Pompey the Great

Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (29 September 106 BC - 29 September 48 BC), usually known in English as Pompey or Pompey the Great, was a military and political leader of the late Roman Republic. He was the son of Gnaeus Pompeius Strabo, a wealthy landed Italian provincial from Picenum, one of the novi homines (new men). 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. Military success in Sulla's Second Civil War led him to adopt the nickname Magnus, "the Great". He was consul three times and celebrated three triumphs.

In 71 BC he pacified Spain and in 67 BC he cleared the Mediterranean of pirates.

In 59 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 Julia helped 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, he sought refuge in Egypt, where he was assassinated. His career and defeat are significant in Rome's subsequent transformation from Republic to Principate and Empire.