Cookie Thread - Last Poster!

Mercenary · April 24, 2019, 3:18am

I like how we are forming a little chat trio

Magnus · April 24, 2019, 3:20am

Us three should become the Triumvirate.

Mercenary · April 24, 2019, 3:22am

The first one for Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus reasons

Mercenary · April 24, 2019, 3:24am

@Geyde since you’re the protagonist you’ll take Julis Cesar
I’ll go with the richest man in all history of rome, Crassus

Magnus · April 24, 2019, 3:24am

hush. they don’t know yet.

Magnus · April 24, 2019, 3:27am

Quick! Let’s discuss our plans for domination!

Mercenary · April 24, 2019, 3:31am

Pompey

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This article is about Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus, Pompey the Great, a Roman statesman. For other Romans named “Gnaeus Pompeius”, see Gnaeus Pompeius. For other members of gens Pompeia, see Pompeia (gens). For other uses, see Pompey (disambiguation).

Not to be confused with Pompeii (disambiguation).

Pompey
$Pompey the Great.jpg\ 220x320$

Marble bust of Pompey the Great in the musée du Louvre at Paris

Consul of the Roman Republic
In office
52 – 51 BC

Serving with Quintus Caecilius Metellus Pius Scipio Nasica
Preceded by Marcus Valerius Messalla Rufus and Gnaeus Domitius Calvinus
Succeeded by Marcus Claudius Marcellusand Servius Sulpicius Rufus
In office
55 – 54 BC

Serving with Marcus Licinius Crassus
Preceded by Gnaeus Cornelius Lentulus Marcellinus and Lucius Marcius Philippus
Succeeded by Appius Claudius Pulcher and Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus
In office
70 – 69 BC

Serving with Marcus Licinius Crassus
Preceded by Publius Cornelius Lentulus Sura and Gnaeus Aufidius Orestes
Succeeded by Quintus Caecilius Metellus Creticus and Quintus Hortensius
Governor of the Hispania Ulterior
In office
58 – 55 BC
Personal details
Born September 29, 106 BC
Picenum (Italy), Roman Republic
Died September 28, 48 BC (aged 57)[1]
Pelusium, Ptolemaic Egypt
Political party Optimates
Spouse(s) Antistia (86–82 BC, divorced)
Aemilia Scaura (82–79 BC, her death)
Mucia Tertia (79–61 BC, divorced)
Julia (59–54 BC, her death)
Cornelia Metella (52–48 BC, his death)
Children Gnaeus Pompeius
Pompeia Magna
Sextus Pompeius
Occupation Politician and military commander

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Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus [2] (Classical Latin: [ˈgnae̯.ʊs pɔmˈpɛj.jʊs ˈmaŋ.nʊs]; 29 September 106 BC – 28 September 48 BC),[1] usually known in English as Pompey /ˈpɒmpiː/ or Pompey the Great ,[3] was a military and political leader of the late Roman Republic. He came from a wealthy Italian provincial background, and his father had been the first to establish the family among the Roman nobility. Pompey’s immense success as a general while still very young enabled him to advance directly to his first consulship without meeting the normal requirements for office. His success as a military commander in Sulla’s second civil war resulted in Sulla bestowing the nickname Magnus , “the Great”, upon him. His Roman adversaries insulted him as adulescentulus carnifex , “the teenage butcher”, after his Sicilian campaign.[4]He was consul three times (twice with Crassus and once a consul without a partner) and celebrated three triumphs.

In mid-60 BC, Pompey joined Marcus Licinius Crassus and Gaius Julius Caesar in the unofficial military-political alliance known as the First Triumvirate, which Pompey’s marriage to Caesar’s daughter Juliahelped secure. After the deaths of Julia and Crassus, Pompey sided with the optimates , the conservative faction of the Roman Senate. Pompey and Caesar then contended for the leadership of the Roman state, leading to a civil war. When Pompey was defeated at the Battle of Pharsalus in 48 BC, he sought refuge in Egypt, where he was assassinated. His career and defeat are significant in Rome’s subsequent transformation from Republic to Empire.

Early life and political debut[edit source]

Pompey was born in Picenum (modern Marche and the northern part of Abruzzo) to a local noble family. Pompey’s father, Gnaeus Pompeius Strabo, was first of his family to achieve senatorial status, despite the anti-rural prejudice of the Roman Senate. The Romans referred to Strabo as a novus homo (new man).[1] Pompeius Strabo ascended the traditional cursus honorum, becoming quaestor in 104 BC, praetorin 92 BC and consul in 89 BC. He acquired a reputation for greed, political double-dealing and military ruthlessness. He fought the Social War (91–88 BC) against Rome’s Italian allies. He supported Sulla, who belonged to the optimates, the pro-aristocracy faction, against Marius, who belonged to the populares (in favour of the people), in Sulla’s first civil war (88–87 BC). He died during the siege of Rome by the Marians, in 87 BC—either as a casualty of an epidemic,[5] or by having been struck by lightning.[6] His twenty-year-old son Pompey inherited his estates, and the loyalty of his legions.

Roman statue of so-called Pompey, at the Villa Arconati a Castellazzo di Bollate (Milan, Italy). It was brought there from Rome in 1627 by Galeazzo Arconati.

Pompey had served two years under his father’s command, and had participated in the final part of the Social War. When his father died, Pompey was put on trial due to accusations that his father stole public property. As his father’s heir, Pompey could be held to account. He discovered that the theft was committed by one of his father’s freedmen. Following his preliminary bouts with his accuser, the judge took a liking to Pompey and offered his daughter Antistia in marriage. Pompey was acquitted.[7]

Another civil war broke out between the Marians and Sulla in 83–82 BC. The Marians had previously taken over Rome while Sulla was fighting the First Mithridatic War (89–85 BC) against Mithridates VI of Pontus in Greece.[8] In 83 BC, Sulla returned from that war, landing in Brundisium (Brindisi) in southern Italy. Pompey raised three legions in Picenum to support Sulla’s march on Rome against the Marian regime of Gnaeus Papirius Carbo and Gaius Marius the Younger. Cassius Dio described Pompey’s troop levy as a “small band”.[9]

Sulla defeated the Marians and was appointed as Dictator. He admired Pompey’s qualities and thought that he was useful for the administration of his affairs. He and his wife, Metella, persuaded Pompey to divorce Antistia and marry Sulla’s stepdaughter Aemilia Scaura. Plutarch commented that the marriage was “characteristic of a tyranny, and benefitted the needs of Sulla rather than the nature and habits of Pompey, Aemilia being given to him in marriage when she was with child by another man.” Antistia had recently lost both her parents. Pompey accepted, but “Aemilia had scarcely entered Pompey’s house before she succumbed to the pains of childbirth.”[10] Pompey later married Mucia Tertia. We have no record of when this took place. The sources only mentioned Pompey divorcing her. Plutarch wrote that Pompey dismissed with contempt a report that she had had an affair while he was fighting in the Third Mithridatic War between and 66 BC and 63 BC. However, on his journey back to Rome he examined the evidence more carefully and filed for divorce.[11] Cicero wrote that the divorce was strongly approved.[12] Cassius Dio wrote that she was the sister of Quintus Caecilius Metellus Celer and that Metellus Celer was angry because he had divorced her despite having had children by her.[13] Pompey and Mucia had three children: The eldest, Gnaeus Pompey (Pompey the Younger), Pompeia Magna, a daughter, and Sextus Pompey, the younger son. Cassius Dio wrote that Marcus Scaurus was Sextus’ half-brother on his mother’s side. He was condemned to death, but later released for the sake of his mother Mucia.[14]

Sicily, Africa and Lepidus’ rebellion[edit source]

The survivors of the Marians, those who were exiled after they lost Rome and those who escaped Sulla’s persecution of his opponents, were given refuge in Sicily by Marcus Perpenna Vento. Papirius Carbo had a fleet there, and Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus had forced an entry into the Roman province of Africa. Sulla sent Pompey to Sicily with a large force. According to Plutarch, Perpenna fled and left Sicily to Pompey. The Sicilian cities had been treated harshly by Perpenna and Pompey treated them with kindness. Pompey “treated Carbo in his misfortunes with an unnatural insolence”, taking Carbo in fetters to a tribunal he presided over, examining him closely “to the distress and vexation of the audience”, and finally, sentencing him to death. Pompey also treated Quintus Valerius “with unnatural cruelty”.[15] His opponents dubbed him adulescentulus carnifex (adolescent butcher).[16] While Pompey was still in Sicily, Sulla sent him to the province of Africa to fight Gnaeus Domitius who had assembled a large force there. When he got there, 7,000 of the enemy forces went over to him. Domitius was subsequently defeated at the battle of Utica and died when Pompey attacked his camp. Some cities surrendered and some were taken by storm. King Hiarbas of Numidia, who was an ally of Domitius, was captured and executed. Pompey restored Hiempsal II, invaded Numidia and subdued it in forty days. When he returned to Africa, Sulla ordered him to send back the rest of his troops and remain there with one legion to wait for his successor. This turned the soldiers who remained against Sulla. Pompey said that he would rather kill himself than go against Sulla. When Pompey returned to Rome everyone welcomed him. To outdo them, Sulla saluted him as Magnus (the Great) and ordered the others to give him this surname.[17]

Pompey asked for a triumph, but Sulla refused because the law allowed only a consul or a praetor to celebrate a triumph, and said that if Pompey—who was too young even to be a senator—were to do so, he would make both Sulla’s regime and his honour odious. Plutarch commented that Pompey “had scarcely grown a beard as yet.” However, Sulla added that he would not oppose him if he refused to listen to him. Pompey replied that more people worshiped the rising than the setting sun, implying that his power was on the increase, while Sulla’s was on the wane. Sulla said twice: “Let him triumph!” Pompey tried to enter the city on a chariot drawn by four of the many elephants he had captured in Africa, but the city gate was too narrow and he changed over to his horses. His soldiers, who had not received as much of a share of the war booty as they expected threatened a mutiny, but Pompey said that he did not care and that he would rather give up his triumph. Pompey went ahead with his extra-legal triumph.[18] Sulla was annoyed, but did not want to hinder his career and kept quiet. However, in 79 BC, when Pompey canvassed for Lepidus and succeeded in making him a consul against Sulla’s wishes, Sulla warned Pompey to watch out because he had made an adversary stronger than him. He omitted Pompey from his will.[19]

Marcus Aemilius Lepidus tried to revive the fortunes of the Populares, gathered their remnants, and rebelled (Lepidus’ Rebellion). In 78 BC, he tried to prevent Sulla receiving a state funeral or his body being buried in the Campus Martius. However, Pompey opposed this and ensured Sulla’s burial with honours. Pompey besieged a rebel force led by a Brutus at Mutina (Modena) in Gallia Cisalpina (in northern Italy). Lepidus went back to Rome with another force and demanded a second consulship. However, a letter from Pompey announced that he had brought the war to an end without a battle. Brutus surrendered, and Plutarch wrote that it was not known whether Brutus had betrayed his army or whether his army had gone over to Pompey. Brutus was given an escort and retired to a town by the River Po, but the next day he was apparently assassinated on Pompey’s orders. Pompey was blamed for this, because he had written that Brutus had surrendered of his own accord, and then wrote a second letter denouncing him after he had him murdered. Lepidus withdrew to Sardinia, where he fell ill and died, allegedly because he found out that his wife had had an affair.[20]

Sertorian War, Third Servile War and first consulship[edit source]

Modern bust of Pompey in the Residenz, Munich

Sertorian War[edit source]

