Pompey

Also known as: Magnus / Pompeius / Pompeius Magnus / Pompey the Great · Family: Roman · Role: Roman leader · First appears: Numa Pompilius

Pompey was the son of Strabo. After Antistius offered him his daughter, Antistia, Pompey accepted, became engaged to her, and married her shortly after the judgment in his favor. When Sylla brought Italy under his dominion, Pompey divorced Antistia and married Aemilia at Sylla’s urging, strengthening their patronage tie; he later joined the nobility and was appointed general against Marcus Lepidus, who became hostile to him and his friends.

In Spain, Pompey fought Quintus Sertorius and defeated Perpenna Vento, later burning Sertorius’s papers and ordering Perpenna’s execution. He rivaled Lucullus, whose actions supplied honors for Pompey’s command, and opposed Mithridates and Tigranes; Tigranes surrendered before him and placed his crown at Pompey’s feet. At Rome, Pompey’s rivalry with Marcus Crassus was joined by an alliance with Marcus Crassus and Caesar: they became consuls, divided provinces between them, and extended Caesar’s command. Pompey married Julia, Caesar’s daughter, and was also associated with Cicero, whom he courted and whose public actions helped establish Pompey’s authority; Cato the Younger first hindered Pompey’s proposed land division, but later acted as his friend.

Pompey was granted extraordinary authority against the pirates and was later made sole consul during Rome’s political crisis. He divorced Mucia and married Cornelia, with whom he had his son Cnaeus, while Labienus, Cicero, and Cato the Younger stood among his friends and Clodius used him as a tool before Pompey helped bring about Cicero’s recall. His alliance with Caesar ended in enmity: after Caesar took a town in Italy, Pompey fled Rome, and Caesar defeated his army at Pharsalia. Pompey sought refuge in Egypt, where Ptolemy and Pothinus were connected to his fate; Septimius, Salvius, and Achillas murdered him, while Cornelia was with him. After his death, Pompey enforced Sylla’s honorable burial despite Marcus Lepidus.