Pompey

Pompey the Great
Bust Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek
Country	Roman Republic
Military Rank	General
Biography
Birth	29 September 106 BC. AD Picenum
Deaths	28 September 48 BC. AD Pelusium

Pompey the Great is a general and statesman Roman , born on September 29 in the year 106 BC. AD ^Biography

Pompey is the son of the Roman general Gnaeus Pompeius Strabo who distinguished himself twice during the Social War , and later by the hatred that he was condemning the people of Rome, which will tell Plutarch : "Never will father managed to get so much hate and his son so much glory. "

He married five times, the praetor L. Antistius gave him his daughter in marriage (his first wife), his fourth wife was the daughter of Caesar, Julia, and he married for the last time with the daughter of Metellus Scipio , Cornelia. At 23, he inherits his father's army and instituted its own general. He takes the side of Sulla for which he defeated the supporters of Gaius Marius in Sicily and Africa. He then defeated Marcus Aemilius Lepidus who fomented unrest.

From victory to victory, he was acclaimed imperator by his troops, while he was still a knight , which is exceptional for its time. It had in fact no official charge. Income of many victorious campaigns against the latest supporters of the party of Marius , he received Sylla 's nickname ( cognomen ) of "Magnus," which means "the Great" in reference to Alexander the Great. This nickname quietly flattered Pompey and he will see fit to use it later, once its military glory is at its peak. Sylla then dictator of Rome decided to grant him a triumph , while Crassus received only the ovation.

In 77 BC. AD , he was sent to Hispania to fight against the latest supporters of Marius and, after many struggles, he managed to defeat the forces of Sertorius after ten years of bitter struggle, and after he had been murdered by one of his men, Perpenna. He returned to Italy and it disperses the latest roving bands (5000 fugitives) of Spartacus , that Crassus had just beaten ( 71 BC. ) earned by the affection of the people of Rome.

In 70 BC. AD , he was appointed consul with Crassus , a fact which is totally abnormal for the time since Pompey did not follow the curriculum honorum (the quaestor , the municipal administration , the courthouse ), path required to access the consulate.

During the winter of 67 BC. BC , he received the lex Gabinia (named after the tribune of the plebs Gabinius ) an imperium (command) unique to eliminate piracy in the Mediterranean. Indeed, through their incessant raids, pirates significantly disrupted the transport of food to Rome from Egypt, threatened to starve the Italian peninsula. Pompey performed his function and perform in three months. Following in 66 BC. AD , and under a new law, the lex Manilia , giving it a new imperium exceptional Asia (means and exceptional powers proposed by a tribune of the plebs Gaius Manilius ), he went on campaign East to fight the King of Pontus Mithridates VI Eupator during a war begun by Lucullus and dragged. This victory allows Rome to spread to Bithynia , the Bridge , the Syria and Judea , laying the groundwork for future domination of the Roman Empire in the East.

In 63 BC. AD , it intervenes in Judea in the fratricidal war between Aristobulus II to his brother Hyrcanus II. As Aristobulus had been in force for complacency Mithridates and the pirates while Hyrcanus was rather favorable to Rome, Pompey then took up the cause of the latter . He besieged Aristobulus entrenched on the Temple Mount. It will be defeated and, in this episode, which history will record that Pompey entered the Holy of Holies without the permission of Hyrcanus, who was also high priest of the temple of Jerusalem . Judea is nevertheless subject Hyrcanus and named Pompey ethnarch.

Upon his return in January 61 BC. BC , he celebrated his triumph of orbi universo ("the world"), which is delayed by six months by the Senate , which looks suspiciously this victorious general covered with glory and success .

In 60 BC. AD , he participated in the First Triumvirate with Julius Caesar and Crassus. He gets control of Hispania , the Africa and Rome. He married Julia the daughter of Julius Caesar , to consolidate the links of this political pact with Caesar.

In 55 BC. BC , Pompey was appointed consul for the second time and built the largest Roman theater and the Curia of Pompey.

Civil war

After the death of Crassus , when the terrible defeat Carrhae ( 53 BC. ) against the Parthians and while Caesar is in Gaul , Rome is in turmoil and sedition. Meanwhile, the Senate, under the influence of Bibulus and Cato , passed a law that Pompey appointed sole consul in 52 BC. AD The people accept this appointment and Pompey began a third consulate, against the principle of collegiality and the law of Sulla , which required a period of ten years between consulates. Pompey will be his new colleague for stepfather, Metellus Scipio , during the last five months of his consulate . After obtaining the late disorders in Rome, Pompey did declare Caesar off-the-law in 49 BC. AD through a senatus consultum ultimum. Caesar then march on Rome, crossing the Rubicon , and Pompey, in the short time left for Rome Brundisium , where he is joined by his partisans, senators and the consuls.

Lacking money to pay his soldiers, and from time to harden, Pompey's preference to avoid direct confrontation with Caesar, and embarked for Greece. While Caesar fights the Pompeian supporters in Hispania , Pompey gathers under his command a large part of Roman troops from the East. After an initial confrontation in favor of Pompey in Thessaly leaves Caesar's army greatly weakened, he plans to return to Italy, but ultimately prefers to try to complete its rival. In 48 BC. AD , the decisive battle takes place on the plain of Pharsalia. Despite a report of 3 against 1 against him, Caesar emerges victorious in a battle that was to seal the fate of the Roman world, forcing Pompey to flee.

Pompey tried to flee to Egypt , but Ptolemy XIII , brother and husband of Cleopatra , and the Regent Pothin for fear of reprisals, being killed on arrival by Septimus, a former soldier in Pompey, on the beach Pelusium. Height of infamy, Pompey was decapitated and the headless body of one of the greatest generals of Rome will remain on this stretch of beach unburied for several days. Ptolemy Caesar thought to please by offering him a gift the head of his old enemy. But Caesar, either by pity or by political calculation, or both, was seized with great sorrow and offered this great Roman funeral. ^Consulates