Pompey,Pompey
the Great or Pompey the Triumvir [1] (Classical
Latin abbreviation:
CN·POMPEIVS·CN·F·SEX·N·MAGNVS[2], Gnaeus or Cnaeus
Pompeius Magnus) (September 29, 106 BC–September 29,
48 BC), was a distinguished military and political
leader of the late Roman republic. Hailing from an
Italian provincial background, after military
triumphs he established a place for himself in the
ranks of Roman nobility, and was given the cognomen
of Magnus—the Great by Lucius Cornelius Sulla.
Pompey was a rival of Marcus Licinius Crassus and an
ally to Gaius Julius Caesar. The three politicians
would dominate the Late Roman republic through a
political alliance called the First Triumvirate.
After the death of Crassus, Pompey and Caesar became
rivals, disputing the leadership of the entire Roman
state in what is now called Caesar's civil war.
Pompey fought on the side of the Optimates, the
conservative traditionalist faction in the Roman
Senate, and was ultimately defeated by Caesar. He
sought refuge in Egypt and was assassinated there.
Early life and political debut
His father Pompeius Strabo was an extremely wealthy
man from the Italian region of Picenum and his
family was not a part of the ancient families who
had dominated Roman politics. Nevertheless, his
father had climbed through the traditional cursus
honorum being quaestor in 104 BC, praetor in 92 BC,
and consul in 89 BC. Pompey had scarcely left school
before he was summoned to serve under his father in
the Social war. He fought under him in 89 against
the Italians, at the age of seventeen, fully
involved in his father's military and political
affairs, and he would continue with his father until
Strabo's death two years afterward. According to
Plutarch, who was sympathetic to Pompey, he was very
popular, and considered a look-alike of Alexander
the Great. His father
died in 87 BC, in the conflicts between Gaius Marius
and Lucius Cornelius Sulla, leaving young Pompey in
control of his family affairs and fortune. For the
next few years the Marian party had possession of
Italy; and accordingly Pompey, who adhered to the
aristocratic party, was obliged to keep in the
background. Returning to Rome he was prosecuted for
misappropriation of plunder but quickly acquitted.
His acquittal was certainly helped by the fact that
he was bethrothed to the judge's daughter, Antistia.
When it became known in 84 BC that Sulla was on the
point of returning from the First Mithridatic War to
Italy, Pompey hastened into Picenum, where he raised
an army of three legions inherited from his father.
Pompey sided with Sulla after his return from Greece
in 83 BC. Sulla was expecting trouble with Gnaeus
Papirius Carbo's regime and found the 23-year-old
Pompey and the three veteran legions very useful.
When Pompey (displaying great military abilities in
opposing the Marian generals by whom he was
surrounded) succeeded in joining Sulla, he was
saluted by the latter with the title of Imperator.
This political alliance boosted Pompey's career
greatly and Sulla, now the Dictator in absolute
control of the Roman world, persuaded Pompey to
divorce his wife and marry his stepdaughter Aemilia
Scaura, who was pregnant by her current husband, in
order to bind his young ally more closely to him.
Sicily and Africa
Although his young age kept him a privatus (a man
holding no political office of—or associated
with—the cursus honorum), Pompey was a very rich man
and a talented general in control of three veteran
legions. Moreover, he was ambitious for glory and
power. During the remainder of the war in Italy
Pompey distinguished himself as one of the most
successful of Sulla's generals; and when the war in
Italy was brought to a close, Sulla sent Pompey
against the Marian party in Sicily and Africa. Happy
to acknowledge his wife's son-in-law's wishes, and
to clear his own situation as dictator, Sulla first
sent Pompey to recover Sicily from the Marians.
