Pompey

(0000-1948)

Roman general and statesman (106-48 BC)

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Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (29 September 106 BC – 28 September 48 BC), usually rendered in English as Pompey the Great or simply Pompey (), was a leading Roman general and statesman, whose career was significant in Rome's transformation from a republic to empire. He was for a time a political ally and later enemy of Julius Caesar. A member of the senatorial nobility, Pompey entered a military career while still young and rose to prominence serving the later dictator Sulla as a commander in Sulla's civil war, his success at which earned him the cognomen Magnus – "the Great" – after Pompey's boyhood hero Alexander the Great. His adversaries also gave him the nickname adulescentulus carnifex ("teenage butcher") for his ruthlessness. Pompey's success as a general while still young enabled him to advance directly to his first consulship without meeting the normal cursus honorum (requirements for office). He was consul three times and celebrated three Roman triumphs.