The humiliating death of Pompey the Great, Rome's most celebrated general

Pompey entered Roman political and military life at a time of deep crisis. Born in 106 BCE to Gnaeus Pompeius Strabo, a wealthy equestrian general from Picenum, he saw early battlefield service during the Social War, which forced Rome into conflict with its Italian allies over the right to Roman citizenship.

After his father’s death, he had raised three legions from his family estates and had offered his services to Lucius Cornelius Sulla during the civil war against the Marian faction.

His harsh treatment of opponents earned him the nickname adulescentulus carnifex, or "teenage butcher." 

During the campaigns in Sicily and Africa, Pompey’s swift action and hands-on command impressed Sulla, who granted him a triumph in 80 BCE for his African campaign and gave him the title “Magnus,” meaning “the Great,” even though Pompey held no official magistracy at the time.

By his mid-thirties, Pompey had already won two triumphs, his second in 71 BCE after defeating Sertorius’ supporters in Spain, and defeated enemies from multiple provinces.

His political career advanced quickly through military reputation and public support, and he consolidated his position through strategic marriages. 

After serving as consul with Crassus in 70 BCE, Pompey supported legislation that restored the powers of the tribunes of the plebs, which Sulla had previously reduced.

Then, in 67 BCE, the lex Gabinia granted him command over all Roman forces in the Mediterranean to defeat piracy.

He divided the sea into sectors and eliminated pirate strongholds in only 40 days, and this restored safe trade across the region.

Not long after, the lex Manilia gave him the authority to replace Lucullus in the ongoing Third Mithridatic War against Mithridates VI of Pontus. 

From 66 to 62 BCE, Pompey swept through Asia Minor, Syria, and Judaea, where he defeated Mithridates, took territory, and reorganised the East.

He incorporated Syria as a Roman province, founded or renamed cities such as Pompeiopolis in Paphlagonia, and settled the eastern frontier.

His settlement in the East roughly doubled Rome's revenue and secured the frontier.

However, when he returned to Rome, conservative senators blocked his efforts to have these reforms approved.

Without an army and because he lacked support in the Senate, he pursued a political solution through alliance. 

In 60 BCE, he entered into a private deal with Julius Caesar and Marcus Licinius Crassus.

This First Triumvirate allowed Pompey to secure land for his veterans and official approval for his eastern commands.

As part of the arrangement, he married Caesar’s daughter Julia, which created a close personal bond between them.

Together, the three controlled elections and legislation, and they used political favours to ensure Pompey maintained authority in the city without resorting to military power. 

Pompey’s relationship with Caesar fell apart in the years that followed. Julia died in childbirth in 54 BCE, removing the strongest personal bond between them.

Then, in 53 BCE, Crassus fell at the Battle of Carrhae, leaving a dangerous power vacuum between the remaining two men.

By 52 BCE, political violence had reached such a height that the Senate appointed Pompey sole consul to restore order after Clodius Pulcher’s murder.

With that command, he realigned himself with the senatorial elite and slowly distanced himself from Caesar. 

Over the following years, Caesar’s enemies in the Senate worked to curtail his influence.

As his term as proconsul in Gaul neared its end, they demanded that he return to Rome and disband his army before standing for consulship in absentia.

Aware that returning without military protection could lead to prosecution or exile, Caesar refused.

On 10 January 49 BCE, he crossed the Rubicon River with Legio XIII and advanced into Italy, declaring that no retreat remained possible. 

Pompey was surprised by Caesar’s speed and supported by a Senate that lacked unity, so had abandoned Rome and had withdrawn to Brundisium.

From there, he evacuated his forces to Greece because he believed that Caesar could not pursue him without naval superiority.

In the East, Pompey commanded loyalty among client kings, controlled the grain supply, and held the advantage in troops.

He assembled a force of roughly 45,000 infantry and 7,000 cavalry, which were twice the size of Caesar’s, and prepared for a war meant to wear Caesar's forces down. 

Caesar crossed into Greece in early 48 BCE with around 22,000 infantry and 1,000 cavalry and limited supplies.

After several months during which the two forces maneuvered, they clashed at Dyrrachium, where Pompey successfully forced Caesar into retreat.

However, Pompey hesitated rather than press his advantage. This delay had allowed Caesar to regroup and to lure him into battle at Pharsalus.

On 9 August 48 BCE, Caesar’s disciplined veterans broke through Pompey’s superior numbers.

The senatorial army collapsed, and Pompey fled once again after he had lost both the field and his reputation. 

With his defeat at Pharsalus complete and most of his officers either captured or dead, Pompey boarded a merchant ship and sailed east.

Accompanied by his wife Cornelia, daughter of Metellus Scipio, and a few attendants, he headed for Egypt, where he had previously helped settle a dynastic conflict by supporting Ptolemy XII Auletes.

The current ruler, Ptolemy XIII ruled Egypt after his father had been restored to power through Roman military intervention, although it was Aulus Gabinius, not Pompey, who led that effort.. 

Pompey expected to receive protection from the young king and his court. Before landing, he had sent messengers to the Egyptian shore so that he could request an audience and offer his service in exchange for shelter.

Meanwhile, Ptolemy’s advisers, who included the eunuch Pothinus, the general Achillas, and the tutor Theodotus of Chios, held a council to decide how to respond.

Egypt had only recently emerged from a civil conflict, and its internal politics remained fragile.

Ptolemy was also engaged in a succession dispute with his sister and co-ruler, Cleopatra VII. 

Knowing that Caesar had already landed in pursuit, the royal court feared punishment if they aided his rival.

They concluded that the safest course would be to kill Pompey before Caesar arrived.

They believed that such a gesture would please Caesar and eliminate the risk of a prolonged power struggle within Egypt.

Although Pompey had once held near-total power in the Roman world, the boy-king’s advisers saw no value in his survival. 

The Egyptians sent out a small boat under the command of Achillas to meet Pompey at sea.

Cornelia remained aboard the main ship while her husband stepped into the craft with two attendants and a freedman.

As they rowed toward the shore near Pelusium, no soldiers greeted them. Instead, the killers concealed their weapons beneath their tunics and waited until the boat was clear of witnesses. 

On 28 September 48 BCE, Achillas and his men stabbed Pompey to death in the boat before it even reached the beach.

The first blow came from Septimius, a former officer who had previously served under him during earlier campaigns.

They decapitated him and left his body floating in the shallows, while Cornelia, who watched from the deck of their ship, screamed in horror.

No funeral followed. Instead, his body was burned on the sand by a freedman named Philip, who gathered driftwood and built a small pyre. 

The Egyptian courtiers placed his severed head in a basket and preserved it in salt.

When Caesar landed in Alexandria a few days later, they presented it to him as a gift.

According to Plutarch, Caesar wept when he saw it, either in genuine sorrow or as a public display of grief.

He is also reported to have said, "This was not what I wanted. Whoever tells me that I should rejoice in this does not understand me."

Although the two men had become enemies, Caesar had once regarded Pompey as a friend, a family member, and a rival worthy of respect. 

Pompey’s death shocked Rome's elites. Many saw it as both an act of cowardice and an insult to Roman dignity.

Cicero mourned the fall of a man who had once held so much power and influence.

For a general who had marched in triumph, held consulship three times, and secured victories across Africa, Europe, and Asia, his end came without honour.

Betrayed by foreign allies and discarded by former supporters, he died alone and powerless, stripped of the honours that once defined him.