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The general and gourmet Lucullus brought the first cherry tree from Anatolia to Rome. The name comes from the city Giresun.

The first cherry was already exported to Europe in 74 BC from its place of origin in Asia Minor (modern Turkey). The Roman general Lukullus brought from the port city of Kerasos (today's Giresun in Turkey) some of them allegedly since 400 BC. Chr. Cultured patches to Italy. These pines are the predecessors of today's sweet cherries.

The story of Lucullus, Mithridates and the Cherry begins in the year 74, when the Roman consul, better known as a life artist than imperator, went to war against the King of Pontos, and ends 63 BC when Lucullus triumphed over Mithridates. From the cherry tree, which Lucullus at that time, so to speak privatissime (and free of charge, of course) has panned from the Black Sea to the Tiber, Plutarch is silent. Cherry cultures did not exist before the victory of Lucullus over Mithridates in Italy; He brought the cherry tree from the Pontus to the west for the first time. "This is how the older Pliny testifies around the middle of the 1st century AD. in his "Natural History". In the 120 years since then, the cherry tree has penetrated from the gardens of Lucullus "beyond the Okeanos" to Britain.

_{source - Lucullus introduces the cherry tree to Rome.
Journal des gourmands, Paris 1806–07.}

And with the fruit itself, the name of the cherry has spread "beyond the Okeanos": the "cherry" - in Italian "ciliegia", in French "cerise", in the Swiss dialect "Chriesi", in English "cherry" - points back to the Latin "cerasus" and the Greek "kerasos" and thus testifies at the same time the origin of the sweet fruit from the "cherry town" Kerasos on the eastern southern Black Sea coast, today's Giresun on the Turkish Black Sea coast.

Pliny mentions various varieties, probably named after their breeders, such as the red "Apronian" cherries, the black "Lutatic" and the round "Cecilian". He praises the "Junian" as particularly tasty; Of course, one could almost only enjoy it "under the tree", since this extremely tender variety can not tolerate the transport. The gold medal, however, gives Plinius the "hard-shelled", crisp cherries, which in Campania are called the "Plinian"; the beloved cherry of our informant probably got its name from its own cherry orchards. He became known mainly for his lavish food. Even today one speaks of "epicurean delights" or a "sumptuous meal". Also the dessert "Lucullus" (cold dog) is named after him.

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