Short biography of pompey

Backed by his allies in the Senate, Pompey was appointed military commander in Spain with proconsular authority in order to defeat Sertorius. This act was technically illegal as he had yet to hold public office, illustrating Pompey's preference for military glory, and disregard for traditional political constraints. Pompey recruited 30, infantry and 1, cavalry, evidence of the threat posed by Sertorius.

His arrival boosted the morale of Metellus' troops, while some rebels changed sides, but soon after he was defeated by Sertorius at the Battle of Lauron , [ 34 ] losing one third of his army while inflicting next to no losses on Sertorius' army. This was a serious blow to Pompey's prestige, who spent the rest of the year re-organising his army.

Sertorius withdrew inland, then turned to fight at Saguntum , where Pompey lost 6, men, including his brother-in-law Memmius, reputedly his most effective subordinate. Although Metellus defeated Perperna in a separate battle, Sertorius was able to withdraw to Clunia late in the year, where he repaired the walls to lure his opponents into a siege, while forming garrisons from other towns into a new field army.

Once this was ready, he escaped from Clunia and used it to disrupt Roman logistics on land and by sea. Lack of supplies forced Metellus to quarter his troops in Gaul , while Pompey wintered among the Vaccaei. Pompey's letter had the effect of galvanizing the Senate into sending him more men and funds. Reinforced by two more legions, in 74 BC he and Metellus began a war of attrition against their enemy.

As his chief opponent had lost most of his Roman legionaries and could no longer match him in the field, Pompey, along with Metellus, gained the upper hand, conquering more and more Sertorian cities, slowly grinding down Sertorius' revolt. By now, Sertorius was being undermined by internal divisions. Pompey engaged Perperna in battle and defeated him swiftly at the Battle near Osca.

Perperna was captured and attempted to persuade Pompey to spare him by giving over Sertorius' correspondence, allegedly containing proof of communications between the rebel leader and leading men in Rome. Pompey burned the letters unread and executed Perperna, and then spent some time restructuring the local Roman administration, showing a lack of animosity towards his former opponents, which extended his patronage throughout Hispania and into southern Gaul.

Pompey returned to Italy just before Crassus defeated the main rebel army in 71 BC, arriving in time to massacre 6, fugitives from the battle. His claim to have ended the war by doing so was a long-standing source of resentment for Crassus. Pompey was granted a second triumph for his victory in Hispania, and nominated for the consulship.

Since he was both too young and technically ineligible, this required a special senatorial decree. However, their consulship did see the plebeian tribune recover powers removed by Sulla. One of the most significant was the ability to veto Senatorial bills, an act often seen as a turning point in the politics of the late Republic.

Although popular with the people, the measure must have been opposed by the optimates , and thus passing it required support from both consuls, although most extant sources barely mention Crassus. Pirates operated throughout the Mediterranean, while their fleets often formed temporary alliances with enemies of Rome, including Sertorius and Mithridates.

Their power and range had increased over the past fifty years, partly because of the decline of traditional naval powers like Rhodes , while previous attempts to subdue them had been unsuccessful. Principally based in Cilicia , in 68 BC they raided as far as Ostia , Rome's port, and kidnapped two senators, to general outrage. It granted him proconsular authority for three years in any province within 50 miles of the Mediterranean, along with the power to appoint legates and significant financial resources.

In Gaul, Piso hampered his recruitment efforts, while in Crete , Quintus Metellus refused to comply with his instructions. Pompey spread his forces throughout the Mediterranean to prevent the pirates escaping a Roman fleet by moving elsewhere. These measures won him control of the western Mediterranean in just 40 days, after which his fleets moved to the east, forcing the pirates back to their bases in Cilicia.

Pompey led the decisive assault on their stronghold in Coracaesium , winning the Battle of Korakesion and concluding the war in only three months. Most of his opponents surrendered without fighting, thanks to Pompey's reputation for clemency. These communities retained a strong attachment to both Rome and Pompey. Lucullus was a skilled general who won numerous victories, but claims he was protracting the war for "power and wealth" led to a Senate investigation, while by 69 BC his troops were weary and mutinous.

