Lucullus

Lucius Licinius Lucullus was a Roman general and politician. He served under Sulla and was consul in 74 BCE, when he took command against King Mithridates VI of Pontus. He won major victories at Cyzicus and Cabira and invaded Armenia. In the province of Asia he restructured crushing debts, which angered Roman creditors. Political rivals had him replaced by Pompey in 66 BCE, and he retired to a life so luxurious that 'Lucullan' came to mean lavish.

Plutarch's Life of Lucullus (8.6) describes an event early in the campaign, at Otryae in Phrygia. As Lucullus was about to engage a force under Marcus Marius, a Roman officer serving Mithridates, the sky burst open and a huge flame-like body, shaped like a wine jar and colored like molten silver, fell between the armies. Both sides drew back without fighting.

Plutarch presents it as an omen. Modern readers suggest a large fireball meteor; ancient-astronaut writers list it as an early UFO report. Neither army is said to have looked for what fell.