Quintus Sertorius, a popularis, waged an effective guerrilla war against the officials of the Sullan regime in Hispania (Spain and Portugal) with the help of local tribes allied with him, particularly the Lusitanians and the Celtiberians, in what came to be called the Sertorian War (80 BC-72 BC). The guerrilla tactics of Sertorius had been wearing down Quintus Caecilius Metellus Pius, one of Sulla’s commanders, for three years. Pompey asked to be sent to reinforce Metellus. He had not disbanded his soldiers as he was supposed to. When the consul Quintus Lutatius Catulus ordered him to disband them he remained under arms near the city with various excuses until he was ordered to do so by the senate on a motion of Lucius Philippus. A senator asked Philippus if he “thought it necessary to send Pompey out as proconsul. ‘No indeed!’ said Philippus, ‘but as proconsuls,’ implying that both the consuls of that year were good for nothing.” Therefore, Pompey was sent to Hispania.[21] Pompey’s proconsular mandate was extra-legal, as a proconsulship was the extension of the military command (but not the public office) of a consul. Pompey, however, was not a consul and had never held public office. His career seems to have been driven by desire for military glory and disregard for traditional political constraints.[22]

On his way to Hispania, Pompey opened a new route through the Alps and subdued tribes that had rebelled in Gallia Narbonensis.[23][24] He remained in Hispania from 76 BC to 71 BC. Pompey’s arrival gave the men of Caecilius Metellus new hope and led to some local tribes, which were not tightly associated with Sertorius, changing sides. According to Appian, as soon as Pompey arrived, he marched to lift the siege of Lauron, here he suffered a substantial defeat at the hands of Sertorius himself, after the battle of Lauron Pompey was bottled up in his camp and could only sit and watch the enemy capture and burn the city.[25]Pompey spent the rest of 76 BC recovering from the defeat and preparing for the coming campaign. Lauron had been a blow to Pompey’s prestige.[26]

In 75 BC, Sertorius decided to take on Metellus while he left the battered Pompey to two of his legates (Perpenna and Herennius). In a battle near Valentia Pompey defeated Perpenna and Herennius.[27] Sertorius hearing of the defeat left Metellus to his second-in-command, Hirtuleius, and took over the command against Pompey. Metellus then promptly defeated Hirtuleius (see: the battle of Italica) and marched after Sertorius.[28] Pompey and Sertorius, both not wanting to wait for the arrival of Metellus, hastily engaged in the indecisive battle of Sucro. Pompey wanted the glory of finishing of Sertorius for himself and Sertorius did not relish fighting two armies at once. Sertorius defeated Afrianius, Pompey’s lieutenant, on the left wing. Pompey was having the better of his opponent on the right. Sertorius had to intervene there himself, he rallied his men, stopped their retreat and counterattacked. Pompey was seriously wounded in the thigh, lost his horse and had to flee on foot.[29] However, after Sertorius had left his right wing Afrianius routed it, and took Sertorius’ camp. Sertorius had to swing his troops round and come and save his camp, therefore he could not capitalize on his victory. The next day the two sides prepared for the continuation of the battle. However, Metellus approached and Sertorius had to withdraw. Soon after this Sertorius defeated Pompey near Seguntia. Pompey lost nearly 6,000 men and Sertorius half of that.[30] Memmius, his brother-in-law and the most capable of his commanders, also fell. Metellus defeated Perpenna, who lost 5,000 men. According to Appian the next day Sertorius attacked his camp unexpectedly, but he had to withdraw because Pompey was approaching.[30] According to Plutarch, instead, there was a battle and Metellus was struck by a spear. His men rallied and pushed the enemy back. Sertorius withdrew to Clunia, a mountain stronghold, and repaired its walls to lure the Romans into a siege and sent officers to collect troops from other towns. He then made a sortie, passed through the enemy lines and joined his new force. He resumed his guerrilla tactics and cut off the enemy’s supplies with widespread raids. Pirate tactics at sea disrupted maritime supplies. This forced the two Roman commanders to separate. Metellus went to Gaul. Pompey wintered among the Vaccaei and suffered shortages of supplies. When Pompey spent most of his private resources on the war he asked the senate for money, threatening to go back to Italy with his army if this was refused. The consul Lucius Licinius Lucullus, canvassing for the command of the Third Mithridatic War, believing that it would bring glory with little difficulty, fearing that Pompey would leave the Sertorian War to take on the Mithridatic one, ensured that the money was sent to keep Pompey.[31] So Pompey got his money and was stuck in Hispania until he could convincingly beat Sertorius. The “retreat” of Metellus made it seem like victory was further away then ever and led to the joke that Sertorius would be back in Rome before Pompey.[32]

In 73 BC, Rome sent two more legions to Metellus. He and Pompey then descended from the Pyrenees to the River Ebro. Sertorius and Perpenna advanced from Lusitania again. According to Plutarch many of the senators and other high ranking men who had joined Sertorius were jealous of their leader. This was encouraged by Perpenna who aspired to the chief command. They secretly sabotaged him and meted out severe punishments on the Hispanic allies, pretending that this was ordered by Sertorius. Revolts in the towns were further stirred up by these men. Sertorius killed some allies and sold others into slavery.[33] Appian wrote that many of Sertorius’ Roman soldiers defected to Metellus. Sertorius reacted with severe punishments and started using a bodyguard of Celtiberians instead of Romans. Moreover, he reproached his Roman soldiers for treachery. This aggrieved the soldiers because they felt that they were blamed for the desertion of other soldiers and because this was happening while they were serving under an enemy of the regime in Rome and therefore in a sense they were betraying their country through him. Moreover, the Celtiberians treated them with contempt as men under suspicion. These facts made Sertorius unpopular; only his skill at command kept his troops from deserting en masse. Metellus took advantage of his enemy’s poor morale, bringing many towns allied to Sertorius under subjection. Pompey besieged Palantia until Sertorius showed up to relieve the city. Pompey set fire to the city walls and retreated to Metellus. Sertorius rebuilt the wall and then attacked his enemies who were encamped around the castle of Calagurris. They lost 3000 men. In 72 BC, there were only skirmishes. However, Metellus and Pompey advanced on several towns. Some of them defected and some were attacked. Appian wrote that Sertorius fell unto ‘habits of luxury,’ drinking and consorting with women. He was defeated continually. He became hot-tempered, suspicious and cruel in punishment. Perpenna began to fear for his safety and conspired to murder Sertorius.[34] Plutarch, instead, thought that Perpenna was motivated by ambition. He had gone to Hispania with the remnants of the army of Lepidus in Sardinia and had wanted to fight this war independently to gain glory. He had joined Sertorius reluctantly because his troops wanted to do so when they heard that Pompey was coming to Hispania. He wanted to take over the supreme command.[35]

When Sertorius was murdered the formerly disaffected soldiers grieved for the loss of their commander whose bravery had been their salvation and were angry with Perpenna. The native troops, especially the Lusitanians, who had given Sertorius the greatest support, were angry, too. Perpenna responded with the carrot and the stick: he gave gifts, made promises and released some of the men Sertorius had imprisoned, while threatening others and killing some men to strike terror. He secured the obedience of his troops, but not their true loyalty. Metellus left the fight against Perpenna to Pompey. The two skirmished for nine days. Then, as Perpenna did not think that his men would remain loyal for long, he marched into battle but Pompey ambushed and defeated him. Frontinus wrote about the battle in his stratagems:

Pompey put troops here and there, in places where they could attack from ambush. Then, pretending fear, he pulled back drawing the enemy after him. Then, when he had the enemy exposed to the ambuscade, he wheeled his army about. He attacked, slaughtering the enemy to his front and on both flanks[36]

Pompey won against a poor commander and a disaffected army. Perpenna hid in a thicket, fearing his troops more than the enemy, and was eventually captured. Perpenna offered to produce letters to Sertorius from leading men in Rome who had invited Sertorius to Italy for seditious purposes. Pompey, fearing that this might lead to an even greater war, had Perpenna executed and burned the letters without even reading them.[37] Pompey remained in Hispania to quell the last disorders and settle affairs. He showed a talent for efficient organisation and fair administration in the conquered province. This extended his patronage throughout Hispania and into southern Gaul.[38] In 71 BC, Pompey returned to Italy with his army.

Third Servile War[edit source]

While Pompey was in Hispania the rebellion of the slaves led by Spartacus (the Third Servile War, 73–71 BC) broke out. Crassus was given eight legions and led the final phase of the war. He asked the senate to summon Lucullus and Pompey back from the Third Mithridatic War and Hispania respectively to provide reinforcements, “but he was sorry now that he had done so, and was eager to bring the war to an end before those generals came. He knew that the success would be ascribed to the one who came up with assistance, and not to himself.”[39] The senate decided to send Pompey who had just returned from Hispania. On hearing this, Crassus hurried to engage in the decisive battle, and routed the rebels. On his arrival, Pompey cut to pieces 6,000 fugitives from the battle. Pompey wrote to the senate that Crassus had conquered the rebels in a pitched battle, but that he himself had extirpated the war entirely.[40]

First consulship[edit source]

A Roman portrait of Crassus, Pompey’s political rival-turned-begrudging ally. Musée du Louvre, Paris

Pompey was granted a second triumph for his victory in Hispania, which, again, was extra-legal. He was asked to stand for the consulship, even though he was only 35 and thus below the age of eligibility to the consulship, and had not held any public office, much less climbed the cursus honorum (the progression from lower to higher offices). Livy noted that Pompey was made consul after a special senatorial decree, because he had not occupied the quaestorship and was an equestrian and did not have senatorial rank.[41] Plutarch wrote that “Crassus, the richest statesman of his time, the ablest speaker, and the greatest man, who looked down on Pompey and everybody else, had not the courage to sue for the consulship until he had asked the support of Pompey.” Pompey accepted gladly. In the Life of Pompey Plutarch wrote that Pompey “had long wanted an opportunity of doing him some service and kindness …”[42] In the Life of Crassus he wrote that Pompey “was desirous of having Crassus, in some way or other, always in debt to him for some favour.”[43] Pompey promoted his candidature and said in a speech that “he should be no less grateful to them for the colleague than for the office which he desired.”[44]

Plutarch wrote that in Rome Pompey was looked at with both fear and great expectations. About half of the people feared that he would not disband his army and that he would seize absolute power by arms and hand power to the Sullans. Pompey, instead, declared that he would disband his army after his triumph and then “there remained but one accusation for envious tongues to make, namely, that he devoted himself more to the people than to the senate…”[45] When Pompey and Crassus assumed office they did not remain friendly. In the Life of Crassus, Plutarch wrote that the two men differed on almost every measure, and by their contentiousness rendered their consulship “barren politically and without achievement, except that Crassus made a great sacrifice in honour of Hercules and gave the people a great feast and an allowance of grain for three months”.[46] Towards the end of their term of office, when the differences between the two men were increasing, a man declared that Jupiter told him, to “declare in public that you should not suffer your consuls to lay down their office until they become friends.” The people called for a reconciliation. Pompey did not react, but Crassus “clasped him by the hand” and said that it was not humiliating for him to take the first step of goodwill.[47]

Neither Plutarch nor Suetonius [48] wrote that the acrimony between Pompey and Crassus stemmed from Pompey’s claim about the defeat of Spartacus. Plutarch wrote that “Crassus, for all his self-approval, did not venture to ask for the major triumph, and it was thought ignoble and mean in him to celebrate even the minor triumph on foot, called the ovation (a minor victory celebration), for a servile war.”[49] According to Appian, however, there was a contention for honours between the two men—a reference to the fact that Pompey claimed that he had ended the slave rebellion led by Spartacus, whereas in actual fact Crassus had done so. In Appian’s account there was no disbanding of armies. The two commanders refused to disband their armies and kept them stationed near the city, as neither wanted to be the first to do so. Pompey said that he was waiting the return of Metellus for his Spanish triumph; Crassus said that Pompey ought to dismiss his army first. Initially, pleas from the people were of no avail, but eventually Crassus yielded and offered Pompey the handshake.[50]

Plutarch’s reference to Pompey’s “devot[ing] himself more to the people than to the senate” was related to a measure regarding the plebeian tribunes, the representatives of the plebeians. As part of the constitutional reforms Sulla carried out after his second civil war, he revoked the power of the tribunes to veto the senatus consulta (the written advice of the senate on bills, which was usually followed to the letter), and prohibited ex-tribunes from ever holding any other office. Ambitious young plebeians had sought election to this tribunate as a stepping stone for election to other offices and to climb up the cursus honorum. Therefore, the plebeian tribunate became a dead end for one’s political career. He also limited the ability of the plebeian council (the assembly of the plebeians) to enact bills by reintroducing the senatus auctoritas, a pronouncement of the senate on bills that, if negative, could invalidate them. The reforms reflected Sulla’s view of the hated plebeian tribunate as a source of subversion that roused the “rabble” (the plebeians) against the aristocracy. Naturally, these measures were unpopular among the plebeians, the majority of the population. Plutarch wrote that Pompey “had determined to restore the authority of the tribunate, which Sulla had overthrown, and to court the favour of the many” and commented that, “There was nothing on which the Roman people had more frantically set their affections, or for which they had a greater yearning, than to behold that office again.”[51]Through the repeal of Sulla’s measures against the plebeian tribunate Pompey gained the favour of the people.

