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Lucullus is not as well known as his contemporaries such as Pompey or even Sulla. However, he was a great general who played a key role in the defeat of one of Rome’s greatest enemies, Mithridates IV of Pontus and it was he who more than anyone else end his dreams of Empire. The Roman also effectively ended the Armenian Empire and in doing so may have changed the history of the Middle East. His victories over the Pontic and Armenian armies allowed Rome to dominate the near east. Pompey was able to conquer Syria and Judaea and reduce Armenia and the Bosphoran Kingdom to the status of client kingdoms thanks to the brilliance of Lucullus. The Roman was not only an important military figure he was also a significant cultural figure and he helped whose example encoruaged many Roman aristocrats to promote the patronage of patronize the arts by aristocrats, which was crucial in the cultural flourishing of the first century AD.