Pompey easily made himself master of the island in
82 BC. Sicily was strategically very important,
since the island held the majority of Rome's grain
supply. Without it, the city population would starve
and riots would certainly ensue. Pompey dealt with
the resistance with a harsh hand, executing Gnaeus
Papirius Carbo and his supporters. When the citizens
complained about his methods he replied with one of
his most famous quotations: "Won't you stop citing
laws to us who have our swords by our sides?" Pompey
routed the opposing forces in Sicily and then in 81
BC he crossed over to the Roman province of Africa,
where he defeated Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus and
the Numidian king Hiarbas, after a hard-fought
battle. After this
continued string of unbroken victories, Pompey was
proclaimed Imperator by his troops on the field in
Africa. He earned the nickname adulescentulus
carnifex ("teenage butcher") at this time due to his
savagery in dealing with the remnant Marians. On his
return to Rome in the same year, he was received
with enthusiasm by the people, and was greeted by
Sulla with the cognomen Magnus, (meaning "the
Great"), with most commentators suspecting that
Sulla gave it as a cruel and ironic joke; it was
some time before Pompey made widespread use of it.
Pompey, however, not satisfied with this
distinction, demanded a triumph for his African
victories, which Sulla at first refused; Pompey
himself refused to disband his legions and appeared
with his demand at the gates of Rome where,
amazingly, Sulla gave in, overcome by Pompey's
importunity, and allowing him to have his own way.
However, in an act calculated to cut Pompey down to
size, Sulla had his own triumph first, then allowed
Metellus Pius to triumph, relegating Pompey to a
third triumph in quick succession, on the assumption
that Rome would become bored by the third one.
Accordingly, Pompey attempted to enter Rome in
triumph towed by an elephant. As it happened, it
would not fit through the gate and some hasty
re-planning was needed, much to the embarrassment of
Pompey and amusement of those present.
Quintus Sertorius and Spartacus
Bust of Pompey in the Residenz, Munich.Pompey's
reputation for military genius, and occasional bad
judgment, continued when, after suppressing the
revolt by Lepidus (whom he had initially supported
for consul, against Sulla's wishes), he demanded
proconsular imperium (although he had not yet served
as Consul) to go to Hispania to fight against
Quintus Sertorius, a Marian general. The
aristocracy, however, now beginning to fear the
young and successful general, was reluctant to
provide him with the needed authority. Pompey
countered by refusing to disband his legions until
his request was granted. However in Spain Sertorius
had for the last three years successfully opposed
Quintus Caecilius Metellus Pius, one of the ablest
of Sulla's generals, and ultimately it became
necessary to send the latter some effectual
assistance. As a result, the senate, with
considerable lack of enthusiasm, determined to send
Pompey to Spain against Sertorius, with the title of
proconsul, and with equal powers to Metellus.
Pompey remained in Spain between five and six years
76–71 BC; but neither he nor Metellus was able to
achieve a clean victory or gain any decisive
advantage on the battlefield over Sertorius. But
when Sertorius was treacherously murdered by his own
officer Marcus Perperna Vento in 72, the war was
speedily brought to a close. Perperna was easily
defeated by Pompey in their first battle, and the
whole of Spain was subdued by the early part of the
following year 71. In
the months after Sertorius' death, however, Pompey
revealed one of his most significant talents; a
genius for the organization and administration of a
conquered province. Fair and generous terms extended
his patronage throughout Hispania and into southern
Gaul. While Crassus was facing Spartacus late in the
Third Servile War in 71 BC, Pompey returned to Italy
with his army. In his march toward Rome he came upon
the remains of the army of Spartacus and captured
five thousand Spartacani who had survived Crassus
and were attempting to flee. Pompey cut these
fugitives to pieces, and therefore claimed for
himself, in addition to all his other exploits, the
glory of finishing the revolt. His attempt to take
credit for ending the Servile war was an act that
infuriated Crassus.
Disgruntled opponents, especially Crassus, said he
was developing a talent for showing up late in a
campaign and taking all the glory for its successful
conclusion. This growing enmity between Crassus and
Pompey would not be resolved for over a decade. Back
in Rome, Pompey was now a candidate for the
consulship; and although he was ineligible by law,
inasmuch as he was absent from Rome, had not yet
reached the legal age, and had not held any of the
lower offices of the state, still his election was
certain. His military glory had charmed people,
admirers saw in Pompey the most brilliant general of
the age; and as it was known that the aristocracy
looked upon Pompey with jealousy, many people ceased
to regard him as belonging to this party, and hoped
to obtain, through him, a restoration of the rights
and privileges of which they had been deprived by
Sulla. Pompey on
December 31, 71 BC, entered the city of Rome in his
triumphal car, a simple eques, celebrating his
second extralegal triumph for the victories in
Hispania. In 71 BC, at only 35 years of age (see
cursus honorum), Pompey was elected Consul for the
first time, serving in 70 BC as partner of Crassus,
with the overwhelming support of the Roman
population.
