Pompey

This article refers to the prominent military leader and politician of the late Roman republic, who also had descendants named Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus.

Civil War

Although in the beginning, Pompey claimed he could defeat Caesar and raise armies merely by stamping his foot on the soil of Italy, 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 fled south towards Brundisium, where Pompey intended to find renewed strength by waging war against Caesar in the East. In the process, almost unbelievably, neither Pompey nor the Senate thought of taking the vast treasury with them, which was left conveniently for Caesar when his forces entered Rome.

Related Topics:
49 BC - Crossing the Rubicon - Brundisium

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Escaping Caesar by a hair in Brundisium, Pompey regained his confidence during the siege of Dyrrhachium, in which Caesar nearly lost the war. Yet, by failing to pursue at the critical moment of Caesar's defeat, Pompey threw away the chance to destroy Caesar's armies. As Caesar himself said, "Today the enemy would have won, if they had had a commander who was a winner" (Plutarch, 65). With Caesar on their backs, the conservatives led by Pompey fled to Greece. The armies clashed in the Battle of Pharsalus in 48 BC. The fighting was hard for both sides but would eventually return 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.

Related Topics:
Dyrrhachium - 65 - Battle of Pharsalus - 48 BC - Sextus Pompeius - Mytilene - Egypt

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After his arrival in Egypt, Pompey's fate was decided by three counselors of Ptolemy XIII, the boy-king. 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 his assassins. While he sat in the boat, studying his speech for the boy 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.

Related Topics:
Ptolemy XIII - Funeral pyre - Cremated

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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 enemy, once his ally and son-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, 80). He deposed Ptolemy, executed Pothinus, and elevated Cleopatra to the throne of Egypt. Caesar gave Pompey's ashes and ring to Cornelia, who took them back to his estates in Italy.

Related Topics:
80 - Pothinus - Cleopatra

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In late 45 BC, Pompey was deified by the Senate at Caesar's request. In a stroke of irony, Caesar was assassinated on the Ides of March, 44 BC, in Pompey's Theater at the base of Pompey?s statue. It is rumored that Caesar prayed to his best friend, son-in-law, and greatest rival as he lay dying.

Related Topics:
45 BC - Deified - Ides of March - 44 BC

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