Pompey Falls: Egypt Betrays Rome's Greatest General

Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus, the most celebrated Roman general of his generation, stepped off a small boat onto the Egyptian shore and was stabbed to death before he could reach dry land. On September 28, 48 BC, the man who had conquered the eastern Mediterranean, cleared the seas of pirates, and reorganized a dozen kingdoms was murdered on the orders of the teenage Pharaoh Ptolemy XIII, who hoped to curry favor with Pompey's pursuing rival, Julius Caesar. Pompey had dominated Roman politics for two decades. His military campaigns in the east from 66 to 63 BC had expanded Roman territory from the Black Sea to the Red Sea, annexing Syria, reorganizing Asia Minor, and capturing Jerusalem. His triumphs earned him the cognomen Magnus, "the Great," a title that invited comparison with Alexander. Together with Caesar and Marcus Crassus, he formed the First Triumvirate, an informal alliance that controlled the Roman Republic. The alliance collapsed after Crassus died at Carrhae in 53 BC. Pompey, alarmed by Caesar's growing power and popularity after the conquest of Gaul, allied with the Roman Senate to demand that Caesar disband his legions. Caesar refused and crossed the Rubicon in January 49 BC, igniting civil war. Pompey's strategy was sound but slow. He withdrew from Italy to Greece, where he planned to gather eastern armies and navies for a decisive campaign. At the Battle of Pharsalus on August 9, 48 BC, Caesar's outnumbered but veteran legions shattered Pompey's larger force. Pompey fled by ship to Egypt, where he expected hospitality from young Ptolemy XIII, whose father had been a Roman client. Ptolemy's advisors calculated differently. Sheltering Caesar's enemy would invite Roman invasion; killing Pompey would win Caesar's gratitude. As Pompey's boat approached the shore, former Roman officers in Ptolemy's service drew their swords and cut him down. His head was preserved and presented to Caesar when he arrived days later. According to ancient sources, Caesar wept at the sight. The murder disgusted rather than pleased Caesar, who deposed Ptolemy and installed Cleopatra on the Egyptian throne. Pompey's assassination eliminated the last figure capable of challenging Caesar's supremacy and accelerated the Republic's collapse into dictatorship.