Pompey

Pompey the Great.  At age 17, Pompey fought alongside his father against Gaius Marius and Lucius Cornelius Cinna. In 84 B.C. he raised three legions and defeated the Marian party and earned the moniker Magnus or "Great." Pompey went on to defeat supporters of Marcus Aemilius Lepidus whom he'd previously driven out of Italy, and annihilated the Marian party in Spain in 76 B.C.

He later ended the Servile War brought about by Spartacus. In 70 B.C. he was elected consul and served with Marcus Licinius Crassus. Between 65 and 62 B.C. Pompey went on to conquer Mithridates VI of Pontus; Tigranes the Great, King of Armenia; and Antiochus XIII of Syria. He subdued the Jews and captured Jerusalem.

When the senate failed to honor Pompey's victorious veterans, he and Marcus Licinius Crassus formed an alliance with Julius Caesar, creating the [First Triumvirate]. The coalition ran smoothly until Crassus' death in Syria. Pompey called for Caesar to disarm and return to Rome. Caesar disobeyed and the two engaged in fierce battles that yielded premature victory to Pompey until 48 B.C. when his army was defeated at Pharsalus. Pompey escaped to Egypt where he was murdered. 

Back to Julius Caesar.