In ‘The Life of Crassus’, Plutarch did not mention this repeal and, as mentioned above, he only wrote that Pompey and Crassus disagreed on everything and that as a result their consulship did not achieve anything. Yet, the restoration of tribunician powers was a highly significant measure and a turning point in the politics of the late Republic. This measure must have been opposed by the aristocracy and it would have been unlikely that it would have been passed if the two consuls had opposed each other. Crassus does not feature much in the writings of the ancient sources. Unfortunately, the books of Livy, otherwise the most detailed of the sources, which cover this period have been lost. However, the Periochae, a short summary of Livy’s work, records that “Marcus Crassus and Gnaeus Pompey were made consuls … and reconstituted the tribunician powers.”[52] Suetonius wrote that when Julius Caesar was a military tribune “he ardently supported the leaders in the attempt to re-establish the authority of the tribunes of the commons [the plebeians], the extent of which Sulla had curtailed.”[53] The two leaders must obviously have been the two consuls, Crassus and Pompey.

Campaign against the pirates[edit source]

A denarius of Pompey minted 49–48 BC

Piracy in the Mediterranean became a large-scale problem. A large network of pirates coordinated operations over wide areas with large fleets. According to Cassius Dio, many years of war contributed to this. Many war fugitives joined them. Pirates were more difficult to catch or break up than bandits. The pirates pillaged coastal fields and towns. Rome was affected through shortages of imports and the supply of grains, but the Romans did not pay proper attention to the problem. They sent out fleets when ‘they were stirred by individual reports’ and these did not achieve anything. Cassius Dio wrote that these operations caused greater distress for Rome’s allies. It was thought that a war against the pirates would be big and expensive and that it was impossible to attack all the pirates at once or to drive them back everywhere. As not much was done against them, some towns were turned into pirate winter quarters and raids further inland were carried out. Many pirates settled on land in various places and relied on an informal network of mutual assistance. Towns in Italy were also attacked, including Ostia, the port of Rome: ships were burnt and there was pillaging. The pirates seized important Romans and demanded large ransoms.[54]

Plutarch also linked the worsening of the piracy problem to war and did so in more specific terms. The Third Mithridatic War (73–63 BC) against king Mithridates VI of Pontus (in modern northern Turkey) played a part in giving the pirates boldness because piracy lent itself to Mithridates’ service. This suggested that Mithridates fostered piracy as a means to weaken the Romans. Plutarch also thought that with the civil wars in Rome the Romans left the sea unguarded, which gave the pirates the confidence to lay waste islands and coastal cities in addition to attacking ships at sea. Piracy spread from its original base in Cilicia (on the southern coast of modern Turkey). The pirates also seized and ransomed some towns. Men of distinction also got involved in piracy. Plutarch claimed that pirates had more than 1,000 ships, that they captured 400 towns and plundered temples in Greece and sacred and inviolable sanctuaries, listing fourteen of them. He cited the praetors Sextilius and Bellinus and the daughter of Antonius among the important Romans who were seized for a ransom. The pirates also mocked their captives if they were Romans. Piracy spread over the whole of the Mediterranean, making it unnavigable and closed to trade. This caused scarcity of provisions.[55]

Appian attributed the escalation of piracy to Mithridates plundering the Roman province of Asia extensively in 88 BC and the rest of the First Mithridatic War (89–85 BC). The destitute people who lost their livelihood became pirates. At first, they scoured the sea with a few small boats. As the war dragged on they became more numerous and used larger ships. When the war ended piracy continued. They sailed in squadrons. They besieged towns or took them by storm and plundered them. They kidnapped rich people for a ransom. The ragged part of the Cilician coast became their main area for anchorage and encampment and the Crags of Cilicia (the promontory of Coracesium) became their main base. It also attracted men from Pamphylia, Pontus, Cyprus, Syria and elsewhere in the east. There were quickly tens of thousands of pirates and they dominated the whole Mediterranean. They defeated some Roman naval commanders, even off the coast of Sicily. The sea became unsafe. This disrupted trade and some lands remained untilled, leading to food shortages and hunger in Rome. Eliminating such a scattered and large force from no particular country and of an intangible and lawless nature seemed a difficult task. In Appian’s opinion Lucius Licinius Murena and his successor Publius Servilius Vatia Isauricus (78–74 BC) did not accomplish anything against them.[56]

Cilicia had been a haven for pirates for a long time. It was divided into two parts, Cilicia Trachaea (Rugged Cilicia), a mountain area in the west, and Cilicia Pedias (flat Cilicia, in the east) by the Limonlu River. The first Roman campaign against the pirates was led by Marcus Antonius Orator in 102 BC. Parts of Cilicia Pedias became Roman territory. Only a small part of that area became a Roman province. Publius Servilius Vatia Isauricus was given the command of fighting piracy in Cilicia in 78–74 BC. He won several naval victories off Cilicia and occupied the coasts of nearby Lycia and Pamphylia. He received his agnomen of Isaurus because he defeated the Isauri who lived in the core of the Taurus Mountains, which bordered on Cilicia. He incorporated Isauria into the province of Cilicia Pedias. However, much of Cilicia Paedia belonged to the kingdom of Armenia. Cilicia Trachea was still under the control of the pirates.[57]

In 67 BC, three years after Pompey’s consulship, the plebeian tribune Aulus Gabinius proposed a law (Lex Gabinia) for choosing “…from among the ex-consuls a commander with full power against all the pirates.”[58] He was to have dominion over the waters of entire Mediterranean and up to fifty miles inland for three years. He was to be empowered to pick fifteen lieutenants from the senate and assign specific areas to them. He was allowed to have 200 ships, levy as many soldiers and oarsmen as he needed and collect as much money from the tax collectors and the public treasuries as he wished. The use of treasury in the plural might suggest power to raise funds from treasures of the allied Mediterranean states as well.[59] Such sweeping powers were not a problem because comparable extraordinary powers given to Marcus Antonius Creticus to fight piracy in Crete in 74 BC provided a precedent.[60] The optimates in the Senate remained suspicious of Pompey—this seemed yet another extraordinary appointment.[61] Cassius Dio claimed that Gabinius “had either been prompted by Pompey or wished in any case to do him a favour … and … He did not directly utter Pompey’s name, but it was easy to see that if once the populace should hear of any such proposition, they would choose him.”[62] Plutarch described Gabinius as one of Pompey’s intimates and claimed that he “drew up a law which gave him, not an admiralty, but an out-and‑out monarchy and irresponsible power over all men.”[59] Cassius Dio wrote that Gabinius’ bill was supported by everybody except the senate, which preferred the ravages of pirates rather than giving Pompey such great powers. The senators nearly killed Pompey. This outraged the people, who set upon the senators. They all ran away, except for the consul Gaius Piso, who was arrested. Gabinius had him freed. The optimates tried to persuade the other nine plebeian tribunes to oppose the bill. Only two, Trebellius and Roscius, agreed, but they were unable to do so. Pompey tried to appear as if he was forced to accept the command because of the jealousy that would be caused if he would lay claim to the post and the glory that came with it. Cassius Dio commented that Pompey was “always in the habit of pretending as far as possible not to desire the things he really wished.”[63] Trebellius tried to speak against the bill, but was not allowed to speak. Gabinius postponed the vote and introduced a motion to remove him from the tribunate, which passed. Roscius did not dare to speak, but suggested with a gesture that two commanders should be chosen. The people booed him loudly. The law was passed and the senate ratified it reluctantly.[64]

Plutarch did not mention Pompey being nearly killed. He gave details of the acrimony of the speeches against Pompey. One of the senators proposed that Pompey should be given a colleague. Only Caesar supported the law and in Plutarch’s view he did so “not because he cared in the least for Pompey, but because from the outset he sought to ingratiate himself with the people and win their support.” In his account the people did not attack the senators. Instead they shouted loudly. The assembly was dissolved. On the day of the vote Pompey withdrew to the countryside. The Lex Gabinia was passed. Pompey extracted further concessions and received 500 ships, 120,000 infantry, 5,000 cavalry and twenty-four lieutenants. With the prospect of a campaign against the pirates the prices of provisions fell. Pompey divided the sea and the coast into thirteen districts, each with a commander with his own forces.[65]

Appian gave the same number of infantry and cavalry, but the number of ships was 270. The lieutenants were twenty-five. He listed them and their areas of command as follows: Tiberius Nero and Manlius Torquatus: in command of Hispania and the Straits of Hercules (the Strait of Gibraltar); Marcus Pomponius: Gaul and Liguria; Gnaeus Cornelius Lentulus Marcellinus and Publius Atilius: Africa, Sardinia, Corsica; Lucius Gellius Publicola and Gnaeus Cornelius Lentulus Clodianus: Italy; Plotius Varus and Terentius Varro: Sicily and the Adriatic Sea as far as Acarnania; Lucius Sisenna: the Peloponnese, Attica, Euboea, Thessaly, Macedon, and Boeotia (mainland Greece); Lucius Lollius: the Greek islands, the Aegean sea, and the Hellespont; Publius Piso: Bithynia (the west of the northern coast of modern Turkey), Thrace (eastern Bulgaria), the Propontis (the Sea of Marmara) and the mouth of the Euxine (the Black Sea); Quintus Caecilius Metellus Nepos Iunior: Lycia, Pamphylia (both on the south coast of modern Turkey), Cyprus, and Phoenicia (Lebanon). Pompey made a tour of the whole. He cleared the western Mediterranean in forty days, proceeded to Brundisium (Brindisi) and cleared the eastern Mediterranean in the same amount of time.[66]