Rome's new frontier on the East
In his consulship (70 BC), Pompey openly broke with
the aristocracy, and became the great popular hero.
By 69 BC, Pompey was the darling of the Roman
masses, although many Optimates were deeply
suspicious of his intentions. He proposed and
carried a law, restoring to the tribunes the power
of which they had been deprived by Sulla. He also
afforded his all-powerful aid to the Lex Aurelia,
proposed by the praetor Lucius Aurelius Cotta, by
which the judices were to be taken in future from
the senatus, equites, and tribuni aerarii, instead
of from the senators exclusively, as Sulla had
ordained. In carrying both these measures Pompey was
strongly supported by Caesar, with whom he was thus
brought into close connection. For the next two
years (69 and 68 BC) Pompey remained in Rome. His
primacy in the State was enhanced by two
extraordinary proconsular commands, unprecedented in
Roman history.
Campaign against the Pirates
In
67 BC, two years after his consulship, Pompey was
nominated commander of a special naval task force to
campaign against the pirates that controlled the
Mediterranean. This command, like everything else in
Pompey's life, was surrounded with polemic. The
conservative faction of the Senate was most
suspicious of his intentions and afraid of his
power. The Optimates tried every means possible to
avoid it. Significantly, Caesar was again one of a
handful of senators who supported Pompey's command
from the start. The nomination was then proposed by
the Tribune of the Plebs Aulus Gabinius who proposed
the Lex Gabinia, giving Pompey command in the war
against the Mediterranean pirates, with extensive
powers that gave him absolute control over the sea
and the coasts for 50 miles inland, setting him
above every military leader in the East. This bill
was opposed by the aristocracy with the utmost
vehemence, but was carried.
The pirates were at this time masters of the
Mediterranean, and had not only plundered many
cities on the coasts of Greece and Asia, but had
even made descents upon Italy itself. As soon as
Pompey received the command, he began to make his
preparations for the war, and completed them by the
end of the winter. His plans were crowned with
complete success. Pompey divided the Mediterranean
into thirteen separate areas, each under the command
of one of his legates. In forty days he cleared the
Western Sea of pirates, and restored communication
between Spain, Africa, and Italy. He then followed
the main body of the pirates to their strongholds on
the coast of Cilicia; and after defeating their
fleet, he induced a great part of them, by promises
of pardon, to surrender to him. Many of these he
settled at Soli, which was henceforward called
Pompeiopolis.
Ultimately it took Pompey all of a summer to clear
the Mediterranean of the danger of pirates. In three
short months (67-66 BC), Pompey's forces had swept
the Mediterranean clean of pirates, showing
extraordinary precision, discipline, and
organizational ability; so that, to adopt the
panegyric of Cicero:[3]
"Pompey made his preparations for the war at the end
of the winter, entered upon it at the commencement
of spring, and finished it in the middle of the
summer."
The quickness of the campaign showed that he was as
talented general at sea as on land, with strong
logistic abilities. Pompey was the hero of the hour.
Pompey in the East
Pompey was employed during the remainder of this
year and the beginning of the following in visiting
the cities of Cilicia and Pamphylia, and providing
for the government of the newly-conquered districts.
During his absence from Rome (66 BC), Pompey was
nominated to succeed Lucius Licinius Lucullus in the
command, take charge of the Third Mithridatic War
and fight Mithridates VI of Pontus in the East.
Lucullus, a well-born patrician, made it known that
he was incensed at the prospect of being replaced by
a "new man" such as Pompey. Pompey responded by
calling Lucullus a "Xerxes in a toga." Lucullus shot
back by calling Pompey a "vulture" because he was
always fed off the work of others, referring to his
new command in the present war, as well as Pompey's
actions at the climax of the war against Spartacus.
