History UsefulNotes / PompeyTheGreat

Regardless of his methods, and how much credit he did or did not steal, Pompey was incredibly popular in Rome and certainly quite a gifted general, at least against weaker armies and smaller threats.[[note]]After gaining a few easy victories in the Eastern Mediterranean, the region where Pompey had made his reputation as a great general, Caesar would later snark that some generals were fortunate to make their names against such fragile opponents[[/note]] He earned, or gave himself, the title Magnus after a highly successful campaign against the pirates that plagued the Mediterranean and a war in the Near East that (amongst other things) firmly brought Judea under Roman domination. Of course there was much propaganda in this. The way Pompey dealt with the pirates was to suppress some of them, and to generously offer pardons to the rest, resettling them and making them give up a life of crime, which most of them unsurprisingly accepted (as confirmed in an episode of Creator/{{Virgil}}'s ''Georgics''). In this matter at least, Pompey was more merciful than Caesar. The title alluded to his stated intentions of being seen as Alexander the Great's Roman SpiritualSuccessor owing to his great success in his early youth, as well as conquering "the East". He took his fetish for Alexander to the extend of imitating him, such as claiming to wear a cape that Alexander supposedly wore, [[{{Egopolis}} building towns in the East called]] Pompeiopolis and Magnopolis, with supporters calling him a God and indeed even having a MysteryCult worshipping him as a God in Delos. As a wealthy general, Pompey also invested in architecture, roads, theatre and sculpture. In many statues, Pompey was presented as holding a globe in his hands. Indeed, the historian Mary Beard has called Pompey "[[TropeCodifier the first Roman Emperor]]" in that he more or less codified the imperial CultOfPersonality, that Caesar and other Emperors after him followed. In the East, Pompey also had coins minted with his likeness, something that nobody before had done in the Republican era, and which Caesar imitated when he, as dictator, minted coins in Rome with his own likeness. After all if Pompey could, why not Caesar.

-> ''"What! Will you never cease prating of laws to us that have swords by our sides?''

While he was a skilled commander in his own right, Pompey acquired a not entirely undeserved reputation for 'finishing' wars that had already been won by other, less famous Roman generals. More importantly, when confronted with a general who was highly talented and innovative such as Quintus Sertorius, Pompey was actually beaten in battle and forced into retreat, at Saguntum and others. Sertorius had fled to Hispania and organized local tribes and groups and more or less had converted a Roman province [[StartMyOwn into his own Republic]]. His innovative guerrilla warfare left Pompey confused, and he had to rely on other Sullan generals to take Hispania, town by town. Even then Pompey's victory was only achieved by treachery, when one of Sertorius' generals and friends assassinated him at a banquet (in a manner quite like how Caesar died). The guy who killed Sertorius, Perpenna Vento, then surrendered to Pompey by offering a list of his old boss' contacts and client lists. Pompey accepted the surrender, read the lists, burnt it (but we can assume that he memorized a few or all of the names), [[RewardedAsATraitorDeserves killed Vento]], and claimed victory over Sertorius. Pompey had a history of using assassinations to get what he wanted. When the populare Brutus Elder (father of UsefulNotes/MarcusJuniusBrutus) held out against Pompey's faction, Pompey negotiated a surrender, and then sent an assassin to kill him the next day. Decades later, Brutus Junior would fight alongside Pompey against Caesar.

Pompey was born in 106 BC to a very rich but not very distinguished family--his father had managed to become consul, but otherwise the members of gens Pompeia were rural nobodies, and Pompey was very much an outsider in the Roman political world. His father allied with the dictator Sulla against the Marians, and he died during a Siege in a conflict against the Marians, either directly or by disease. The Marians issued an order of arrest and seizure of assets, citing his father's corruption (either actual or alleged). The young Pompey managed to clear his name during the first civil war, but then the Marians took over the capital, triggering Sulla's second war. At the age of twenty-three, he illegally raised a private army made up of his father's old clients. When Sulla won, young Pompey, alongside other Sullans, such as [[UsefulNotes/MarcusLiciniusCrassus Marcus Licinus Crassus]] helped the dictator with ThePurge of the capital. Pompey earned the nickname ''adulescens carnifex'' ([[TeensAreMonsters teenage]] [[TheButcher butcher]]) during this time.

Regardless of his methods, and how much credit he did or did not steal, Pompey was incredibly popular in Rome and certainly quite a gifted general, at least against weaker armies and smaller threats. He earned, or gave himself, the title Magnus after a highly successful campaign against the pirates that plagued the Mediterranean and a war in the Near East that (amongst other things) firmly brought Judea under Roman domination. Of course there was much propaganda in this. The way Pompey dealt with the pirates was to suppress some of them, and to generously offer pardons to the rest, resettling them and making them give up a life of crime, which most of them unsurprisingly accepted (as confirmed in an episode of Creator/{{Virgil}}'s ''Georgics''). In this matter at least, Pompey was more merciful than Caesar. The title alluded to his stated intentions of being seen as Alexander the Great's Roman SpiritualSuccessor owing to his great success in his early youth, as well as conquering "the East". He took his fetish for Alexander to the extend of imitating him, such as claiming to wear a cape that Alexander supposedly wore, [[{{Egopolis}} building towns in the East called]] Pompeiopolis and Magnopolis, with supporters calling him a God and indeed even having a MysteryCult worshipping him as a God in Delos. As a wealthy general, Pompey also invested in architecture, roads, theatre and sculpture. In many statues, Pompey was presented as holding a globe in his hands. Indeed, the historian Mary Beard has called Pompey "[[TropeCodifier the first Roman Emperor]]" in that he more or less codified the imperial CultOfPersonality, that Caesar and other Emperors after him followed. In the East, Pompey also had coins minted with his likeness, something that nobody before had done in the Republican era, and which Caesar imitated when he, as dictator, minted coins in Rome with his own likeness. After all if Pompey could, why not Caesar.

* Appears in the Robert Harris novels ''Literature/{{Imperium}}'' and ''Lustrum''. He's portrayed as a capable general but not quite as adept in politics.

* IWasQuiteALooker: According to Plutarch he was very handsome as a youth - [[{{Bishonen}} even beautiful]] - even if his surviving statues show an average looking, overweight guy (see the bust at the top of the page.)