A tetradrachm of Tigranes II the Great of Armenia, minted at Antioch, 83–69 BC

In Plutarch’s account, Pompey’s scattered forces encompassed every pirate fleet they came across and brought them to port. The pirates escaped to Cilicia. Pompey attacked Cilicia with his sixty best ships; after that he cleared the Tyrrhenian Sea, Corsica, Sardinia, Sicily and the Libyan Sea in forty days with the help of his lieutenants. Meanwhile, the consul Piso sabotaged Pompey’s equipment and discharged his crews. Pompey went to Rome. The markets in Rome now were well stocked with provisions again and the people acclaimed Pompey. Piso was nearly stripped of his consulship, but Pompey prevented Aulus Gabinius from proposing a bill to this effect. He set sail again and reached Athens. He then defeated the Cilician pirates off the promontory of Coracesium. He then besieged them and they surrendered together with the islands and towns they controlled. The latter were fortified and difficult to take by storm. Pompey seized many ships. He spared the lives of 20,000 pirates. He resettled some of them in the city of Soli, which had recently been devastated by Tigranes the Great, the king of Armenia. Most were resettled in Dyme in Achaea, Greece, which was underpopulated and had plenty of good land. Some pirates were received by the half-deserted cities of Cilicia. Pompey thought that they would abandon their old ways and be softened by a change of place, new customs and a gentler way of life.[67]

In Appian’s account, Pompey went to Cilicia expecting to have to undertake sieges of rock-bound citadels. However, he did not have to. His reputation and the magnitude of his preparations provoked panic and the pirates surrendered, hoping to be treated leniently because of this. They gave up large quantities of weapons, ships and ship building materials. Pompey destroyed the material, took away the ships and sent some of the captured pirates back to their countries. He recognised that they had undertaken piracy due to the poverty caused by the mentioned war and settled many of them in Mallus, Adana Epiphania or any other uninhabited or thinly peopled town in Cilicia. He sent some to Dyme in Achaea. According to Appian, the war against the pirates lasted only a few days. Pompey captured 71 ships and 306 ships were surrendered. He seized 120 towns and fortresses and killed about 10,000 pirates in battles.[68]

In Cassius Dio’s brief account Pompey and his lieutenants patrolled ‘the whole stretch of sea that the pirates were troubling’, his fleet and his troops were irresistible both on sea and land. The leniency with which he treated the pirates who surrendered was ‘equally great’ and won over many pirates who went over to his side. Pompey ‘took care of them’ and gave them land which was empty or settled them in underpopulated towns so that they would not resort to crime due to poverty. Soli was among these cities. It was on the Cilician coast and had been sacked by Tigranes the Great. Pompey renamed it Pompeiopolis.[69]

Metellus, a relative of Quintus Caecilius Metellus Pius, with whom Pompey had fought in Hispania, had been sent to Crete, which was the second source of piracy before Pompey assumed command. He hemmed in and killed many pirates and besieged the remnants. The Cretans called on Pompey to come to Crete claiming that it was under his jurisdiction. Pompey wrote to Metellus to urge him to stop the war and sent one of his lieutenants, Lucius Octavius. The latter entered the besieged strongholds and fought with the pirates. Metellus persisted, captured and punished the pirates, and sent Octavius away after insulting him in front of the army.

Pompey in the East[edit source]

Third Mithridatic War, Syria and Judea[edit source]

Third Mithridatic War[edit source]

Main article: Third Mithridatic War

Pompey in the Temple of Jerusalem , a miniature by Jean Fouquet, 15th century

Lucius Licinius Lucullus was conducting the Third Mithridatic War (73–63 BC) against Mithridates VI the king of Pontus (on the eastern and central part of the north coast of Anatolia) and Tigranes the Great, the king of Armenia (in eastern Anatolia). He was successful in battle; however, the war was dragging on and he opened a new front. In Rome he was accused of protracting the war for ‘the love of power and wealth’ and of plundering royal palaces as if he had been sent, 'not to subdue the kings, but to strip them.’ Some of the soldiers were disgruntled and were incited by Publius Clodius Pulcher not to follow their commander. Commissioners were sent to investigate and the soldiers mocked Lucullus in front of the commission.[70] In 68 BC, the consul Quintus Marcius Rex was assigned Cilicia. He refused a request for aid from Lucullus because his soldiers refused to follow him to the front. According to Cassius Dio this was a pretext.[71] One of the consuls for 67 BC, Manius Acilius Glabrio, was appointed to succeed Lucullus. However, when Mithridates won back almost all his kingdom and caused havoc in Cappadocia, which was allied with Rome and had been left undefended, Glabrio did not go to the front, but delayed in Bithynia.[72]

Another plebeian tribune, Gaius Manilius, proposed the lex Manilia. It gave Pompey command of the forces and the areas of operation of Licinius Lucullus and in addition to this, Bithynia, which was held by Acilius Glabrio. It commissioned him to wage war on Mithridates and Tigranes. It allowed him to retain his naval force and his dominion over the sea granted by the lex Gabinia. Therefore, Phrygia, Lycaonia, Galatia, Cappadocia, Cilicia, Upper Colchis, Pontus and Armenia as well as the forces of Lucullus were added to his command. Plutarch noted that this meant the placing of Roman supremacy entirely in the hands of one man. The optimates were unhappy about so much power being given to Pompey and saw this as the establishment of a tyranny. They agreed to oppose the law, but they were fearful of the mood of the people. Only Catulus spoke up. The law was passed.[73] The law was supported by Julius Caesar and justified by Cicero in his extant speech Pro Lege Manilia .[74] Former consuls also supported the law. Cicero mentioned Gnaeus Cornelius Lentulus (consul in 72 BC), Gaius Cassius Longinus Varus (73 BC), Gaius Scribonius Curio (76 BC) and Publius Servilius Vatia Isauricus (79 BC).[75] According to Cassius Dio, while this was happening, Pompey was preparing to sail to Crete to face Metellus Creticus (see campaign against the pirates).[76] Lucullus was incensed at the prospect of his replacement by Pompey. The outgoing commander and his replacement traded insults. Lucullus called Pompey a “vulture” who fed from the work of others. Lucullus was referring not merely to Pompey’s new command against Mithridates, but also his claim to have finished the war against Spartacus.[77]

According to Cassius Dio, Pompey made friendly proposals to Mithridates to test his disposition. Mithridates tried to establish friendly relations with Phraates III, the king of Parthia. Pompey foresaw this, established a friendship with Phraates and persuaded him to invade the part of Armenia under Tigranes. Mithridates sent envoys to conclude a truce, but Pompey demanded that he lay down his arms and hand over the deserters. There was unrest among the scared deserters. They were joined by some of Mithridates’ men who feared having to fight without them. The king held them in check with difficulty and had to pretend that he was testing Pompey. Pompey, who was in Galatia, prepared for war. Lucullus met him and claimed that the war was over and that there was no need for an expedition. He failed to dissuade Pompey and verbally abused him. Pompey ignored him, forbade the soldiers to obey Lucullus and marched to the front.[78] In Appian’s account when the deserters heard about the demand to hand them back, Mithridates swore that he would not make peace with the Romans and that he would not give them up.[79]

The bust of Mithridates VI the Greatof Pontus in the Louvre, Paris

Cassius Dio wrote that Mithridates kept withdrawing because his forces were inferior. Pompey entered Lesser Armenia, which was not under Tigranes’ rule. Mithridates did the same and encamped on a mountain that was difficult to attack. He sent the cavalry down for skirmishes, which caused a large number of desertions. Pompey moved his camp to a wooded area for protection. He set up a successful ambush. When Pompey was joined by more Roman forces Mithridates fled to the ‘Armenia of Tigranes.’ In Plutarch’s version the location of the mountain is unspecified and Mithridates abandoned it because he thought that it had no water. Pompey took the mountain and had wells sunk. He then besieged Mithridates’ camp for 45 days. However, Mithridates managed to escape with his best men. Pompey caught up with him by the River Euphrates, lined up for battle to prevent him from crossing the river and advanced at midnight. He wanted to just surround the enemy camp to prevent an escape in the darkness, but his officers convinced him to charge. The Romans attacked with the moon at their back, confusing the enemy who, because of the shadows, thought that they were nearer. The enemy fled in panic and was cut down.[80][81]

In Cassius Dio this battle occurred when Mithridates entered a defile. The Romans hurled stones, arrows and javelins on the enemy, which was not in battle formation, from a height. When they ran out of missiles they charged those on the outside and those in the centre were crushed together. Most were horsemen and archers and they could not respond in the darkness. When the moon rose it was behind the Romans and this created shadows, causing confusion for the enemy. Many were killed, but many, including Mithridates, fled. He tried to go to Tigranes. Plutarch wrote that Tigranes forbade him from coming and put a reward on him. Cassius Dio did not mention a reward. He wrote that Tigranes arrested his envoys because he thought that Mithridates was responsible for a rebellion by his son. In both Plutarch and Cassius Dio Mithridates went to Colchis (on the south-eastern shore of the Black Sea). Cassius Dio added that Pompey had sent a detachment to pursue him, but he outstripped them by crossing the River Phasis. He reached the Maeotis (the Sea of Azov which is connected to the north shore of the Black Sea) and stayed in the Cimmerian Bosporus. He had his son Machares, who ruled it and had gone over to the Romans, killed and recovered that country. Meanwhile, Pompey set up a colony (settlement) for his soldiers at Nicopolitans in Cappadocia.[82][83]

In Appian’s account, Mithridates wintered at Dioscurias in Colchis, (in 66/65 BC). He intended to travel around the Black Sea, reach the strait of the Bosporus and attack the Romans from the European side while they were in Asia Minor. He also wanted to seize the kingdom of Machares, ruled by his son who had gone over to the Romans. He crossed the territory of the Scythian tribes (partly by permission, partly by force) and the Heniochi, who welcomed him. He reached the Sea of Azov country, where made alliances with its many princes. He contemplated marching through Thrace, Macedonia and Pannonia and crossing the Alpsinto Italy. He gave some of his daughters in marriage to the more powerful Scythian princes. Machares sent envoys to say he had made terms with the Romans out of necessity. He then he fled to the Pontic Chersonesus, burning the ships to prevent Mithridates from pursuing him. However, his father found other ships and sent them after him. Machares killed himself.[84]

In Appian, at this stage Pompey pursued Mithridates as far as Colchis and then marched against Armenia. In the accounts of Plutarch and Cassious Dio, instead, he went to Armenia first and to Colchis later. In Appian, Pompey thought that his enemy would never reach the sea of Azov or do much if he escaped. His advance was more of an exploration of that country, which was the place of the legends of the Argonauts, Heracles, and Prometheus. He was accompanied by the neighbouring tribes. Only Oroeses, the king of the Caucasian Albanians, and Artoces, the king of the Caucasian Iberians, resisted him. Learning of an ambush planned by Oroeses, Pompey defeated him at the Battle of the Abas, driving the enemy into a forest and setting it on fire. He then pursued the fugitives who ran out until they surrendered and brought him hostages. He then marched against Armenia.[85]

In Plutarch’s account Pompey was invited to invade Armenia by Tigranes’ son (also named Tigranes), who rebelled against his father. The two men received the submission of several towns. When they got close to Artaxata (the royal residence) Tigranes, knowing Pompey’s leniency, surrendered and allowed a Roman garrison in his palace. He went to Pompey’s camp, where Pompey offered the restitution of the Armenian territories in Syria, Phoenicia, Cilicia, Galatia, and Sophene, which Lucullus had taken. He demanded an indemnity and ruled that the son should be king of Sophene. Tigranes accepted. His son was not happy with the deal and remonstrated. He was put in chains and reserved for Pompey’s triumph. Soon after this Phraates III, the king of Parthia asked to be given the son in exchange for an agreement to set the River Euphrates as the boundary between Parthia and Rome. Pompey refused.[86] In the version of Cassius Dio the son of Tigranes fled to Phraates. He persuaded the latter, who had a treaty with Pompey to invade Armenia and fight his father. The two reached Artaxata, causing Tigranes to flee to the mountains. Phraates then went back to his land, and Tigranes counterattacked, defeating his son. The younger Tigranes fled and at first wanted to go to Mithridates. However, since Mithridates had been defeated, he went over to the Romans and Pompey used him as a guide to advance into Armenia. When they reached Artaxata, the elder Tigranes surrendered the city and went voluntarily to Pompey’s camp. The next day Pompey heard the claims of father and son. He restored the hereditary domains of the father, but took the land he had invaded later (parts of Cappadocia, and Syria, as well as Phoenicia and Sophene) and demanded an indemnity. He assigned Sophene to the son. This was the area where the treasures were, and the son began a dispute over them. He did not obtain satisfaction and planned to escape. Pompey put him in chains. The treasures went to the old king, who received far more money than had been agreed.[87]