The bill conferring upon him this command was
proposed by the tribune Gaius Manilius, and was
supported by Cicero in an oration which has come
down to us (pro Lege Manilia). Like the Gabinian
law, it was opposed by the whole weight of the
aristocracy, but was carried triumphantly. The power
of Mithridates had been broken by previous victories
of Luculus, and it was only left to Pompey to bring
the war to a conclusion. This command essentially
entrusted Pompey with the conquest and
reorganization of the entire Eastern Mediterranean.
Also, this was the second command that Caesar
supported in favor of Pompey.
On the approach of Pompey, Mithridates retreated
towards Armenia, but he was defeated; and as
Tigranes the Great now refused to receive him into
his dominions, Mithridates resolved to plunge into
the heart of Colchis, and thence make his way to his
own dominions in the Cimmerian Bosporus. Pompey now
turned his arms against Tigranes; but the Armenian
king submitted to him without a contest, and was
allowed to conclude a peace with the republic. In 65
BC Pompey set out in pursuit of Mithridates, but he
met with much opposition from the Iberians and
Albanians; and after advancing as far as the River
Phasis (now Fax or Rioni River), he resolved to
leave these districts. He accordingly retraced his
steps, and spent the winter at Pontus, which he made
into a Roman province. In 64 BC he marched into
Syria, deposed the king Antiochus XIII Asiaticus,
and made that country also a Roman province. In 63
BC, he advanced further south, in order to establish
the Roman supremacy in Phoenicia, Coele-Syria, and
Palestine. After that he captured Jerusalem. The
Jews refused to submit to him, and shut the gates of
Jerusalem against him, and it was not till after a
siege of three months that the city was taken.
Pompey entered the Holy of Holies; this was only the
second time that someone had dared to penetrate into
this sacred spot. He went to the Temple to satisfy
his curiosity about stories he had heard about the
worship of the Jewish people. He made it a priority
to find out whether or not the Jews had no physical
statue or image of God in their most sacred place of
worship. To Pompey, it was inconceivable to worship
a God without portraying him in a type of physical
likeness, like a statue. What Pompey saw was unlike
anything he had seen on his travels. He found no
physical statue, religious image, or pictorial
description of the Hebrew God. Instead, he saw the
Torah scrolls, and was thoroughly confused.
It was during the war in Judea that Pompey heard of
the death of Mithridates.
With Tigranes as a friend and ally of Rome, the
chain of Roman protectorates now extended as far
east as the Black Sea and the Caucasus. The amount
of tribute and bounty Pompey brought back to Rome
was almost incalculable: Plutarch lists 20,000
talents in gold and silver added to the treasury,
and the increase in taxes to the public treasury
rose from 50 million to 85 million drachmas
annually. His administrative brilliance was such
that his dispositions endured largely unchanged
until the fall of Rome.
Pompey conducted the campaigns of 65 to 62 BC and
Rome annexed much of Asia firmly under its control.
He imposed an overall settlement on the kings of the
new eastern provinces, which took intelligent
account of the geographical and political factors
involved in creating Rome's new frontier on the
East.
Pompey’s return to Rome
His third Triumph took place on the 29 September 61
BC, on Pompey's 45th birthday, celebrating the
victories over the pirates and in the Middle East,
and was to be an unforgettable event in Rome. Two
entire days were scheduled for the enormous parade
of spoils, prisoners, army and banners depicting
battle scenes to complete the route between Campus
Martius and the temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus.
To conclude the festivities, Pompey offered an
immense triumphal banquet and made several donations
to the people of Rome, enhancing his popularity even
further. Although now at
his zenith, by this time Pompey had been largely
absent from Rome for over 5 years and a new star had
arisen. Pompey had been busy in Asia during the
consternation of the Catiline Conspiracy, when
Caesar pitted his will against that of the Consul
Cicero and the rest of the Optimates. His old
colleague and enemy, Crassus, had loaned Caesar
money. Cicero was in eclipse, now hounded by the
ill-will of Publius Clodius and his factional gangs.
New combinations had been made and the conquering
hero had been out of touch.
Back in Rome, Pompey deftly dismissed his armies,
disarming worries that he intended to spring from
his conquests into domination of Rome as Dictator.
