One of the greatest Roman statesmen and generals, Pompey is most best known for his quarrel with Julius Caesar which resulted in the civil war and his subsequent murder by Ptolemy at Pelusium in Egypt.
Born into an influential senatorial family at a time when the Republic of Rome was tottering on the brim of collapse as different factions vied for power. Still in his youth, Pompey carved out a name for himself in the civil war between Sulla and Marius as Sulla's 'butcher' to his enemies and as Pompey Magnus ("Pompey the Great") to his troops. His fame and prestige rose further when he regained Spain from the rebels and then in the suppression of the slave revolt led by Spartacus. His efforts in extending the limits of Roman power as far as the Black Sea and the Caucasus, pacifying the eastern Mediterranean of piracy (and ensuring the safe supply of wheat for Rome from Egypt), and reorganizing the East (including forcing a solution on Judea which effectively brought the nation under the rule of the Herods) are recognized as his greatest achievements.
When his further attempts to consolidate his power by marriage failed, he teamed up with Crassus and Julius Caesar to form the—at first secret—"First Triumvirate," and marrying Caesar's daughter, Julia, to seal their friendship, a friendship which could not, however, withstand the corrosive impact of their individual thirst for power. When Pompey attempted to keep Caesar out of the Senate, Caesar famously "crossed the Rubicon" on 11 Jan 49 BC and marched on Rome. Pompey and his allies decided to abandon Rome, hoping to use their extensive resouces in the East to starve out Caesar. Caesar, however, turned out to be a greater general than Pompey, and advanced on his enemies with a swiftness they had not expected. Defeated at the battle of Pharsalus (48 BC), Pompey fled hoping to find refuge in Egypt to plan his next move. The young king of Egypt, Ptolemy, rode out to meet Pompey at Pelusium. Stepping ashore Pompey was hacked to death instead. If Caesar wins, so Ptolemy had betted, it would be a disaster if he was found to have given refuge to an enemy on the run. Ptolemy was mistaken. When Julius Caesar arrived in Egypt, he was incensed that a Roman general should suffer such a fate. In the aftermath of a civil war between Ptolemy and his sister-wife, Cleopatra, Caesar sided with Cleopatra and Ptolemy was dethroned (and murdered). As part of this aftermath also, Cleopatra produced a son, Caesarion, for Caesar (the child never had a chance surviving the butcher-house politics of Rome).
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