Appian gave an explanation for the young Tigranes turning against his father. Tigranes killed two of his three sons. He killed one in battle when he was fighting him. He killed another while hunting because instead of helping him when he was thrown off his horse, he put a diadem on his head. Following this incident, he gave the crown to the third son, Tigranes. However, the latter was distressed about the incident and waged war against his father. He was defeated and fled to Phraates. Because of all this, Tigranes did not want to fight any more when Pompey got near Artaxata. The young Tigranes took refuge with Pompey as a suppliant with the approval of Phraates, who wanted Pompey’s friendship. The elder Tigranes submitted his affairs to Pompey’s decision and made complaint against his son. Pompey called him for a meeting. He gave 6,000 talents for Pompey, 10,000 drachmas for each tribune, 1,000 for each centurion, and fifty for each soldier. Pompey pardoned him and reconciled him with his son. In Appian’s account, Pompey gave the latter both Sophene and Gordyene. The father was left with the rest of Armenia and was ordered to give up the territory he has seized in the war: Syria west of the River Euphrates and part of Cilicia. Armenian deserters persuaded the younger Tigranes to make an attempt on his father. Pompey arrested and chained him. He then founded a city in Lesser Armenia where he had defeated Mithridates. He called it Nicopolis (City of Victory).[88]

In Appian’s account, after Armenia Pompey (still in 64 BC) turned west, crossed Mount Taurus and fought Antiochus I Theos,the king of Commagene until he made an alliance with him. He then fought Darius the Mede and put him to flight. This was because he had ‘helped Antiochus, or Tigranes before him’.[89] According to Plutarch and Cassius Dio, instead, it was at this point that Pompey turned north. The two writers provided different accounts of Pompey’s operations in the territories on the Caucasus Mountains and Colchis (on the southern shore of the Black Sea). He fought in Caucasian Iberia (inland and to the south of Colchis) and Caucasian Albania (or Arran, roughly corresponding with modern Azerbaijan) (see Pompey’s Georgian campaign).

In Plutarch the Albanians at first granted Pompey free passage, but in the winter they advanced on the Romans who were celebrating the festival of the Saturnalia with 40,000 men. Pompey let them cross the river Cyrnus and then attacked them and routed them. Their king begged for mercy and Pompey pardoned him. He then marched on the Iberians, who were allies of Mithridates. He routed them, killing 9,000 of them and taking 10,000 prisoners. Then he invaded Colchis and reached Phasis on the Black Sea, where he was met by Servilius, the admiral of his Euxine (Black Sea) fleet. However, he encountered difficulties there and the Albanians revolted again. Pompey turned back. He had to cross a river whose banks had been fenced off, made a long march through a waterless area and defeated a force of 60,000 badly-armed infantry and 12,000 cavalry led by the king’s brother. He pushed north again, but turned back south because he encountered a great number of snakes.[90]

In Cassius Dio, Pompey wintered near the River Cyrnus. Oroeses, the king of the Albanians, who lived beyond this river, attacked the Romans during the winter, partly to favour the younger Tigranes, who was a friend, and partly because he feared an invasion. He was defeated and Pompey agreed to his request for a truce even though he wanted to invade their country. He wanted to postpone the war until after the winter. In 65 BC, Artoces, the king of the Iberians, who also feared an invasion, prepared to attack the Romans. Pompey learnt of this and invaded his territory, catching him unawares. He seized an impregnable frontier pass and got close to a fortress in the narrowest point of the River Cyrnus. Artoces had no chance to array his forces. He withdrew, crossed the river and burned the bridge. The fortress surrendered. When Pompey was about to cross the river Artoces sued for peace. However, he then fled to the river. Pompey pursued him, routed his forces and hunted down the fugitives. Artoces fled across the River Pelorus and made overtures, but Pompey would agree to terms only if he sent his children as hostages. Artoces delayed, but when the Romans crossed the Pelorus in the summer he handed over his children and concluded a treaty. Pompey moved on to Colchis and wanted to march to the Cimmerian Bosporus against Mithridates. However, he realised that he would have to confront unknown hostile tribes and that a sea journey would be difficult because of a lack of harbours. Therefore, he ordered his fleet to blockade Mithridates and turned on the Albanians. He went to Armenia first to catch them off guard and then crossed the River Cyrnus. He heard that Oroeses was coming close and wanted to lead him into a conflict. At the Battle of the Abas, he hid his infantry and got the cavalry to go ahead. When the cavalry was attacked by Oroeses it withdrew towards the infantry, which then engaged. It let the cavalry through its ranks. Some of the enemy forces, which were in hot pursuit, also ended up through their ranks and were killed. The rest were surrounded and routed. Pompey then overran the country. He then granted peace to the Albanians and concluded truces with other tribes on the northern side of the Caucasus.[91]

Pompey withdrew to Lesser Armenia. He sent a force under Afrianius against Phraates, who was plundering the subjects of Tigranes in Gordyene. Afrianius drove him out and pursued him as far as the area of Arbela, in northern Mesopotamia.[92] Cassius Dio gave more details. Phraates renewed the treaty with Pompey because of his success and because of the progress of his lieutenants. They were subduing Armenia and the adjacent part of Pontus and in the south Afrianius was advancing to the River Tigris; that is, towards Parthia. Pompey demanded the cession of Corduene, which Phraates was disputing with Tigranes and sent Afrianius there, who occupied it unopposed and handed it to Tigranes before receiving a reply from Phraates. Afrianius also returned to Syria through Mesopotamia (a Parthian area) contrary to the Roman-Parthian agreements. Pompey treated Phraates with contempt. Phraates sent envoys to complain about the suffered wrongs. In 64 BC, when he did not receive a conciliatory reply, Phraates attacked Tigranes, accompanied by the son of the latter. He lost a first battle, but won another. Tigranes asked Pompey for help. Phraates brought many charges against Tigranes and many insinuations against the Romans. Pompey did not help Tigranes, stopped being hostile to Phraates and sent three envoys to arbitrate the border dispute. Tigranes, angry about not receiving help, reconciled with Phraates in order not to strengthen the position of the Romans.[93]

Stratonice, the fourth wife of Mithridates, surrendered Caenum, one of the most important fortresses of the king. Pompey also received gifts from the king of the Iberians. He then moved from Caenum to Amisus (modern Samsun, on the north coast of Anatolia). Pompey then decided to move south because it was too difficult to try to reach Mithridates in the Cimmerian Bosporus and thus he did not want to ‘wear out his own strength in a vain pursuit.’ He was content with preventing merchant ships reaching the Cimmerian Bosporus through his blockade and preferred other pursuits. He sent Afrianius to subdue the Arabs around the Amanus Mountains (in what was then on the coast of northern Syria). He went to Syria with his army. He annexed Syria because it had no legitimate kings. He spent most of his time settling disputes between cities and kings or sending envoys to do so. He gained prestige as much for his clemency as for his power. By being helpful to those who had dealings with him, he made them willing to put up with the rapacity of his friends and was thus able to hide this. The king of the Arabians at Petra (Aretas III of Nabataea) wanted to become a friend of Rome. Pompey marched towards Petra to confirm him. Pompey was criticised because this was seen as an evasion of the pursuit of Mithridates and was urged to turn against him. There were reports that Mithridates was preparing to march on Italy via the River Danube. Pompey was lucky because while he was encamped near Petra a messenger brought the news that Mithridates was dead. Pompey left Arabia and went to Amisus (Samsun), on the north coast of Anatolia.[94] Cassius Dio wrote that ‘Pompey arbitrated disputes and managed other business for kings and potentates who came to him. He confirmed some in possession of their kingdoms, added to the principalities of others, and curtailed and humbled the excessive powers of a few.’ He united Coele-Syria and Phoenicia (Lebanon), which had been ravaged by the Arabians and Tigranes.[95] Antiochus XIII Philadelphus (one of the last rulers of Syria) asked for them back to no avail. Pompey put them under Roman jurisdiction.[96]

Cassius Dio also mentioned that Mithridates planned to reach the River Danube and invade Italy. However, he was ageing and becoming weaker. As his position became weaker and that of the Romans stronger some of his associates became estranged. A massive earthquake destroyed many towns. There was a mutiny by the soldiers. Some of his sons were kidnapped and taken to Pompey. He became unpopular. Mithridates was mistrustful and had his wives and some of his remaining children killed. One of them, Pharnaces II, plotted against him. He won over both the men who were sent to arrest him and then the soldiers who were sent against him. in 64 BC, he obtained the voluntary submission of Panticapaeum, the city where Mithridates was staying. Mithridates tried to poison himself, but failed because he was immune due to taking ‘precautionary antidotes in large doses every day.’ He was killed by the rebels. Pharnaces embalmed his body and sent it to Pompey as proof of his surrender. He was granted the kingdom of Bosporus and listed as an ally.[97]

Syria[edit source]

Syria had once been the heart of the vast Seleucid Empire, which had become increasingly unstable after the death of Antiochus IV in 164 BC. Continuous civil wars made central authority weak. By 163 BC, the Maccabean Revolt established the independence of Judea. The Parthians of Persia gained control of the Iranian Plateau. In 139 BC, they defeated the Seleucid king Demetrius II, and took Babylon from the Seleucids. The following year they captured the king. His brother Antiochus VIIgained the support of the Maccabees, regained the submission of the once vassal kingdoms of Cappadocia and Armenia, drove back the Parthians and retook Mesopotamia, Babylon, and Media. However, he was killed in battle and the Seleucids lost all of these gains. By 100 BC, the Seleucid Empire was reduced to a few cities in western Syria. It was still riddled with king makers and civil wars. It survived only because none of its neighbours took it over. In 83 BC Tigranes the Great of Armenia invaded Syria, invited by a faction in one of the civil wars, and virtually ended Seleucid rule. When Lucius Licinius Lucullus defeated Tigranes in the Third Mithridatic War in 69 BC, a rump Seleucid kingdom was restored. However, the civil war continued.

Pompey was concerned about political instability to the south of Armenia, both in Syria and in Judea. In Syria the Seleucid state was disintegrating. In Judea there was a civil war. We know about Pompey’s actions in Syria and Judea through the work of Josephus, the ancient Jewish-Roman historian. In 65 BC, Pompey sent two of his lieutenants, Metellus and Lollius, to Syria to take possession of Damascus. In 63 BC, Pompey went to Damascus. He was met by ambassadors from Syria, Egypt and Judea. He undertook an expedition, during which he destroyed Apameia and took over the country of Ptolemy Mennaeus. Ptolemy Mennaeus was the ruler of Calchis (Qinnasrin, in northern Syria) and Iturea (a region north of Galilee). He had extended his domain by war, took over areas of the coast of Phoenicia and threatened Damascus. The Itureans had seized Galilee from Judea in 103 BC.[98] He was hated in Syria, Phoenicia and Judea. However, Pompey let him escape punishment in exchange for a large sum of money, which he used to pay his soldiers. He then took Lysias (which was under a Jewish tyrant), Heliopolis (Baalbek, in eastern Lebanon) and Chalcis, crossed the Anti-Lebanon Mountains, took Pella (in the River Jordan Rift Valley) and reached Damascus. This completed the takeover of Syria.[99]

Judea[edit source]

Judea (shown in blue) under Hyrcanus II in 63 BCE. Judea had been reduced to a small vassal as pompey annexed the north for Rome (shown in red).

