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Illustration of a young curly-haired man in a white Roman tunic and toga holding a scroll, standing before an arched stone bridge over a river, with a walled city and a columned Roman temple glowing in golden evening light
Poet Writer Roman Corduba206 BCE–572

Lucan

Lived 39–65 (about 26 years)

Also known as
Marcus Annaeus Lucanus

Lucan (Marcus Annaeus Lucanus) was born in Corduba, today's Córdoba, in AD 39 and was taken to Rome as an infant. His father was Marcus Annaeus Mela, his grandfather Seneca the Elder, and he grew up under the tutelage of his uncle Seneca the Younger. He found favour with Nero, wrote the Pharsalia, an epic on the civil war between Julius Caesar and Pompey, and died in AD 65, aged 25, forced to take his own life after the Piso conspiracy against Nero was discovered.

This page points to no Lucan monument. His trace in Córdoba is the Roman city he was born into: start with the Roman Temple and the Roman Bridge, the two Roman landmarks that best stand in for Corduba.

The full story of his rise, his poem and his fall is in Lucan: The Poet Who Challenged Nero and Lost. Read the full story there.

The full story

Places to see

The Roman Bridge of Córdoba with the old city behind it, reflecting in the Guadalquivir at dawn
Roman Córdoba Walking Route

In their time

  1. Roman Corduba

    206 BCE–572

    Founded around 169 BCE, Corduba became the capital of the province of Baetica and the birthplace of Seneca and Lucan. The Roman Bridge and the columns of the Roman Temple can still be visited.

    1. Seneca the Elder

      c. 54 BCE–39 CE Historical figure

      Seneca the Elder, born in Roman Corduba c. 54 BC, recorded Rome's rhetoric schools and fathered Seneca the Younger. His life, surviving works and family.

    2. Seneca

      c. 4 BCE–65 CE Historical figure

      Seneca the Younger, Stoic philosopher and tutor to Nero, was born in Roman Corduba around 4 BC. Who he was, and where to find his trace in Córdoba today.

    Undated

    1. Puente Romano de Córdoba

      Monument

      Puente Romano de Córdoba: 16 arches over the Guadalquivir since the 1st century BC. Best viewpoint for the Mezquita at sunset. Game of Thrones location. Free.

    2. Templo Romano de Córdoba

      Monument

      Free open-air Roman temple in central Córdoba, lit up at night. Towering Corinthian columns from ancient Corduba, once capital of Roman Baetica. Open 24 hours.

    Go deeper

Read more

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Córdoba's Duque de Rivas Went From Exile to Don Álvaro
Corinthian column capitals of the reconstructed Roman temple in Córdoba catching afternoon light against a clear blue sky, roman temple cordoba discovery
Córdoba's Roman Temple: Found Under City Hall in 1951
Bronze statue of Seneca the philosopher in Córdoba, standing in toga holding a scroll on a tall pedestal beside the Puerta de Almodóvar medieval gate, photorealistic, warm afternoon light on Roman stone walls
Seneca: Born in Córdoba, Philosopher to an Empire
Reconstruction of a Roman domus in Cordoba, Spain, with a central atrium and impluvium pool, colonnaded peristyle garden beyond, and red-and-white mosaic floors, Roman houses Cordoba Spain
Roman Houses of Cordoba: Elite Life in Colonia Patricia