Essay on Pompey The Great

Submitted By DuhBoyChong
Words: 1804
Pages: 8
Open Document
Pompey the Great
106BC-49BC

An extra ordinary rise

Sources of Power

‘The glory of men’s ancestors is….like a shining light on their descendents which Allows neither their virtues nor their vices to be hidden” Sallust

Learnt by
His
fathers mistakes Confident

Military experience Wealth
Land
Inherited veteran Soldiers

Pompey

Family legacy Clientale
Marriages Ambitious

PLUTARCH 139-141

ATTRIBUTES
RESOURCEFUL
OPPORTUNISTIC
IMPUDENT/BOLD
FORTUNATE
COERCIVE
“ He asked Sulla to bear in mind the fact that more people worshipped the rising sun than the setting sun…” Plutarch

Marriage-an extension of amicitae
Antistia
Daughter
Of his lawyer Julia, daughter of
Caesar

PLUTARCH 142-

Aemilia Scaura
Step daughter
Of Sulla

Mucia Tertia,
Daughter of
Pontifex
maximus

Cornelia,
Daughter of Crassus,
Brought
Wealth,Metelli connections Raised his own ‘private’ army to aid Sulla at 23, gained propraetorian imperium and first triumph.
“That someone of extreme youthfulness, who held no public office, should raise an army in a time of national crisis was innovation. Yet that is what Pompeius did.”
Cicero.
PLUTARCH 143-145

PLUTARCH 145-167

Granted propraetorian command against Lepidus.
Given proconsular command against Sertorius.
“it was totally unprecedented when two eminent and gallant consuls were available, for a Roman knight to be sent out with consular powers…all the same he was sent.” Cicero.

Elected to consulship and given second triumph by threat of force.
He was “elected to a consulship actually before he had the legal right to hold any office at all.” Cicero.
Refused to take a provincial command after his year as consul.

Pompey and Crassus as Consuls
70BC
The changes made to the Sullan constitution in
70BC weakened the Senates position;
Power of the tribunes were restored
The courts were reconstituted so that the Senate had only one third of the places
Power of the censor was revived. Sixty four senators were removed and new ones from the equestrian order were admitted
Citizenship granted to wider areas of Italy which meant that there were masses of new voters not bound by previous patron client obligations
PLUTARCH 157-159

The Lex Gabinia and Lex Manilia were laws giving power to
Pompey. Unlike his previous commands awarded by the
Senate, these were despite the opposition of the Senate proposed by tribunes and passed by the people.
Caesar
speaks
For it

Roscius tries to speak
But is
Drowned out

Lex Gabinia

Use of force
Consul
attacked

Catulus opposes it

Cicero
Speaking for
The interests
Of the equites Catulus
Opposes
it

Lex
Manilia

Aristocrats
Thought it amounted To tyranny “THEIR HEARTS
FAILED THEM,
SO FRIGHTENED
WERE
THEY OF
THE PEOPLE”

‘ So Pompey, who was not even in Rome at the time, was vested with powers almost as great as those which Sulla had exercised after he had conquered the city by force of arms”.

Pompey makes Enemies
According to Plutarch Lucullus accuses
Pompey of “ ….following his usual custom of settling down, like some crazed carrion bird, on the bodies that had been killed by others and tearing to pieces the scattered remains of wars.”
To what and whom is Lucullus referring ?

Cicero on Pompey’s Command
Read Cicero’s speech and discuss
Cicero’s view of Pompey. Consider a variety of possible reasons for Cicero supporting the Lex Manilia
To what extent does Cicero’s support of an unconstitutional command undermine the
Cursus Honorum ?
Who carries the blame; Manilius, Pompey,
Cicero, the Senate as a whole ?