A conflict between the brothers Aristobulus II and Hyrcanus II over the succession to the Hasmonean throne began in Judea in 69 BC. Aristobulus deposed Hyrcanus. Then Antipater the Idumaeanbecame the adviser of weak-willed Hyrcanus and persuaded him to contend for the throne. He advised him to escape to Aretas III, the king of the Arabian Nabataean Kingdom. Hyrcanus promised Aretas that if he restored him to the throne he would give him back twelve cities his father had taken from him. Aretas besieged Aristobulus in the Temple in Jerusalem for eight months (66–65 BC). The people supported Hyrcanus and only the priests supported Aristobulus. Meanwhile, Pompey, who was fighting Tigranes the Great in Armenia, sent Marcus Aemilius Scaurus (who was a quaestor) to Syria. Since two of Pompey’s lieutenants, Metellus and Lollius, had already taken Damascus, Scaurus proceeded to Judea. The ambassadors of Aristobulus and Hyrcanus asked for his help. Both offered Scaurus bribes and promises. He sided with Aristobulus because he was rich and because it was easier to expel the Nabateans, who were not very warlike, than to capture Jerusalem. He ordered Aretas to leave and said that if he did not he would be an enemy of Rome. Aretas withdrew. Aristobulus gathered an army, pursued him and defeated him. Scaurus returned to Syria.[100]

When Pompey went to Syria he was visited by ambassadors from Syria and Egypt. Aristobulus sent him a very expensive golden vine. A little later, ambassadors from Hyrcanus and Aristobulus went to see him. The former claimed that first Aulus Gabinius and then Scaurus had taken bribes. Pompey decided to arbitrate the dispute later, at the beginning of spring, and marched to Damascus. There he heard the cases of Hyrcanus, Aristobulus and those who did not want a monarchy and wanted to return to the tradition of being under the high priest. Hyrcanus claimed that he was the rightful king as the elder brother and that he had been usurped. He accused Aristobulus of making incursions in nearby countries and being responsible for piracy at sea and that this caused a revolt. Aristobulus claimed that Hyrcanus’s indolence had caused him to be deposed, and that he took power lest others seize it. Pompey reproached Aristobulus for his violence, and told the men to wait for him. He would settle the matter after dealing with the Nabataeans. However, Aristobulus went to Judea. This angered Pompey who marched on Judea and went to the fortress of Alexandreium, where Aristobulus fled to.[101]

Aristobulus went to talk to Pompey and returned to the fortress three times to pretend he was complying with him. He intended to wear him down and prepare for war should he rule against him. When Pompey ordered him to surrender the fortress, Aristobulus did give it up, but he withdrew to Jerusalem and prepared for war. While Pompey was marching on Jerusalem he was informed about the death of Mithridates. Pompey encamped at Jericho. Aristobulus went to see him, promised to give him money and received him into Jerusalem. Pompey forgave him and sent Aulus Gabinius with soldiers to receive the money and the city. The soldiers of Aristobulus did not let them in. Pompey arrested Aristobulus and entered Jerusalem. The pro-Aristobulus faction went to the Temple and prepared for a siege. The rest of the inhabitants opened the city gates. Pompey sent in an army led by Piso and placed garrisons in the city and at the palace. The enemy refused to negotiate. Pompey built a wall around the area of the Temple and encamped inside this wall. However, the temple was well fortified and there was a deep valley around it. The Romans built a ramp and brought siege engines and battering rams from Tyre.[102]

Pompey took advantage of the enemy celebrating the Sabbath to deploy his battering rams. Jewish law did not allow the Jews to meddle with the enemy if they were not attacking them on the day of the Sabbath. Therefore, the defenders of the Temple did not counter the deployment of the battering rams by the Romans, which on the other days of the week they had successfully prevented. The next day the wall of the Temple was broken through and the soldiers went on the rampage.[103] According to Josephus 12,000 Jews fell. Josephus wrote, “No small enormities were committed about the temple itself, which, in former ages, had been inaccessible, and seen by none; for Pompey went into it, and not a few of those that were with him also, and saw all that which it was unlawful for any other men to see but only for the high priests. There were in that temple the golden table, the holy candlestick, and the pouring vessels, and a great quantity of spices; and besides these there were among the treasures two thousand talents of sacred money: yet did Pompey touch nothing of all this, on account of his regard to religion; and in this point also he acted in a manner that was worthy of his virtue.” The next day he ordered the men in charge of the Temple to purify it and to bring offerings to God as Jewish law required. Pompey restored Hyrcanus to the high priesthood “both because he had been useful to him in other respects, and because he hindered the Jews in the country from giving Aristobulus any assistance in his war against him.”[104]

Pompey returned the Syrian cities the Jews had conquered to Syrian rule, thus bringing Judea back to its original territory. He rebuilt the city of Garara and restored seven inland cities and four coastal ones to its inhabitants. He made Jerusalem a tributary of Rome and made Judea a satellite of Syria. He put Marcus Aemilius Scaurus in charge of Syria “as far as the river Euphrates and Egypt” with two Roman legions. According to Josephus Pompey then went to Cilicia, taking Aristobulus and his children with him, and after this he returned to Rome.[105] This contrasts with the account of Plutarch. The latter did not mention any action in Judea. He wrote that Pompey marched on Petra (the capital of the Kingdom of Nabataea) to confirm Aretas, who wanted to become a friend of Rome. It was while he was encamped near Petra that he was told that Mithridates was dead. He then left Arabia and went to Amisus (Samsun), in Pontus, on the north coast of Anatolia (see above).[106] Josephus did write that Pompey marched on Nabataea, but did not mention the reason for this. However, he also marched to Judea to deal with Aristobulus. He did not mention whether he actually reached Petra before turning to Judea. He learned of the death of Mithridates when he was marching towards Jerusalem. When he completed matters in Judea he went to Cilicia instead of Amisus. Cassius Dio gave a brief account of Pompey’s campaign in Judea and wrote that after this he went to Pontus, which fits with Plutarch writing that he went to Amisus.[107]

Strabo in his Geographica gives a short account of Pompey’s siege of the temple, in line with the account of Josephus.

Josephus wrote that after his siege of the Temple in Jerusalem, Pompey gave the governorship of Syria (for 62 BC) as far as the River Euphrates and Egypt to Marcus Aemilius Scaurus, giving him two legions. Scaurus made an expedition against Petra, in Arabian Nabataea. He burned the settlements around it because it was difficult to gain access to it. His army suffered hunger. Hyrcanus ordered Antipater to supply grain and other provisions from Judea.[108] Josephus did not give an explanation of the actions of Scaurus. It probably had to do with the security of the Decapolis (see below). Josephus also wrote:

“Now the occasions of this misery which came upon Jerusalem were Hyrcanus and Aristobulus, by raising a sedition one against the other; for now we lost our liberty, and became subject to the Romans, and were deprived of that country which we had gained by our arms from the Syrians, and were compelled to restore it to the Syrians. Moreover, the Romans exacted of us, in a little time, above ten thousand talents; and the royal authority, which was a dignity formerly bestowed on those that were high priests, by the right of their family, became the property of private men.” (Josephus, Jewish Antiquities, 14.4.77-78)

Pompey’s settlements in the East[edit source]

A modern bust of Pompey, restored in the 17th century with a black marble base, Vaux-le-Vicomte, France

Pompey set out to liberate a number of Hellenised towns from their rulers. He joined seven towns east of the River Jordan that had been under the Hasmoneans of Judea, plus Damascus, into a league. Philadelphia (today’s Amman), which had been under Nabataea, also joined the league, which was called the Decapolis (Ten Cities). They were mostly in Transjordan (now part of Jordan) and around the east of the Sea of Galilee, part of which extended into Syria. It seems that Pompey organized the league as a means of preserving the sovereignty of the city-states. Although he put them under the protection of the Roman province of Syria, each city-state was autonomous. It is thought that it was not organised as a political unit and that the cities cooperated on economic and security matters. Josephus mentioned five of these cities as being taken away from the Hasmoneans and restored to their inhabitants (i.e., they were given self-government). He also mentioned cities in Judea and Samaria, Azotus (Ashdod), Jamneia (Yavne), Joppa (Jaffa), Dora (Tel Dor, now an archaeological site), Marissa (or Tel Maresha) and Samaria (now an archaeological site). He also mentioned Strato’s Tower (later called Caesarea Maritima), Arethusa (now replaced by Al-Rastan) in Syria, and the city of Gaza as being restored to their peoples. Two other towns near Gaza, Anthedon (now an archaeological site) and Raphia (Rafah) and another inland town Adora (Dura, near Hebron) were also restored.[109]

The liberation of the cities was symbolised by the adoption of the Pompeian era, which made it comparable to a new foundation. This calendar counted the years from 63 BC, the year when self-government started. Damascus continued to use the Seleucid era. A number of the cities in Judea and Galilee also adopted the Pompeian era. Several of the towns had been damaged during Hasmonean rule, but the damage was not extensive and reconstruction was completed by the time of the governorship in Syria of Aulus Gabinius in 57 BC. Gaza and Raphia adopted the Pompeian era when reconstruction was completed, in 61 BC and in 57 BC respectively. The town of Samaria adopted the appellation of Gabinian, presumably because reconstruction there was finished under the governorship of Gabinius. The towns also experienced repopulation. Some of the exiles returned home and probably new settlers for the nearby areas and Hellenized Syrians were sometimes brought in. A distinction between citizens of the polis and natives was restored. Jews were not counted as citizens because of religion, and were probably deported or saw their property confiscated in revenge, with some probably becoming tenants of Hellenized landowners. Such developments increased the long-standing hostility between Jews and Hellenized people.[110]

Besides annexing Syria and turning Judea into a client kingdom and a satellite of Syria, Pompey annexed the coastal strip in the western part of the Kingdom of Pontus and merged it with Bithynia, turning both into the Roman province of Bithynia et Pontius. The kingdom of Bithynia had been bequeathed to Rome by its last king, Nicomedes IV, in 74 BC, triggering the Third Mithridatic War. During this war it was not formally annexed. The territories Mithridates had conquered, apart for Lesser Armenia, became client states. The eastern coast and the interior of Pontus plus the Bosporan Kingdombecame client kingdoms under Pharnaces II of Pontus, the son of Mithridates who had rebelled against his father and gone over to the Romans. Pompey installed Aristarchus as a client ruler in Colchis. He gave Lesser Armenia to Galatia under the Roman client king Deiotarus as a reward for his loyalty to Rome.

Pompey greatly expanded the province of Cilicia along the coast (adding Pamphylia to its west) and inland. He reorganized it into six parts: Cilicia Aspera, Cilicia Campestris, Pamphylia, Pisidia (north of Pamphylia), Isauria (east of Pisidia), Lycaonia (north of Cilicia Trachea) and the greater part of Phrygia (north of Pisidia and Isauria). He left Tarcondimotus I in control of Anazarbos and Mount Amanus, to the east of Cilicia Campestris. Tarcondimotus and his son and successor (Tarcondimotus II) were loyal allies of Rome.