He also assumed leadership of the war against Mithridates, but failed to respond decisively when the latter re-occupied much of Pontus in 67 BC, then attacked Cappadocia , a Roman ally. The optimates were privately horrified that one man should hold so much influence, but fearful of his popularity allowed the measure to pass. Incensed at being replaced, Lucullus called Pompey a "vulture" who profited from the work of others, a reference both to his new command and claim to have finished the war against Spartacus.

When Mithridates offered a truce, Lucullus argued the war was over, but Pompey demanded concessions which could not be accepted. According to contemporary sources, Mithridates and a small contingent escaped the battle, outstripped their pursuers, and reached Colchis on the Black Sea. In 65 BC, Pompey set out to take Colchis, but to do so had first to subdue various local tribes and allies of Mithridrates.

After winning a series of battles, he reached Phasis and linked up with Servilius, admiral of his Euxine fleet, before a fresh revolt in Caucasian Albania forced him to retrace his steps. Victory at the Abas enabled him to impose terms on the Albanians and agree truces with other tribes on the northern side of the Caucasus. Relying on his naval blockade to wear down Mithridates, Pompey spent 64 BC annexing the independent and wealthy cities of Syria , which were incorporated into a new Roman province.

In the process, he acquired large amounts of money and prestige, as well as criticism from his opponents in Rome, who argued doing so exceeded his authority. An attempt to commit suicide by taking poison allegedly failed due to his habit of taking "precautionary antidotes", and he was killed by the rebels. Pharnaces sent his embalmed body to Pompey, in return for which he was granted the Bosporan Kingdom and made an ally of Rome.

The final collapse of the Seleucid Empire allowed Pompey to annex Syria in 64 BC, but its dissolution destabilised the region, while many of its cities had used the power vacuum to achieve independence. Pompey's incursion further south, into Judea , was occasioned on account of its inhabitants, under the leadership of Hyrcanus II and Aristobulus II , having ravaged Phoenicia and Pompey wanting to bring a stop to it.

When he compelled the latter to surrender Jerusalem , its defenders took refuge in the Temple , which the Romans first stormed , then looted. Judea became a client kingdom ruled by Hyrcanus, while its northern section was incorporated into the Decapolis , a league of semi-autonomous cities see map. Both Judea and the League were made subordinate to the new province of Syria.

Other organisational changes included creating the province of Bithynia and Pontus , with the rest of Mithridates' territories distributed among Roman allies. Elsewhere, Ariobarzanes I of Cappadocia was restored to his throne, while Lesser Armenia was taken from Tigranes and incorporated into Galatia , with Pompey's client Deiotarus becoming ruler of the new kingdom.

Finally, Cilicia received the coastal region of Pamphylia , previously a centre of piracy, along with other inland areas and reorganised into six parts. Before his return to Italy in 62 BC, Pompey paid his troops bonuses totalling around 16, talents , [ 87 ] [ f ] but despite fears he intended to follow Sulla's example, they were dismissed upon arrival at Brundisium.

He was awarded a third triumph for his achievements in Asia Minor, celebrated on his 45th birthday in 61 BC. Pompey claimed the new provinces established in the East had increased annual state income from million to million sesterces , plus an additional payment of million sesterces to the treasury. Some of it was used to build one of the most famous structures of Ancient Rome, the Theatre of Pompey.

However, the Senate then refused to ratify the treaties agreed by Pompey as part of his settlement of the East. Opposition was led by the optimates Cato the Younger and Metellus Celer , whose sister Mucia had recently been divorced by Pompey, for reasons still disputed. A similar measure had been rejected in 63 BC, which arguably made the Senate over confident in their ability to control popular unrest.

Although Pompey could not overcome optimate opposition on his own, the situation changed when Marius' nephew Julius Caesar sought his endorsement for the consulship in 59 BC. A skilled, unscrupulous, and ambitious politician, Caesar used this alliance to harness Pompey's influence with the urban electorate. This meant Caesar could help pass legislation sponsored by Pompey and Crassus, while it was in his interest to keep them aligned, an important factor given the rivalry between his two patrons.

