Pompey

Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus, commonly called Pompey or Pompey the Great, was a Roman general and politician active during the Republic’s final years. Born on 29 September 106 BC, he was the eldest son of Gnaeus Pompeius Strabo, a provincial noble from Picenum. Strabo was the first in his family line to reach senatorial rank, serving as consul in 89 BC, but he was known for greed, political deceit, and military harshness. Pompey began his career alongside his father during the Social War (91–87 BC). Strabo died in 87 BC during a civil war—either from disease or at the hands of his own soldiers—and was accused of embezzlement. As his heir, Pompey faced trial for the crime but was acquitted, reportedly after agreeing to marry the judge’s daughter, Antistia.

In 83 BC, as the civil war between Sulla and his rivals escalated, Pompey raised a full legion from his father’s old clients and veterans in Picenum. When Sulla landed in Brundisium that spring, Pompey marched south to join him. Three government armies tried to block their union, but Pompey routed one, and the other commanders withdrew. Sulla greeted Pompey with the title *imperator* (“victorious general”). Later that year, Sulla sent Pompey back to Picenum to recruit more troops. In 82 BC, while Sulla advanced on Rome, Pompey served as cavalry commander under Metellus in Cisalpine Gaul against the consul Gaius Papirius Carbo. They defeated Carbo’s lieutenant at the river Aesis, but were blockaded by Carbo himself. After Sulla’s victory at Sacriportus, Carbo retreated, harassed by Pompey’s cavalry. Metellus later defeated another lieutenant, and Pompey’s cavalry caught fleeing troops at Sena Gallica, plundering the town. Pompey then transferred to Sulla’s command in the south, joining Marcus Licinius Crassus to defeat Carrinas again near Spoletium. Pompey besieged Carrinas there, but he escaped. Pompey later ambushed a force under Censorinus trying to reach Praeneste, where Marius the Younger was blockaded. These failures, combined with Metellus’s northern successes, broke the government’s resistance. At the end of 82 BC, the government mustered 10,000 legionaries to relieve Praeneste, joining Samnites and Lucanians. Pursued by Pompey, they united and marched for Praeneste but were unable to break through.

Pompey’s early military success led Sulla to grant him the cognomen *Magnus* (“the Great”), reportedly because of Pompey’s admiration for Alexander the Great. His enemies, however, called him *adulescentulus carnifex* (“teenage butcher”) for his ruthlessness. A member of the senatorial nobility, Pompey bypassed the traditional *cursus honorum* due to his early achievements and was elected consul three times (70, 55, and 52 BC). He celebrated three triumphs and commanded in the Sertorian War, the Third Servile War, the Third Mithridatic War, and other campaigns. In 60 BC, he joined Crassus and Caesar in the First Triumvirate, an informal political alliance sealed by Pompey’s marriage to Caesar’s daughter, Julia. After Julia’s death in 54 BC and Crassus’s in 53 BC, Pompey sided with the optimates, the conservative Senate faction. Conflict with Caesar over control of the state led to Caesar’s civil war. Pompey was defeated at the Battle of Pharsalus in 48 BC. He fled to Ptolemaic Egypt, where he was assassinated on 28 September 48 BC by courtiers of King Ptolemy XIII.