As noted above, ancient Cilicia was divided into Cilicia Trachea (Rugged Cilicia, a rugged mountainous area along the Taurus Mountains in the west) and Cilicia Pedias (Flat Cilicia, in the east) by the River Limonlu. Cilicia had been made the military operational area of Marcus Antonius Orator for his 102 BC campaign against the pirates. A small part of Cilicia Pedias became Roman territory. It was made the military operational area for the 78–74 BC campaign of Publius Servilius Vatia Isauricus. However, Cilicia was not actually part of this, and he campaigned in eastern Lycia and Pamphylia. He incorporated the territories he subdued in those two areas in the province of Cilicia. However, Cilicia Trachea was still held by the pirates, and most of Cilicia Pedias belonged to Tigranes the Great of Armenia. This area of Anatolia came truly under Roman control after Pompey’s victories.

In 66 BC, following Quintus Caecilius Metellus Creticus’ campaigns there (69–67 BC), Crete was annexed as a Roman province. Livy wrote: “Having subdued the Cretans, Quintus Metellus gave laws to their island, which had until then been independent.”[111]

Return to Rome and third triumph[edit source]

Pompey went back to Amisus (Samsun). Here he found many gifts from Pharnaces and many dead bodies of the royal family, including that of Mithridates. Pompey could not look at Mithridates’ body and sent it to Sinope. He then travelled in greater pomp. On his way to Italy he went to Mytilene on the island of Lesbos. He decided to build a theatre in Rome modelled on that of this city. In Rhodes he listened to the sophist philosophers and gave them money. He also gave rewards to philosophers in Athens and gave the city money towards its restoration (it had been damaged by Lucius Cornelius Sulla during the First Mithridatic War). In Rome there were rumours that Pompey would march his army against the city and establish a monarchy. Crassus secretly left with his children and money. Plutarch thought that it was more likely he did this because he wanted to give credibility to the rumours rather than through genuine fear. However, Pompey disbanded his army when he landed in Italy. He was cheered by the inhabitants of the cities he passed on his way to Rome and many people joined him. Plutarch remarked that he arrived in Rome with such a large crowd that he would not have needed an army for a revolution.[112]

18th century depiction of the third triumph

In the Senate Pompey was probably equally admired and feared. On the streets he was as popular as ever. His eastern victories earned him his third triumph, which he celebrated on his 45th birthday in 61 BC,[113] seven months after his return to Italy. Plutarch wrote that it surpassed all previous triumphs. It took place over an unprecedented two days. Much of what had been prepared would not find a place and would have been enough for another procession. Inscriptions carried in front of the procession indicated the nations he defeated (the Kingdom of Pontus, Armenia, Cappadocia, Paphlagonia, Media, Colchis, Caucasian Iberia, Caucasian Albania, Syria, Cilicia, Mesopotamia, Phoenicia, Judaea and Nabataea) and claimed that 900 cities, 1,000 strongholds. 800 pirate ships and 1,000 pirates were captured and that 39 cities were founded. Some also claimed that his conquests were adding 85 million drachmas to the 30 million drachmas of the public revenues from taxes[114] and that he brought 20,000 drachmas in silver and gold. The captives led in the triumph were the leaders of the pirates, the son of Tigranes the Great with his wife and daughter, a wife of Tigranes the Great, a sister and five children of Mithridates VI, Aristobulus II, the king of the Jews, and hostages from the Caucasian Albanians, the Caucasian Iberians and the king of Commagene.[115]

Appian gave the names of the paraded children of Mithridates VI. They were the sons Artaphernes, Cyrus, Oxathres, Darius, and Xerxes, and the daughters Orsabaris and Eupatra. He specified that there were three Iberian chiefs and two Albanian ones. Olthaces, the chief of the Colchians, the tyrants of the Cilicians, the female rulers of the Scythians and Menander the Laodicean, the commander of Mithridates’ cavalry, were also paraded . In total, 324 people were paraded. The procession included images of Tigranes and Mithridates, who were not present, and the sons and daughters of Mithridates who had died. The image of Mithridates was made of gold and was four metre high. There was a tablet with the inscription “Ships with brazen beaks captured, 800; cities founded in Cappadocia, 8; in Cilicia and Coele Syria, 20; in Palestine the one which is now Seleucis. Kings conquered: Tigranes the Armenian, Artoces the Iberian, Oroezes the Albanian, Darius the Mede, Aretas the Nabataean, Antiochus of Commagene.” There were two-horse carriages and litters laden with gold or ornaments, including the couch of Darius, the son of Hystaspes, the throne and scepter of Mithridates. There were 75,100,000 drachmas of silver coin and 700 ships were brought to the port. Appian also related that “Pompey himself was borne in a chariot studded with gems, wearing, it is said, the cloak of Alexander the Great, if anyone can believe that. It seems to have been found among the possessions of Mithridates that the inhabitants of Kos had received from Cleopatra VII of Egypt.”[116]

Pliny the Elder wrote that Pompey displayed “a chess-board made of two precious stones, three feet in width by two in length … and remarked that his displays were … more the triumph of luxury than the triumph of conquest.”[117] Plutarch wrote, “That which most enhanced his glory and had never been the lot of any Roman before, was that he celebrated his third triumph over the third continent.”[118] His triumphs were for victories in Africa, Hispania and Asia. Only Scipio Aemilianus had celebrated triumphs for victories in two continents (in Africa and Hispania). Cassius Dio wrote that Pompey displayed his “trophies beautifully decked out to represent each of his achievements, even the smallest; and after them all came one huge one, decked out in costly fashion and bearing an inscription stating that it was a trophy of the inhabited world.” He also noted that he did not add any title to his name as he was happy with his appellation as Magnus (The Great) and that he did not contrive to receive any other honour.[119]

First Triumvirate[edit source]

Main article: First Triumvirate

From left to right: Julius Caesar, Marcus Licinius Crassus, and Pompey the Great

When Pompey returned to Rome from the Third Mithridatic War, he asked the Roman senate to ratify the acts of his settlements with the cities, kings and princes in the east en bloc. This was opposed by the senators, particularly the optimates, who were suspicious of the power Pompey had acquired with the lex Gabinia and the lex Manilia and the popularity he gained with his military successes. They saw him as a threat to the supremacy of the senate and as a potential tyrant. In 60 BC, the optimates, not for the first time, also defeated a bill that would have distributed farm land to Pompey’s veterans, and to landless urban poor of Rome, who relied on a grain dole distributed by the state to survive. The consul Quintus Caecilius Metellus Celer opposed the bill very effectively. The other consul, Afrianius, whose election had been sponsored by Pompey, was of no assistance. According to Cassius Dio he “understood how to dance better than to transact any business.”[120] In the end, lacking the support of this Afrianius to counterbalance Metellus Celer, Pompey let the matter drop. Thus, the Pompeian camp proved to be inadequate to respond the obstructionism of the optimates.[121]

When Julius Caesar returned to Rome from his governorship in Hispania towards the end of 60 BC, Pompey and Caesar made an informal political alliance. Julius Caesar was a prominent popularis politician who favoured land redistributions and was a resolute man. He stood for election for one of the two consulships for 59 BC, and could provide the kind of support needed for the land bill to be passed. Caesar also pursued a policy of conciliating Marcus Licinius Crassus and Pompey, who had been at variance politically.

Thus, Caesar brought into being this alliance between these three men, which historians call the First Triumvirate. Together these three men could break the resistance of the senate. Pompey’s political clout was based on his popularity as a military commander and on the political patronage and purchase of votes for his supporters and himself that his wealth could afford. He also had the support of his war veterans: “Prestige, wealth, clients, and loyal, grateful veterans who could be readily mobilised—these were the opes which could guarantee [Pompey’s] brand of [power].”[122] Crassus was a property speculator and the richest man in Rome. He had extensive patronage networks.

Caesar was elected, and proposed an agrarian bill to the plebeian council, which Pompey and Crassus publicly supported. The bill passed over the opposition of his colleague as consul, Marcus Calpurnius Bibulus, whose election had been funded by the optimates due to his opposition to Caesar and his bill. Calpurnius Bibulus subsequently retired from politics and Caesar had the acts of Pompey’s settlements in the east passed.[123][124][125][126] A law that made Caesar governor of Gallia Cisalpina and Illyricum also passed. When the governor of Gallia Transalpina died, Caesar was given that province as well. Caesar tied Pompey to himself by marrying him to his daughter Julia even though she was betrothed to another man.[127][128][129] He then left Rome to take on these governorships and got involved in his Gallic Wars, which lasted from 58 BC to 50 BC. Pompey and Caesar set Publius Clodius Pulcher against Marcus Tullius Cicero, who was an opponent of the triumvirate. Clodius managed to have Cicero exiled, but soon Pompey decided to have Cicero recalled to Rome because Clodius turned against him. A grateful Cicero stopped opposing Pompey.[130][131][132][133]

In 58 BC, food shortages in Rome caused popular unrest. Cicero persuaded the people to appoint Pompey as praefectus annonae (prefect of the provisions) in Italy and beyond for five years. This post was instituted at times of severe grain shortages to supervise the grain supply. Clodius alleged that the scarcity of grain had been engineered to support a law that boosted Pompey’s power, which had been decreasing. Both Plutarch and Cassius Dio thought that the law made Pompey ‘the master of all the land and sea under Roman possession’. Pompey sent agents and friends to various places and sailed to Sardinia, Sicily and the Roman province of Africa (the breadbaskets of the Roman empire) to collect grain. He collected it in such abundance that the markets were filled and there was also enough to supply foreign peoples. Appian wrote that this success gave Pompey great reputation and power. Cassius Dio also wrote that Pompey faced some delays in the distribution of grain because many slaves had been freed prior to the distribution and Pompey wanted to take a census to ensure they received it in an orderly way.[134][135][136]

In 56 BC, Caesar, who was fighting the Gallic Wars, crossed the Alps into Italy and wintered in Luca (Lucca, Tuscany). In the Life of Crassus, Plutarch wrote that Caesar met Pompey and Crassus and agreed that the two of them would stand for the consulship and that he would support them by sending soldiers to Rome to vote for them. They were then to secure the command of provinces and armies for themselves and confirm his provinces for a further five years. In the Life of Pompey, Plutarch added that Caesar also wrote letters to his friends and that the three men were aiming at making themselves the masters of the state.[137][138][139] Cassius Dio, who wrote the most detailed account of the period, did not mention the Luca conference. In his version, instead, Pompey and Crassus agreed to stand for the consulship between themselves as a counterpoise to Caesar. Pompey was annoyed about the increasing admiration of Caesar due to his success in the Gallic Wars, which, he felt, overshadowed his own exploits. He tried to persuade the consuls not to read Caesar’s reports from Gaul and to send someone to relieve his command. He was unable to achieve anything through the consuls, and felt that Caesar’s increasing independence made his own position precarious. He began to arm himself against Caesar and got closer to Crassus because he thought he could not challenge Caesar on his own. The two men decided to stand for the consulship so that they could be more than a match for Caesar. Once elected, Pompey and Crassus got Gaius Trebonius, a plebeian tribune, to propose a measure that gave the province of Syria and the nearby lands to one of the consuls and the provinces of Hispania Citerior, and Hispania Ulterior to the other. They would hold the command there for five years. They could levy as many troops as they wanted and ‘make peace and war with whomsoever they pleased’. The supporters of Caesar were unhappy and therefore Crassus and Pompey extended Caesar’s command in Gaul. According to Cassius Dio, this was for three years, not five.[140] In The Life of Pompey, Plutarch wrote the laws proposed by Trebonius were in accordance with the agreement made at Luca. They gave Caesar’s command a second five-year term, assigned the Roman province of Syria and an expedition against Parthia to Crassus and gave Pompey the two provinces in Hispania (where there had recently been disturbances), the whole of Africa (presumably Plutarch meant Cyrenaica as well as the Roman province of Africa) and four legions. Pompey lent two of these legions to Caesar for his wars in Gaul at his request.[141] According to Appian Pompey lent Caesar only one legion. This was when two of Caesar’s lieutenants were defeated in Gaul by Ambiorix in 54 BC.[142]

