Marco Gneo Pompey Magnus, better known as Pompey the great, was one of the greatest military generals in Roman history. He could boast of triumphs throughout the Roman world, on the battlefield and in the halls of government. He rose to the heights of political will, but was eventually met with defeat and betrayal.
Born on September 29, 106 BC C. in the bosom of a rich Roman family, Pompey He showed an early acumen for war by joining his lot with Sulla in his fight with Gaius Mario. Pompey conquered Sicily in 82 BC. C., the year in which Sila was declared dictator, then he went ahead and solidified the Roman influence in Africa. Sulla rewarded him for his service by giving him the title of Magnus (“the Great”).
Pompey he ended the Sertorius revolt in Spain, although it took him five years to do so, and he returned to Rome as a popular conqueror. In 70 BC, he was appointed consul, along with Marco Licinius Crassus. Choosing Pompey as consul he was significant because he had no prior political experience, as was the custom at the time.
In 67 BC, Pompey he was sent to deal with various groups of pirates who had been prowling the Mediterranean, harassing Roman grain shipments, among other things. In less than a year, Pompey he had defeated all the pirates and secured the Roman supply lines to the west and east.
The following year, the Senate again called Pompey to lead the Roman forces against King Mithridates VI of Pontus, in yet another uprising in that part of the world. (This was called the Third Mithridatic War.) After a series of feints and retreats, the forces of Pompey they faced those of Mithridates and finally, after 20 years, achieved a decisive victory. Pompey He continued east and claimed Syria, Judea, and Jerusalem for Rome.
Back in Rome, Crassus was consolidating his grip on Roman power and entering an alliance out of necessity with Julius Caesar, who by then had secured his position as one of Rome’s most promising military and legal minds. With Pompey returning as a conquering hero to Rome in 61, trouble was brewing again. Caesar, however, convinced Crassus and Pompey to join him in a new form of government, a three-man structure called the First Triumvirate. In fact, they were the three most powerful men in Rome and they took steps to ensure that they carried out the mandate. To cement the alliance, Caesar approved that Pompey he will marry his daughter Julia.
The arrangement worked to the benefit of all three, within the halls of the Roman government and in other parts of the Republic. They divided the provinces of Rome among themselves, with Pompey taking Spain, Crassus ruling Syria and Caesar presiding over Gaul and Illyrica.
The division appeased for a time the jealousy between the three powerful men, but the alliance began to disintegrate in 56. Caesar summoned Crassus and Pompey to a secret meeting, the Lucca Conference, in which the three men forged the way forward. The following year, Crassus and Pompey Consuls were again elected and Caesar left for Gaul.
Not only was he a soldier, Pompey He was also fond of the theater and invested money in what became the first permanent theater built specifically for the Republic. The large complex of buildings had shops, gardens, and a temple.
The wife of Pompey, Julia (Caesar’s daughter), died giving birth in 54. Caesar, who by that time had invaded Britain not once but twice, offered his granddaughter Octavia (Octavian’s sister), but Pompey he refused.
Crassus died on a military mission in ’53. With Caesar in Gaul, Pompey he was declared sole consul. The following year, he refused to sanction Caesar’s election to the consulate because (while still in Gaul) he was not in Rome. This was the latest in a growing number of differences between the two men that eventually resulted in a military conflict.
In 49, Caesar had finished with Gaul and was marching with his men back to Rome. The Senate ordered him not to enter Rome with his legions, but Caesar refused. When they crossed the Rubicon River, the Senate declared it in rebellion and recruited Pompey to defend Rome.
Fresh from a decisive victory over Vercingetorix, Caesar’s forces were better able to fight than the legions of Pompey, which had been largely inactive for a while. Pompey made the strategic decision to withdraw from Rome and Italy altogether, to Greece. Caesar followed him and defeating him in the Battle of Pharsalos, in 48 BC.
Caesar allowed Pompey he retired to where he wanted and Pompey chose Egypt. But young Ptolemy XIII had no intention of letting Pompey grew old in Egypt and ordered the general’s assassination. He was stabbed on September 28, 48 BC. Just when he arrived in Egypt and died on the beach.