LUCIO. – Roman consul mentioned in I Mach. 15:16–24 as the author of a letter to the king of Egypt, Ptolemy, in which he informs him that the Jewish high priest Simon has renewed the alliance with the Romans and orders him to deliver to the said Simon the Jewish brigands who had fled from Palestine.
This circular letter was also sent by L. to Demetrius, king of Syria; Attalus, king of Pergamum; Ariartes, king of Cappadocia; Arsaces, king of the Parthians; and other allies of the Romans, as well as, for information, to Simon. Modern scholars (Ricciotti, Vaccari) identify our figure with L. Calpurnius Piso, consul in 139 B.C.; others with L. Caecilius Metellus Calvus, consul in 142 B.C.; or with the praetor L. Valerius, mentioned by Josephus in Antiq. Jud., XIV, 8, 5.