Pompey sought new allies and pulled strings behind
the political scenes. The Optimates had fought back
to control much of the real workings of the Senate;
in spite of his efforts, Pompey found their inner
councils were closed to him. His settlements in the
East were not promptly confirmed. The public lands
he had promised his veterans were not forthcoming.
From now on, Pompey's political maneuverings suggest
that, although he toed a cautious line to avoid
offending the conservatives, he was increasingly
puzzled by Optimate reluctance to acknowledge his
solid achievements. Pompey's frustration led him
into strange political alliances.
Caesar and the First Triumvirate
Although Pompey and Crassus distrusted each other,
by 61 BC their grievances pushed them both into an
alliance with Caesar. Crassus' tax farming clients
were being rebuffed at the same time Pompey's
veterans were being ignored. Thus entered Caesar, 6
years younger than Pompey, returning from service in
Hispania, and ready to seek the consulship for 59
BC. Caesar somehow managed to forge a political
alliance with both Pompey and Crassus (the so-called
First Triumvirate). Pompey and Crassus would make
him Consul, and he would use his power as Consul to
force their claims. Plutarch quotes Cato the Younger
as later saying that the tragedy of Pompey was not
that he was Caesar's defeated enemy, but that he had
been, for too long, Caesar's friend and supporter.
Caesar's tempestuous consulship in 59 brought Pompey
not only the land and political settlements he
craved, but a new wife: Caesar's own young daughter,
Julia. Pompey was supposedly besotted with his
bride. After Caesar secured his proconsular command
in Gaul at the end of his consular year, Pompey was
given the governorship of Hispania Ulterior, yet was
permitted to remain in Rome overseeing the critical
Roman grain supply as curator annonae, exercising
his command through subordinates. Pompey efficiently
handled the grain issue, but his success at
political intrigue was less sure.
The Optimates had never forgiven him for abandoning
Cicero when Publius Clodius forced his exile. Only
when Clodius began attacking Pompey was he persuaded
to work with others towards Cicero's recall in 57
BC. Once Cicero was back, his usual vocal magic
helped soothe Pompey's position somewhat, but many
still viewed Pompey as a traitor for his alliance
with Caesar. Other agitators tried to persuade
Pompey that Crassus was plotting to have him
assassinated. Rumor (quoted by Plutarch) also
suggested that the aging conqueror was losing
interest in politics in favor of domestic life with
his young wife. He was occupied by the details of
construction of the mammoth complex later known as
Pompey's Theater on the Campus Martius; not only the
first permanent theater ever built in Rome, but an
eye-popping complex of lavish porticoes, shops, and
multi-service buildings.
Caesar, meanwhile, was gaining a greater name as a
general of genius in his own right. By 56 BC, the
bonds between the three men were fraying. Caesar
called first Crassus, then Pompey, to a secret
meeting in the northern Italian town of Lucca to
rethink both strategy and tactics. By this time,
Caesar was no longer the amenable silent partner of
the trio. At Lucca it was agreed that Pompey and
Crassus would again stand for the consulship in 55
BC. At their election, Caesar's command in Gaul
would be extended for an additional five years,
while Crassus would receive the governorship of
Syria, (from which he longed to conquer Parthia and
extend his own achievements). Pompey would continue
to govern Hispania in absentia after their consular
year. This time, however, opposition to the three
men was electric, and it took bribery and corruption
on an unprecedented scale to secure the election of
Pompey and Crassus in 55 BC. Their supporters
received most of the important remaining offices.
The violence between Clodius and other factions were
building and civil unrest was becoming endemic.
Confrontation to war
The triumvirate was about to end. The bonds of the
triumvirate were snapped by death. First, Pompey's
wife (and at that time Caesar's only child), Julia,
died in 54 BC in childbirth. Later that year,
Crassus and his army were annihilated by the
Parthian armies at the Battle of Carrhae. Caesar's
name, not Pompey's, was now firmly before the public
as Rome's great new general. The public turmoil in
Rome resulted in whispers as early as 54 that Pompey
should be made dictator to force a return to law and
order. After Julia's death, Caesar sought a second
matrimonial alliance with Pompey, offering a marital
alliance with his grandniece Octavia (future emperor
Augustus's sister). This time, Pompey refused. In 52
BC, he married Cornelia Metella, daughter of Quintus
Caecilius Metellus Scipio, one of Caesar’s greatest
enemies, and continued to drift toward the
Optimates. It can be presumed that the Optimates had
deemed Pompey the lesser of two evils.
