brindisi) of Italy. Several ships were also set to fire by an unknown force operating in collaboration with Mithridates VI, most probably the pirates of Cilicia. Moreover, a part of his army defected and joined Sulla’s camp in Thessaly.²

Upon arriving in Byzantium, Flaccus seems to have come into conflict with Fimbria. During 85 BC, when Flaccus was travelling to Chalcedon, Fimbria, supported by the army, banished Flaccus’ replacement. Despite Flaccus’ anger, Fimbria forced him to seek refuge in Chalcedon or, according to the ancient historian Memnon, Nicaea and then in Nicomedia of Bithynia. Flaccus was assassinated there either by Fimbria himself or two disgruntled soldiers. According to the Roman historian Appian, Fimbria left Flaccus’ decapitated body unburied. Upon assuming Flaccus’ imperium (jurisdiction), Fimbria continued the war against Mithridates VI with relative success.

3. Assessment

According to Appian, Flaccus was spiteful, gleeful, greedy and lacked special strategic qualities. The soldiers did not like him, trusting and preferring Fimbria instead. On the other hand, Plutarch refers to him as Cato’s friend. It seems that the citizens of Tralleis organized a number of events in his honour, most probably urged by Flaccus himself. The older view according to which Flaccus was honoured by Claros and Magnesia ad Maeandrum does not seem to stand. The honours were addressed to his namesake grandson and proconsul of 62 BC.³