Pompey Born: Conqueror Who Reshaped Rome's East

Pompey rose through Rome's military ranks to become the Republic's most celebrated general, clearing the Mediterranean of pirates and annexing vast eastern territories that tripled Roman revenue. His fatal decision to challenge Julius Caesar in civil war ended at the Battle of Pharsalus, and his subsequent assassination in Egypt sealed the Republic's irreversible slide toward one-man rule. Born Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus in 106 BC into a wealthy equestrian family, Pompey earned his first military reputation fighting for Sulla during the civil wars, earning the cognomen "Magnus" (the Great) before he turned twenty-five. His campaign against Mediterranean pirates in 67 BC was extraordinarily efficient: granted unprecedented authority over the entire sea, he swept the pirate fleets from the waters in just three months, restoring grain shipments to Rome that the pirates had threatened to starve. His subsequent campaigns in the East dismantled the Seleucid Empire's remnants, reorganized Asia Minor, conquered Syria and Judaea, and captured Jerusalem. The eastern settlement added enormous tax revenue to Rome's treasury and extended Roman influence to the Euphrates River. Back in Rome, Pompey joined Caesar and Crassus in the First Triumvirate, a political alliance that dominated Roman politics. When the triumvirate collapsed after Crassus's death and Caesar's Gallic conquests made him dangerously powerful, Pompey aligned with the Senate against Caesar. The civil war that followed ended at Pharsalus in 48 BC, where Caesar's outnumbered but veteran legions routed Pompey's larger force. Pompey fled to Egypt seeking refuge from the boy-king Ptolemy XIII, who had him murdered on the beach as he stepped ashore.