Everything about Pompey totally explained
Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus, sometimes called
Pompey,
Pompey the Great or
Pompey the Triumvir (
Classical Latin abbreviation:
CN·POMPEIVS·CN·F·SEX·N·MAGNVS) (
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 dominated the Late
Roman republic through a political alliance called the
First Triumvirate. After the death of Crassus (as well as Pompey's wife and
Julius Caesar's only child
Julia), Pompey and Caesar became rivals, disputing the leadership of the Roman state in what is now called
Caesar's civil war. Pompey fought on the side of the
Optimates, the conservative faction in the
Roman Senate, until he was defeated by Caesar. He then sought refuge in Egypt, where he was assassinated.
Early life and political debut
His father,
Pompeius Strabo, was an extremely wealthy man from the Italian region of
Picenum, but his family wasn't 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 BC against the Italians, at the age of seventeen. Fully involved in his father's military and political affairs, he'd 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 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 betrothed to the judge's daughter,
Antistia. 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 who surrounded him, 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. 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 wouldn't 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
Pompey's reputation for military genius and occasional bad judgment continued when, after suppressing the revolt by
Lepidus (whom he'd initially supported for consul, against Sulla's wishes), he demanded
proconsular
imperium (although he hadn't yet served as
Consul) to go to
Hispania (the
Iberian Peninsula, comprising modern
Spain and
Portugal) 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 Hispania, 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 Hispania against Sertorius, with the title of proconsul, and with equal powers to Metellus.
Pompey remained in Hispania 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 Hispania 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 wouldn't be resolved for over a decade. Back in Rome, Pompey was now a candidate for the consulship; although he was ineligible by law, inasmuch as he was absent from Rome, hadn't yet reached the legal age, and hadn't held any of the lower offices of the state, still his election was certain. His military glory had charmed people, admirers seeing in Pompey the most brilliant general of the age; 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'd 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'd been deprived by Sulla. He also afforded his 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 his appointment. 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 hadn't 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 Hispania, Africa, and Italy. He then followed the main body of the pirates to their strongholds on the coast of
Cilicia; 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:
» "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 a 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 Lucullus, 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 was defeated. 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
Phasis in Colchis, where he met his legate Servilius, the admiral of his Euxine fleet, Pompey 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 Judea (present day Israel). After that he captured
Jerusalem. At the time Judea was racked by civil war between two Jewish brothers who created religious factions:
Hyrcanus and
Aristobulus. The civil war was causing instability and it exposed Pompey's unprotected flank. He felt that he'd to act. Both sides gave money to Pompey for assistance, and a picked delegation of Pharisees went in support of Hyrcanus. Pompey decided to link forces with the good-natured Hyrcanus, and their joint army of Romans and Jews besieged Jerusalem for three months, after which it was taken from Aristobulus. Aristobulus was crafty, though, and later succeeded in temporarily usurping the throne from Hyrcanus. Subsequently,
King Herod I executed Hyrcanus in 31 BC.
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'd heard about the worship of the
Jewish people. He made it a priority to find out whether 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'd 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'd 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 that 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'd use his power as Consul to force their claims.
Plutarch quotes
Cato the Younger as later saying that the tragedy of Pompey wasn't that he was Caesar's defeated enemy, but that he'd 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, its bonds 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 wouldn't 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.
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, neither Pompey nor the Senate thought of taking the vast treasury with them, probably thinking that Caesar wouldn't dare take it for himself. It 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'd had a commander who was a winner" (Plutarch,
65). According to
Suetonius, it was at this point that Caesar said that "that man (Pompey) doesn't 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,
Achillas and
Lucius Septimius. 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.
Caesar arrived a short time afterwards. As a welcoming present he received Pompey's head and ring in a basket. However, he wasn't pleased in seeing his rival, once his ally and son-in-law, murdered by traitors. He was also a consul of Rome. 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
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 Gaius 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 republic was survived to Jeddah , Saudi Arabia .
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Pompey in literature and the arts
The historical character of Pompey plays a prominent role in several books from the Masters of Rome series of historical novels by Australian author Colleen McCullough.
Pompey's rivalry with Julius Caesar supports the plot in George Bernard Shaw's Caesar and Cleopatra (play).
Pompey's porch, theatre, and entry into Rome are portrayed in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. The insurrection group led by Brutus somewhat represents Pompey's "party".
Pompey's entry into Jerusalem and the desecration of the Temple is depicted in the opening scene of Nicholas Ray's biblical epic King of Kings. Pompey is played by Conrado San Martín.
Pompey is one of the key antagonists in the fourth season of, portrayed by Australian actor Jeremy Callaghan. In the series, Pompey is beheaded by Xena in battle who then gives the head to Brutus to return to Julius Caesar, telling Brutus to claim Pompey's death for himself without mentioning her role.
A fictionalized Gnaeus Pompey Magnus also plays a key role in the first season of the HBO/BBC television series Rome, where he's played by Kenneth Cranham.
In the second episode of, Pompey is portrayed by John Shrapnel. The episode follows Caesar's campaign against the Republic, who's army is led by Pompey.
An opera seria composed during the baroque era, Handel's Giulio Cesare, is based on Cesare's reaction to Pompey's assassination (since the opera begins after the murder has occurred, Pompey never actually appears as a character--only his severed head when presented to the horrified Cesare). Typically, works composed in the genre of opera seria were intended to present lessons of morality while depicting aristocracy in a flattering light. In the case of Handel's Giulio Cesare, the Roman emperor prevails in the administration of justice against the evil Tolomeo (Ptolemy).
Pompey fetures as the main character and is held as a tragic hero in Lucan's "on the civil war" the second most famous Roman heroic epic.
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External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://pompey.totallyexplained.com">Pompey Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