Despite appearing to be the most junior, Caesar thus became central to the First Triumvirate , an informal political alliance designed to counter-balance the optimates. Pompey's influence was based on his reputation as a military commander, and popularity with the Roman people. Once elected, Caesar secured the passage of a new agrarian bill, helped by Pompey's veterans, who filled the streets of Rome and allegedly intimidated the Senate.

When Bibulus opposed the measure, he was attacked in the forum , and spent the rest of his consulship under virtual house arrest. His alliance with Pompey was strengthened when the latter married Caesar's daughter Julia. Senatorial opposition to the triumvirate was led by Cicero , a long-standing Pompeian ally. Despite this, the latter supported the populist politician Publius Clodius Pulcher in an attack on Cicero for executing Roman citizens without trial during the Catilinarian conspiracy.

Pompey and Crassus were competing for command of a new expedition to Asia Minor, and in 56 BC they met with Caesar to resolve these issues. Although Crassus was a long-standing rival, there are also indications Pompey felt his status as the foremost soldier of the Republic was threatened by Caesar's success in Gaul. With Caesar's support, they were duly elected after prolonged periods of the violence which had become a feature of Roman political campaigns.

Once in office, they ensured passage of a law giving Crassus the province of Syria and command of a punitive expedition against Parthia, providing him opportunities for both military glory and loot. Pompey was assigned the restive provinces of Hispania, along with Africa, while Caesar's governorships in Gaul were extended. All three men were given these positions for a period of five years, as well as the right to levy troops and "make peace and war with whomsoever they pleased.

Contemporary sources suggest that combined with the death of Crassus and his son Publius at Carrhae in May 53 BC, this removed any obstacle to direct confrontation between Caesar and Pompey. Consular elections in 52 BC had to be suspended due to widespread violence. Seeking to end his alliance with Caesar, the optimate Bibulus proposed Pompey be elected sole consul, an unprecedented act backed by both Cato and the tribunate.

As consul, Pompey helped enact legislation which some historians view as crucial to understanding the drift to war in 49 BC. Accused of using violence during his consulship in 59 BC, Caesar had previously been shielded by his proconsular immunity. With private support from Pompey, new laws made such prosecutions retrospective, which meant Caesar would probably be put on trial the moment he left Gaul and lost his Imperium.

Although the two continued to co-operate in public, [ ] Pompey clearly viewed his colleague as a threat, as did much of the Senate. They initiated legislation to remove Caesar from his command in Gaul, who allegedly bypassed this by bribing Paullus and Curio. This was a clever move, since it was popular with those who wanted to avoid war, but unacceptable to the optimates who saw Caesar as a danger that had to be eliminated.

When he fell ill while recruiting in Naples , the celebrations that followed his recovery allegedly convinced Pompey his popularity was sufficient to see off any opponent. A significant number of senators opposed any concessions to Caesar, but many also mistrusted Pompey, who has been criticised for "weak and ineffectual leadership" in this period.

As Caesar racked up victory after victory in his wars in Gaul, Pompey grew increasingly jealous of his success and popularity. The final straw came in 54 BC when Julia tragically died in childbirth. With her death, the last bond holding Pompey and Caesar together was severed. From there, it was only a matter of time before the two titans of Rome turned on each other, plunging the Republic into civil war and changing the course of history forever.

He joined Sulla at 23 and led three legions to victory. The stage was set for a monumental showdown. Julius Caesar, the conquering hero of Gaul, versus Pompey the Great, the mighty general who had defeated Spartacus and cleared the seas of pirates. But this was no mere military rivalry. It was a bitter political struggle for the very soul of the Roman Republic.

In 49 BC, the Roman Senate made a fateful decision.

Short biography of pompey

They ordered Caesar to disband his battle-hardened legions and return to Rome as a private citizen. Caesar knew this would leave him defenseless against his enemies. So he did the unthinkable — he defied the Senate and crossed the Rubicon River with his army, sparking a civil war that would change the course of history. Pompey, ever the loyal servant of the Senate, found himself in an impossible position.

He had to defend the Republic against his former friend and ally. The two armies met on the plains of Pharsalus in Greece. Pompey had the advantage in numbers, but Caesar had the edge in experience and tactics. Pompey himself fled the field, his dreams of glory shattered. It was a turning point in the civil war, and in Roman history. The Republic lay in ruins, and Caesar stood poised to become the undisputed master of Rome.