In that year, the murder of Publius Clodius and the
burning of the Curia (the Senate House) by an
inflamed mob led the Senate to beg Pompey to restore
order, which he did with ruthless efficiency. The
trial of the accused murderer, Titus Annius Milo, is
notable in that Cicero, counsel for the defense, was
so shaken by a Forum seething with armed soldiers
that he was unable to complete his defense. After
order was restored, the suspicious Senate and Cato,
seeking desperately to avoid giving Pompey
dictatorial powers, came up with the alternative of
entitling him sole Consul without a colleague; thus
his powers, although sweeping, were not unlimited.
While Caesar was fighting against Vercingetorix in
Gaul, Pompey proceeded with a legislative agenda for
Rome, which revealed that he was now covertly allied
with Caesar's enemies. While instituting legal and
military reorganization and reform, Pompey also
passed a law making it possible to be retroactively
prosecuted for electoral bribery—an action correctly
interpreted by Caesar's allies as opening Caesar to
prosecution once his imperium was ended. Pompey also
prohibited Caesar from standing for the consulship
in absentia, although this had frequently been
allowed in the past, and in fact had been
specifically permitted in a previous law. This was
an obvious blow at Caesar's plans after his term in
Gaul expired. Finally, in 51 BC, Pompey made it
clear that Caesar would not be permitted to stand
for Consul unless he turned over control of his
armies. This would, of course, leave Caesar
defenseless before his enemies. As Cicero sadly
noted, Pompey had begun to fear Caesar. Pompey had
been diminished by age, uncertainty, and the
harassment of being the chosen tool of a quarreling
Optimate oligarchy. The coming conflict was
inevitable.[4]
Civil War and assassination
In the beginning, Pompey claimed he could defeat
Caesar and raise armies merely by stamping his foot
on the soil of Italy, but by the spring of 49 BC,
with Caesar crossing the Rubicon and his invading
legions sweeping down the peninsula, Pompey ordered
the abandonment of Rome. His legions retreated south
towards Brundisium, where Pompey intended to find
renewed strength by waging war against Caesar in the
East. In the process, almost unbelievably, probably
thinking that Caesar would not dare, neither Pompey
nor the Senate thought of taking the vast treasury
with them, which was left conveniently in the Temple
of Saturn when Caesar and his forces entered Rome.
Escaping Caesar by a hair in Brundisium, Pompey
regained his confidence during the siege of
Dyrrhachium, in which Caesar lost 1000 men. Yet, by
failing to pursue at the critical moment of Caesar's
defeat, Pompey threw away the chance to destroy
Caesar's much smaller army. As Caesar himself said,
"Today the enemy would have won, if they had had a
commander who was a winner" (Plutarch, 65).
According to Seutonius, it was at this point that
Caesar said "that man does not know how to win a
war." With Caesar on their backs, the conservatives
led by Pompey fled to Greece. Caesar and Pompey had
their final showdown at the Battle of Pharsalus in
48 BC. The fighting was bitter for both sides but
eventually was a decisive victory for Caesar. Like
all the other conservatives, Pompey had to run for
his life. He met his wife Cornelia and his son
Sextus Pompeius on the island of Mytilene. He then
wondered where to go next. The decision of running
to one of the eastern kingdoms was overruled in
favor of Egypt. After
his arrival in Egypt, Pompey's fate was decided by
the counselors of the young king Ptolemy XIII. While
Pompey waited offshore for word, they argued the
cost of offering him refuge with Caesar already en
route for Egypt. It was decided to murder Caesar's
enemy to ingratiate themselves with him. On
September 29, his 58th birthday, the great Pompey
was lured toward a supposed audience on shore in a
small boat in which he recognized two old
comrades-in-arms from the glorious, early battles.
They were to be his assassins. While he sat in the
boat, studying his speech for the king, they stabbed
him in the back with sword and dagger. After
decapitation, the body was left, contemptuously
unattended and naked, on the shore. His freedman,
Philipus, organized a simple funeral pyre and
cremated the body on a pyre of broken ship's
timbers.
