Pompey the Great

Pompey the Great was a Roman general and statesman, the ally and son-in-law of Julius Caesar. Pompey and Julius Caesar will later become arch-rival for power. Pompey real name is Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus. Pompey was born in Rome on September 29, 106 bc, into a senatorial family; his father was Gnaeus Pompeius Strabo, he was in the consul in 89 bc.



When Pompey was just 17 he fought, along with his father, on the side of Lucius Cornelius Sulla against the army of Gaius Marius and Lucius Cornelius Cinna. In the year of 84 bc he had raised three legions defeat Marian army. Pompey later defeated Marian army. Then Pompey was sent to destroy the rest of the Marian army in Africa and Sicily. On his triumphant return to Rome he was honored with the title

                                                                      Magnus, or the Great. Pompey then defeated the followers of Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, a one-time Sulla partisan, whom he drove out of Italy, and destroyed the Marian army in Spain in 76 up to71 bc. Returning to Italy, Pompey brought an end to the civil War instigated by the slave Spartacus. He was now the idol of the people and was elected consul for the year 70 bc, serving with Marcus Licinius Crassus.



                                                                      In 67-66 bc, Pompey got rid of the pirates in the Mediterranean Sea of and was then given control of the provinces in the east and put in charge of the war against Mithridates VI of Pontus. Between the years of 65 and 62 bc, Pompey conquered Mithridates and also Tigranes the Great, king of Armenia, and Antiochus XIII of Syria, annexing the territory of the later to the Roman dominions. He also quiet the Jews

                                                                      and captured Jerusalem. On his return to Italy he disbanded his army and in 61 bc entered Rome in triumph for his third time. After his return he was anxious that his...