Imagine being Pompey the Great, one of the most powerful men in the world, fleeing for your life after a crushing defeat. But Pompey had gravely miscalculated. They convinced the young pharaoh that it would be better to have Pompey dead than alive. It was a stark reminder of the ruthlessness of power politics in the late Republic. 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 B. 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 B. 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 B.

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 B.

Their supporters received most of the important remaining offices. The violence between Clodius and other factions were building and civil unrest was becoming endemic. 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 B. 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 B.

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 Hostilia 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. The title of Dictator brought with it memories of Sulla and his bloody proscriptions, a memory none could allow to happen once more.

As a Dictator was unable to be punished by law for measures taken during office, Rome was uneasy in handing Pompey the title. By offering him to be Consul without a colleague, he was tied by the fact he could be brought to justice if anything he did was seen to be illegal. 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 B. 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. 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 B. 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 would not 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 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. According to Suetonius, it was at this point that Caesar said that "that man Pompey does not know how to win a war. Caesar and Pompey had their final showdown at the Battle of Pharsalus in 48 B. 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. 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 28, a day short of his 58th birthday, 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 from the broken ship's timbers and cremated the body. Caesar arrived a short time afterward. Following his victory, rather than spreading massive destruction, Pompey pursued a humane policy of granting citizenship and founding permanent settlements in Spain to ensure peace.

After 5 years' absence, Pompey returned to Italy. He took some of the credit for the suppression of Spartacus's revolt by eliminating some elements of the gladiators' army. The result of these successes propelled Pompey together with M. Licinius Crassus, the real victor over Spartacus, into the consulship for the year 70 B. This again was contrary to the Sullan decrees, since Pompey had held no previous regular political office in Rome.

The two men presided over the dismantling of certain elements of Sulla's constitution. The tribunate, which had been used by the Gracchi in the late 2nd century to push popular reform, had been stripped of almost all power by the conservative Sulla. Now Pompey and Crassus restored most of its old strength, and it became a potent instrument in the power struggles of the last years of the republic.

Gaius Sempronius Gracchus had limited membership on the courts which tried Roman governors for extortion to the financial class equestrians , and Sulla had returned control to the Senate. Now the courts were entrusted to a mixed body of senators and equestrians. The next major challenge came to Pompey in 67 B. The piratical menace had grown as the result of Rome's shortsighted suppression of the power of the Greek island of Rhodes in the 2d century B.

Rhodes had for years kept the Mediterranean free of pirates. Now they even raided the Roman seaport of Ostia. Pompey received a command which provided him with complete power at sea and power equal to that of any governor for 50 miles inland. Furthermore, he was granted the right to appoint 24 legates so that he could divide the Mediterranean among various subordinates and coordinate the sweeps against the pirates.

The success of his planning was shown by the fact that the pirate danger was eliminated within a year. In victory, Pompey again showed a sensible humanity by settling pacified pirates in communities where they could follow peaceful activities. This amazing triumph over the pirates led to Pompey's command against Rome's second current menace, Mithridates.

This king of Pontus had been a thorn in the side of Rome for nearly 20 years. Several times he had been defeated but had always recovered. Now the Roman general Lucullus, who seemed to have finally suppressed Mithridates, was faced with an army in mutiny and political resistance at home. When Pompey received this command, which granted him almost unlimited powers in the East, in 66 B.

Pompey then toured the East, absorbing territories such as Syria into the empire, making treaties with many of the Asiatic princelings, founding cities, and building up vast support for himself. However, in 62 B. Pompey had to return to Rome to get his agreements ratified by the Senate and rewards provided for his soldiers. He had relatively little experience in senatorial politics and discovered that the senatorial oligarchy tended to unite against powerful individuals.

Pompey's political program was soon in trouble, and he had to turn to the wealthy and influential Crassus and to Julius Caesar , the consul for 59 B. They formed the political alliance known as the Triumvirate. Caesar used his own skill, as well as Pompey's and Crassus' resources, to pass the bills that Pompey wanted. In spite of his difficulties with the Senate, Pompey was still the most important individual in Rome.