Theodatus, the rhetorician, shows Caesar the head of
Pompey; etching, 1820Caesar arrived a short time
afterwards. As a welcoming present he received
Pompey's head and ring in a basket. However, he was
not pleased in seeing his rival, once his ally and
son-in-law, murdered by traitors. When a slave
offered him Pompey's head, "he turned away from him
with loathing, as from an assassin; and when he
received Pompey's signet ring on which was engraved
a lion holding a sword in his paws, he burst into
tears" (Plutarch, Life of Pompey 80). He deposed
Ptolemy XIII, executed his regent Pothinus, and
elevated Ptolemy's sister Cleopatra VII to the
throne of Egypt. Caesar gave Pompey's ashes and ring
to Cornelia, who took them back to her estates in
Italy.
Historic view
To the historians of his own and later Roman
periods, the life of Pompey was simply too good to
be true. No more satisfying historical model existed
than the great man who, achieving extraordinary
triumphs through his own efforts, yet fell from
power and influence and, in the end, was murdered
through treachery. He
was a hero of the Republic, who seemed once to hold
the Roman world in his palm only to be brought low
by his own weak judgment and Caesar. Pompey was
idealized as a tragic hero almost immediately after
Pharsalus and his murder: Plutarch portrayed him as
a Roman Alexander the Great, pure of heart and mind,
destroyed by the cynical ambitions of those around
him.
Marriages and offspring
- First wife, Antistia
- Second wife, Aemilia Scaura (Sulla's
stepdaughter)
- Third wife, Mucia Tertia (whom he divorced
for adultery, according to Cicero's letters)
- Gnaeus Pompeius, executed in 45 BC,
after the Battle of Munda
- Pompeia, married to Faustus Cornelius
Sulla
- Sextus Pompeius, who would rebel in
Sicily against Augustus
- Fourth wife, Julia (daughter of Caesar)
- Fifth wife, Cornelia Metella (daughter
of Metellus Scipio)
Chronology
of Pompey's life and career
106 BC
September 29 — born in Picenum
83 BC —
aligns with Sulla, after his return from
the Mithridatic War against king
Mithridates IV of Pontus; marriage to
Aemilia Scaura
82–81
BC — defeats Marius's allies in Sicily
and Africa
76–71
BC — campaign in Hispania against
Sertorius
71 BC —
returns to Italy and participates in the
suppression of a slave rebellion lead by
Spartacus; second triumph
70 BC —
first consulship (with M. Licinius
Crassus)
67 BC —
defeats the pirates and goes to Asia
province
66–61
BC — defeats king Mithridates of Pontus;
end of the Third Mithridatic War
64–63
BC — Pompey's March through Syria, the
Levant, and Palestine
61 BC
September 29 — third triumph
59 BC
April — the first triumvirate is
constituted; Pompey allies to Julius
Caesar and Licinius Crassus; marriage to
Julia (daughter of Julius Caesar)
58–55
BC — governs Hispania Ulterior by proxy,
construction of Pompey's Theater
55 BC —
second consulship (with M. Licinius
Crassus)
54 BC —
Julia, dies; the first triumvirate ends
52 BC —
third consulship with Metellus Scipio;
marriage to Cornelia Metella
51 BC —
forbids Caesar (in Gaul) to stand for
consulship in absentia
49 BC —
Caesar crosses the Rubicon River and
invades Italy; Pompey retreats to Greece
with the conservatives
48 BC —
led by Pompey, the conservatives lose
the battle of Pharsalus; Pompey runs
away to Egypt, where he is killed on
September 29
Notes
- William Smith, A New Classical
Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography,
Mythology and Geography, 1851. (Under
the tenth entry of Pompeius).
- Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus, son of
Gnaeus, grandson of Sextus
- pro Lege Manilia, 12 or De Imperio
Cn. Pompei (in favor of the Manilian Law
on the command of Pompey), 66 BC.
- Many historians have suggested that
Pompey was, in spite of everything,
politically unaware of the fact that the
Optimates, including Cato, were merely
using him against Caesar so that, with
Caesar destroyed, they could then
dispose of him.
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