Who was Pompey the Great?

He was Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (106 to 48 BC), one of Rome's greatest generals, famous for clearing the seas of pirates, conquering the East, and losing the civil war against Julius Caesar.

Why was Pompey called 'the Great'?

He took the surname Magnus, 'the Great,' early in his career after a string of victories, consciously echoing Alexander the Great.

What was Pompey famous for?

For sweeping the Mediterranean clear of pirates in 67 BC, conquering the eastern kingdoms including the defeat of Mithridates, and his war against Caesar.

After losing the Battle of Pharsalus to Caesar in 48 BC, Pompey fled to Egypt and was assassinated as he came ashore, on the orders of the Egyptian court.

What was the First Triumvirate?

It was an informal alliance of Pompey, Julius Caesar and Crassus that dominated Roman politics in the 50s BC, held together partly by Pompey's marriage to Caesar's daughter.

Was Pompey a better general than Caesar?

He had the greater early record, but Caesar defeated him decisively at Pharsalus; history remembers Pompey as the formidable rival Caesar had to overcome.

Pompey the Great: Rome's rival to Caesar

Before there was Caesar the dictator, there was Pompey the Great, the most celebrated soldier of his age. He swept the pirates from the seas, hugely expanded Rome's lands and revenues in the East, and stood at the summit of the Republic, until his old ally Julius Caesar turned rival and brought him down in a civil war that ended the Republic itself.

The rise of a young general

Gnaeus Pompeius won victories and a triumph while still in his twenties¹, earning the surname Magnus, "the Great," in imitation of Alexander¹. In 67 BC he was given sweeping powers to clear the Mediterranean² of pirates and did it in a matter of months³, then marched east to defeat Mithridates of Pontus and reorganise whole kingdoms⁴, returning to Rome the richest and most famous man in the state.

Marble head of a young man wearing a lion skin headdress — Marble portrait of Mithridates VI of Pontus as Heracles, wearing a lion skin; the king Pompey finally defeated in the East. Louvre Museum. CC0 (public domain)

The First Triumvirate

To get his way against a suspicious Senate, Pompey joined Julius Caesar and the millionaire Crassus in the informal pact known as the First Triumvirate⁵, sealed by his marriage to Caesar's daughter Julia¹. For a time the three men effectively ran Rome. But Julia died, Crassus was killed in the East¹, and the two survivors drifted toward war.

Portrait of Pompey the Great — Pompey the Great. Public domain.

He swept the seas of pirates and remade Rome's East, then met his match in Caesar.

Pharsalus

When Caesar crossed the Rubicon in 49 BC, Pompey led the Senate's cause. The two armies finally met at Pharsalus in Greece in 48 BC, where Pompey's larger force was outgeneralled and broken³ by Caesar's veterans. Pompey fled to Egypt, hoping for refuge, and was murdered as he stepped ashore⁴, on the orders of a boy king's court.

Long Renaissance panel painting with a cavalry battle on the right and boats by a coastal city on the left — The Battle of Pharsalus and the Death of Pompey, a Florentine painted panel of about 1455 to 1460 from the workshop of Apollonio di Giovanni and Marco del Buono. Art Institute of Chicago. Public domain

The measure of the man

Pompey was a superb organiser and a master of the grand sweep, pirates, kings and provinces, yet on the day of decision he was outmatched by the one rival who mattered. His fall cleared the way for Caesar, and for the end of the Roman Republic.

Meet his great rival Julius Caesar, or explore the other great commanders of ancient Rome.

Sources and notes

Numbered notes in the text point to the works below.

World History Encyclopedia, “Pompey” ↩ a b c d
Robin Seager, Pompey the Great: A Political Biography (2nd edition) (Blackwell, 2002). ↩
Plutarch, Life of Pompey, 13 (Sulla greets him as Magnus); 24 to 28 (the pirate command of 67 BC, finished within three months); 68 to 72 (Pharsalus); 77 to 80 (murder on landing in Egypt). ↩ a b
Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Pompey the Great” ↩ a b
Mary Beard, SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome (Profile Books, 2015). ↩
Wikipedia, “Pompey, Wikipedia”