From confrontation to civil war[edit source]

The Tusculum portrait, a bust of Julius Caesar in the Archaeological Museum of Turin, Italy

In 54 BC, Pompey was the only member of the triumvirate who was in Rome. Caesar continued his campaigns in Gaul and Crassus undertook his campaign against the Parthians. In September 54 BC, Julia, the daughter of Caesar and wife of Pompey, died while giving birth to a girl, who also died a few days later.[143][144] Plutarch wrote that Caesar felt that this was the end of his good relationship with Pompey. The news created factional discord and unrest in Rome as it was thought that the death brought the end of the ties between Caesar and Pompey. The campaign of Crassus against Parthia was disastrous. Shortly after the death of Julia, Crassus died at the Battle of Carrhae (May 53 BC). This brought the first triumvirate to an end. Plutarch thought that fear of Crassus had led Pompey and Caesar to be decent to each other and his death paved the way for the subsequent friction between these two men and the events that eventually led to civil war.[145] Florus wrote: “Caesar’s power now inspired the envy of Pompey, while Pompey’s eminence was offensive to Caesar; Pompey could not brook an equal or Caesar a superior.”[146] Seneca wrote that with regard to Caesar, Pompey “would ill endure that anyone besides himself should become a great power in the state, and one who was likely to place a check upon his advancement, which he had regarded as onerous even when each gained by the other’s rise: yet within three days’ time he resumed his duties as general, and conquered his grief [for the death of his wife] as quickly as he was wont to conquer everything else.”[147]

In the Life of Pompey Plutarch wrote that the plebeian tribune Lucilius proposed to elect Pompey dictator. Cato the Younger, who had been the fiercest opponent of the triumvirate, opposed this. Lucilius came close to losing his tribunate. Despite all this, two consuls for the next year (53 BC) were elected as usual. In 53 BC, three candidates stood for the consulship for 52 BC. Besides resorting to bribery, they promoted factional violence, which Plutarch saw as a civil war. There were renewed and stronger calls for a dictator. However, in the Life of Cato, Plutarch did not mention any calls for a dictator and instead he wrote that there were calls for Pompey to preside over the elections. Cato the Younger opposed this. In both versions the violence among the three factions continued and the elections could not be held. The optimates favoured entrusting Pompey with restoring order. Marcus Calpurnius Bibulus, the former enemy of the triumvirate, proposed in the senate that Pompey should be elected as sole consul. Cato changed his mind and supported this on the ground that any government was better than no government. Pompey asked him to become his adviser and associate in governance. Cato replied that he would do so in a private capacity.[148]

Pompey married Cornelia, a daughter of Quintus Caecilius Metellus Pius Scipio Nasica. Some people disliked this because Cornelia was much younger and she would have been a better match for his sons. There were also people who thought that Pompey gave priority to his wedding over dealing with the crisis in the city. Pompey was also seen as being partial in the conduct of some trials. He succeeded in restoring order and chose his father-in‑law as his colleague for the last five months of the year. Pompey was granted an extension of his command in his provinces in Hispania and was given an annual sum for the maintenance of his troops. Cato warned Pompey about Caesar’s manoeuvres to increase his power by using the money he made from the spoils of war to extend his patronage in Rome and urged him to counter Caesar. Pompey hesitated, and Cato stood for the consulship in order to deprive Caesar of his military command and have him tried, but he was not elected. The supporters of Caesar argued that Caesar deserved an extension of his command so that the fruit of his success would not be lost, which triggered a debate. Pompey showed goodwill towards Caesar, claiming that he had letters from Caesar in which he said he wanted to be relieved of his command, but Pompey opined that he should be allowed to stand for the consulship in absentia. Cato opposed this and said that if Caesar wanted this he had to lay down his arms and become a private citizen. Pompey did not contest Cato’s view, which gave rise to suspicions about his real feelings towards Caesar.[149]

A Roman bust of Pompey the Greatmade during the reign of Augustus (27 BC – 14 AD), a copy of an original bust from 70–60 BC, Venice National Archaeological Museum, Italy

Pompey was moving towards a power struggle with Caesar and reliance on the support of the senate and the optimates. The bone of contention between the two men was the troops they both commanded. According to Plutarch the rift between Pompey and Cato became exacerbated when Pompey fell seriously ill in Naples in 50 BC. Upon his recovery, the people of Naples offered thanksgiving sacrifices, and the resulting celebration spread throughout Italy. He was feted in towns he travelled to on his way back to Rome. Plutarch wrote that this was said ‘to have done more than anything else to bring about [the subsequent civil] war. For while the public rejoicing was great, a spirit of arrogance came upon Pompey, which went beyond the calculations based upon facts, and, throwing to the winds [ ] caution … he indulged himself in unlimited confidence and contempt for Caesar’s power, feeling that he would need neither an armed force to oppose him nor any irksome labour of preparation, but that he would pull him down much more easily than he had raised him up".[150] This assessment is a bit exaggerated, especially with regard to the feeling of not needing an army. However, it is likely that the display of popular support made Pompey overconfident.

In 51 BC, the consul Marcus Claudius Marcellus proposed to send a successor to take command of Caesar’s provinces before his term of office had expired. Pompey said that Caesar’s command should come to an end on its expiration. In Appian’s opinion this was a pretence of fairness and good-will. Two bitter enemies of Caesar, Lucius Aemilius Lepidus Paulus and Gaius Claudius Marcellus Minor (a cousin of the previous consul) were chosen as consuls for 50 BC. Curio, who was also opposed to Caesar, became one of the new plebeian tribunes. Caesar obtained the neutrality of Aemilius Paulus with a large sum of money and the help of Curio by paying off his debts. Claudius Marcellus Minor proposed sending someone to assume command of Caesar’s army. Paulus remained silent. Curio seconded the motion, but added that Pompey should also give up his provinces and armies to remove fear of conflict, which encountered opposition. Curio maintained his stance that both men should lay down their command because they were suspicious of each other and there would not be peace. The people praised him as the only politician who was willing to incur the enmity of both men for the good of Rome. Pompey promised to give up his governorship and armies and claimed that Caesar would do the same. According to Appian, the aim of this was to create prejudice against Caesar, who did not seem likely to give up his command, and to have a successor for Caesar’s command appointed immediately, thus forcing Caesar to disband his armies, while Pompey retained his with impunity. Curio exposed this and said that promises were not enough and that Pompey should lay down his command immediately and that Caesar should disarm after this because if Caesar would do so first, Pompey, aiming at supreme power, would have no incentive to disarm. He also proposed that unless both obeyed, both should be declared public enemies and troops should be levied against them. The senate was suspicious of both men, but deemed Pompey to be less of a threat and hated Caesar because he had disregarded the senate when he was consul. Some senators proposed that Caesar should disarm first. Curio maintained that Caesar was a counterbalance to Pompey’s power and that either Pompey should disarm first or both should do so simultaneously. The senate disagreed and he dismissed the motion without coming to a resolution.[151]

Despite this impasse, the senate did pass a decree that Caesar and Pompey should send a legion to Syria to defend it against the Parthians who had defeated Crassus. Pompey took advantage of this to recall the soldiers he had lent Caesar. Caesar gave them 250 drachmas and sent them to Rome, together with a legion of his own. According to Appian, Pompey had lent him one legion; according to Caesar, it was two legions.[152] However, the Parthian threat to Syria did not materialise and the legions were sent to Capua. Pompey’s soldiers said that Caesar’s troops were worn out, longed to return home, and would defect to Pompey as soon as they had crossed the Alps. Whether through ignorance or corruption, this information was wrong; Caesar’s soldiers were very loyal to him. Pompey believed the reports and did not levy troops to counter Caesar’s forces.[153]

Caesar crossed the Alps with a legion and arrived at Ravenna, close to the border with Italy. Curio advised him to assemble his whole army and march on Rome, but Caesar decided to negotiate. He proposed to give up his governorships and troops, but retain two legions and the provinces of Illyricum and Gallia Cisalpina until he should be elected consul. Pompey agreed, but the consuls refused. Curio went to Rome with a letter Caesar wrote to the senate and gave it to the two newly elected consuls, Gaius Claudius Marcellus Maior and Lucius Cornelius Lentulus Crus. Caesar proposed that both he and Pompey lay down their arms at the same time and said that if Pompey retained his he would not expose himself to his enemies. Claudius Marcellus put forward the questions of sending a successor to Caesar and disarming Pompey separately. No senator voted for Pompey to give up his arms because his troops were in the suburbs. All but two voted for Caesar to disband his army. There was a false rumour that Caesar was marching on Rome. Claudius proposed that Caesar be declared public enemy and that the army at Capua be sent against him. Curio opposed this on the ground that it was a false rumour. Two of the new plebeian tribunes, Mark Antony and Quintus Cassius Longinus, did not allow the motions to be ratified. The angered senators who debated a punishment for them. The consul Cornelius Lentulus advised them to leave the senate for their safety. There were detachments of Pompey standing around the senate house. They and Curio secretly went to Caesar.[154][155] In Plutarch’s version Curio’s demands were very popular. Pompey should be required to give up his troops, and if not, Caesar should retain his. In the latter case the two men would remain a match for each other and would not cause trouble. However, weakening one of them would double the power of the other. Claudius Marcellus called Caesar a robber and urged for him to be voted a public enemy unless he should lay down his arms. Curio, helped by Antony and Piso, prevailed. He then moved for a vote about Caesar laying down his arms and Pompey retaining his command, which passed. Then he moved for a vote on both men laying down their arms and relinquishing their command. Only twenty-two favoured Pompey. Curio felt that he had won the day and rushed before the people. He was applauded and ‘pelted him with garlands and flowers’. However, Claudius Marcellus declared that “since he saw ten legions already looming up in their march over the Alps, he himself also would send forth a man who would oppose them in defence of his country”.[156]

Magnus · April 24, 2019, 3:32am

The only part I care about.

Mercenary · April 24, 2019, 3:32am

We already dominate it.

Mercenary · April 24, 2019, 3:33am

Magnus · April 24, 2019, 3:34am

You’re right!
Magnus The Great (‘the great’ is unnecessary, because Magnus means ‘great’ in Latin, but it’s fine.)

All Hail King… err, i mean Kings… I mean leaders… err… Triumvirate Emperors?

Magnus · April 24, 2019, 3:47am

@discobot fortune
Will our reign be long and sweet?

discobot · April 24, 2019, 3:47am

It is certain

Magnus · April 24, 2019, 3:47am

Is one of our members… a Traitor?
@Discobot fortune

discobot · April 24, 2019, 3:47am

Signs point to yes

Magnus · April 24, 2019, 3:48am

oh no.

Mercenary · April 24, 2019, 3:48am

serves wine

Magnus · April 24, 2019, 3:48am

Hell no.
Fires gun.

Mercenary · April 24, 2019, 3:49am

https://pics.me.me/mrs-duff-dont-ask-duestians-vou-arent-dredared-to-handle-5509455.png

Boss110 · April 24, 2019, 3:50am

Oh hey