Voted by people for lex Gabinia
(pirates) and lex Manilia
(Mithridates)
Imperium infinitum for 3 years.
Pirates - powers over the whole
Mediterranean and 50 miles inland, unlimited funds, men and ships.
Mithridates - permission to make war or peace on his own initiative.
Takes command of all forces under
Lucullus as well as his own existing army

•The Ascendancy of Pompey
•In 74 BC the King of Bythinia had died, leaving the country to Rome.
However the King of Pontus
Show More

Related Documents: Essay on Pompey The Great

Pompey The Great: Gnaeus Pompey's Military Genius

As talked about in past parts Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (Pompey the Great) was conceived in 106 BC in the northern Italian town of Picenum. Despite the fact that not a local Roman family, the Pompeys were good at making advances into Senate seats. His father, Pompey Strabo, was chosen representative in 89 BC, and was a refined general who served Rome in the Marsic Social War, and also the common wars of Marius and Sulla. By the age of 17, Pompey was a dynamic member in his father's crusades and was…

Words 539 - Pages 3

Gnaeus Pompey: Fall Of The Roman Republic

Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus, also known as Pompey or Pompey the Great, was a military leader and politician of the fall of the Roman Republic. He was born in 106BC into a family of moderate distinction in Picenum, Northern Italy. His father was one of the most successful and independent Roman generals in the war and was the first to establish their family in Roman nobility. Pompey had immense success as a general when he was still very young, which allowed him to advance directly to his first consulship…

Words 221 - Pages 1

Pompey Accomplishments

doing so he conquered many lands in the east, and fought successful battles against the Colchians, Albanians, Iberians, Armenians, Medes, Arabs, and Jews. He also formed cities, and captured ships. In extending Rome's rule in the Eastern nations, Pompey treated the various nations differently. He did not have any uniform policy. For examples he placed some nations under Roman rule, some he let go free and made the allies and others he distributed to vassal-kings. As for the soldiers that worked alongside…

Words 340 - Pages 2

How Did Julius Caesar Influence Rome

Julius Caesar was a great Roman General and leader. Caesar was born to Gaius and Aurelia Caesar, who were rumored to be descended from the Trojan prince, Aeneas. Throughout his life, Caesar made a huge impact on Rome, from reforming the government, to relieving debt. Caesar began studying politics after the death of Sulla. He became consul and eventually became dictator for life. Julius Caesar is famous for his deeds in Ancient Rome. In 59 BC, Caesar was elected consul, an important government position…

Words 513 - Pages 3

hsc Julius Caesar Essay

family was not successful in maintaining the high rank that they had acquired. They were privileged in that they were patricians but they had only managed to produce two consuls in the previous two centuries. This means that they could not have had a great fortune. However, they still retained some of their pride. This was shown in Caesar’s speech when he was 30 saying that his father’s family is descended from the kings, that his grandfather was related to the immortals and that the Julian family is…

Words 7913 - Pages 32

Julius Caesar Research Paper

war against Pompey. Caesar also had success in reforming the Roman government which made a countless amount of people adore him. However, though a numerous amount of people believed Caesar was a powerful and marvelous man, a ginormous amount of other people found him not as marvelous. Caesar was a great military leader and transformed the empire of Rome to be the best it could be. He was also the best…

Words 695 - Pages 3

The Caesar Civil War

being able to rule almost the whole world being a great power but incapable of ruling itself. Authority was mainly in the hands of the senators that were selected by the Romans; however, there were always internal…

Words 772 - Pages 4

Essay Julius Caesar

and land to Rome. With his brilliant leadership of the Roman legions he gained fierce loyalty. After serving as proconsul in Spain in 61 BC, Julius returned to Rome hoping to be elected consul. He formed an alliance with two men named Pompey and Crassus. Pompey held the position of commander in chief of the army and Crassus was the most wealthy man in Rome. Their alliance was known as the First Triumvirate. Caesar became consul and one of the first things he did was provide land for 20,000 citizens and veterans…

Words 949 - Pages 4

Julius Caesar Biography Essay

speaker, and Caesar started climbing the ranks of the Roman political system. In 61-60 BC he served as governor of the Roman province of Spain. When he came back to Rome in 60 BC as a forty year old man, Caesar made a deal with the powerful general Pompey and a wealthy Roman named Crassus. They helped him to get elected as consul for 59 BC. A consul position was similar to a president but there were two consuls, and the position was only held for one year. The following year, he was appointed governor…

Words 523 - Pages 3

Vindication: Virtue and Wollstonecraft Essay

fancy, the favourites of the sex, who outwardly respect and inwardly despise the weak creatures whom they sport with” (204). Men are the ones who boast about their sexual conquests over women in private, much like Pompey in the play, “Measure for Measure”. In Wollstonecrafts opinion, Pompey would be the perfect example of a man who by societal definition has “true” virtue but in reality does not because he merely pretends to respect women and then is privately audacious. The elder brother in “Moll…

Words 1531 - Pages 7