(Redirected from Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus):''For other meanings see
Pompey (disambiguation).''
'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 28 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 but 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 betrothed 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
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 (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 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 Hispania, 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 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 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. At the time Judaea 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 had 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. The Jewish historian
Josephus has provided many details of this period.
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, 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 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
Suetonius, 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, 1820
Caesar 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 father-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
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 conservatives lose the battle of Pharsalus; Pompey runs away to Egypt, where he is killed on
September 29
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 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 MartÃn.
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.
Kenneth Cranham as Pompey in
Rome.
Pompey also plays a key role in the first season of the
Rome HBO/
BBC television production, where he is played by
Kenneth Cranham.
The greatest opera seria composed during the baroque era, Handel's Julio Cesare, is based on Cesar'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 Cesar). 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 Julio Cesare, the Roman emperor prevails in the administration of justice against the evil Tolomeo (Ptolemy).
Notes
1. William Smith, ''A New Classical Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography, Mythology and Geography'', 1851. (Under the tenth entry of ''Pompeius'').
2. Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus, son of Gnaeus, grandson of Sextus
3. ''pro Lege Manilia'', 12 or ''De Imperio Cn. Pompei'' (in favor of the Manilian Law on the command of Pompey), 66 BC.
4. 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.
Further reading
★
Goldsworthy, Adrian. ''In the name of Rome: The Men Who Won the Roman Empire''. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2004 (hardcopy, ISBN 0-297-84666-3); New York: Phoenix Press, (paperback, ISBN 0-7538-1789-6).
★ Seager, Robin. ''Pompey the Great: A Political Biography''. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2002 (hardcover, ISBN 0-631-22720-2; paperback, ISBN 0-631-22721-0).
★ Southern, Pat. ''Pompey the Great: Caesar's Friend and Foe''. Stroud, Gloucestershire, UK: Tempus Publishing, 2002 (paperback, ISBN 0-7524-2521-8).
External links
★
Pompey entry in historical sourcebook by Mahlon H. Smith
★
Pompey's War Jona Lendering details Pompey's conquest of Judea
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