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Greece and Rome · Plutarch, Life of Lucullus 8.6

A silver jar falls between two armies

EvidenceDocumentedThe text exists and is quoted from a published translation. What it describes is a separate question.What this means
ReferencePlutarch, Life of Lucullus 8.6
Writtenc. 100 CE
Set73 BCE
The sky burst asunder, and a huge, flame-like body was seen to fall between the two armies. In shape, it was most like a wine-jar, and in colour, like molten silver.

Translation: Perrin, 1914 · About the translator

Read it literally

Both armies stop fighting and go home. A landing that ends a battle.

What scholars say

Plutarch was a careful biographer; this is a reported omen.

From the sky
People and places herePlutarch

Quick answers about Plutarch, Life of Lucullus 8.6

Where is Plutarch, Life of Lucullus 8.6 found?

Plutarch, Life of Lucullus 8.6 (Greece and Rome). Translation quoted: Bernadotte Perrin, Plutarch's Lives, vol. 2 (Loeb, 1914).

When was Plutarch, Life of Lucullus 8.6 written?

c. 100 CE.

What do scholars say about Plutarch, Life of Lucullus 8.6?

Plutarch was a careful biographer; this is a reported omen.

Rabbit holes in this passage

EventThe silver jar at Lucullus' battleTwo armies in Phrygia were about to clash when, Plutarch says, the sky burst apart and a flaming object shaped like a wine jar and colored like molten silver fell between them. Both sides drew back, and no battle took place. Was it an omen, a meteor or something else? Plutarch wrote it down long afterward.

Sources

  1. Bernadotte Perrin, Plutarch's Lives, vol. 2 (Loeb, 1914)Primary text
  2. Plutarch, Life of Lucullus 8.5–6, trans. Bernadotte Perrin (1914)Primary text

Scholarly dates are rounded. The wording follows the named public-domain translation.

Updated