Pompey

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

The Campaign against the Pirates ? Pompey in the East

By 69 BC, Pompey was the darling of the Roman masses although many Optimates were deeply suspicious of his intentions. His primacy in the state was enhanced by two extraordinary proconsular commands, unprecedented in Roman history. In 67 BC, two years after his consulship, Pompey was nominated commander of a special naval task force to campaign against the pirates that controlled the Mediterranean. This command, like everything else in Pompey's life, was surrounded with polemic.

Related Topics:
69 BC - Optimates - 67 BC

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The conservative faction of the senate was most suspicious of his intentions and afraid of his power. The Optimates tried every means possible to avoid it. Significantly, Caesar was one of a handful of Senators who supported Pompey's command from the start. The nomination was then proposed by the Plebeian Tribune Aulus Gabinius who proposed the Lex Gabinia, giving Pompey command in the war against the Mediterranean pirates, with extensive powers that gave him absolute control over the sea and the coasts for 50 miles inland, setting him above every military leader in the east.

Related Topics:
Aulus Gabinius - Lex Gabinia

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It took Pompey only a few months to clear the Mediterranean of the danger of pirates. In three short months (67-66 BC), Pompey's forces swept the Mediterranean free of the pirates, showing extraordinary precision, discipline, and organizational ability. The quickness of the campaign showed that he was a talented general also at sea, with strong logistic abilities too. Pompey was the hero of the hour.

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Pompey was then nominated to the Third Mithridatic War to fight Mithridates VI of Pontus in the East. This command essentially entrusted Pompey with the conquest and reorganization of the entire Eastern Mediterranean. This was the second command that Caesar supported in favor of Pompey. He conducted the campaigns of 65 BC to 62 BC with such military and administrative skill that Rome annexed much of Asia firmly under its control.

Related Topics:
Third Mithridatic War - Mithridates VI of Pontus - 65 BC - 62 BC

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Pompey destroyed not only Mithridates, but also defeated Tigranes the Great, king of Armenia, with whom he later developed a treaty relationship. He defeated Antiochus XIII of Syria, which region he organised as a new Roman province, and proceeded to Jerusalem, which he captured. Pompey imposed an overall settlement on the kings of the new eastern provinces, which took intelligent account of the geographical and political factors involved in creating Rome's new frontier on the East.

Related Topics:
Tigranes the Great - Armenia - Antiochus XIII of Syria - Jerusalem

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With Tigranes as a friend and ally of Rome, the chain of Roman protectorates now extended as far east as the Black Sea and the Caucasus. The amount of tribute and bounty Pompey brought back to Rome was almost incalculable: Plutarch lists 20,000 talents in gold and silver added to the treasury, and the increase in taxes to the public treasury rose from 50 million to 85 million drachmas annually. His administrative brilliance was such that his dispositions endured largely unchanged until the fall of Rome.

Related Topics:
Black Sea - Caucasus - Plutarch

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