Pompey the Great summary

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Pompey the Great, in full Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus, (born Sept. 29, 106 bce, Rome—died Sept. 28, 48 bce, Pelusium, Egypt), Statesman and general of the Roman Republic. His early military career was illustrious. He fought effectively for Sulla against Marius in the Social War, reconquered Spain (76–71), utterly destroyed the army of Spartacus (71), destroyed the pirates of the eastern Mediterranean (from 67), defeated Mithradates (63), and consolidated and extended the eastern provinces and frontier kingdoms. In 61 he formed the First Triumvirate with Julius Caesar and Marcus Licinius Crassus. After Crassus’s death in 53, Pompey and Caesar fell out. By 52, with Rome in a state of anarchy, Pompey was named sole consul. In 49 Caesar defied the Senate and provoked civil war by crossing the Rubicon in pursuit of Pompey, who fled east with his navy. After being defeated at the Battle of Pharsalus (48), Pompey fled with his fleet to Egypt, not realizing that the Egyptians would take Caesar’s side, and was killed as he prepared to step on land from the boat they had sent to bring him ashore.

army Summary

Army, a large organized armed force trained for war, especially on land. The term may be applied to a large unit organized for independent action, or it may be applied to a nation’s or ruler’s complete military organization for land warfare. Throughout history, the character and organization of

Julius Caesar, marble bust; in the Capitoline Museums, Rome.

Battle of Pharsalus Summary

Battle of Pharsalus, (48 bce), the decisive engagement in the Roman civil war (49–45 bce) between Julius Caesar and Pompey the Great. After failing to subdue his enemies at Dyrrhachium (now Dürres, Albania), Caesar clashed with Pompey somewhere near Pharsalus (now Fársala, Greece). Although Caesar

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