Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (died AD 47) was a noble Roman who lived during the 1st century. (He is not to be confused with his namesake
Pompey the Great
Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (; 29 September 106 BC – 28 September 48 BC), known in English as Pompey or Pompey the Great, was a leading Roman general and statesman. He played a significant role in the transformation of ...
.) Pompeius was one of the sons of the consul of the year AD 27,
Marcus Licinius Crassus Frugi
Marcus Licinius Crassus Frugi (flourished 1st century AD) was a Ancient Rome, Roman nobleman of consular rank who lived during the Roman Empire. Frugi's mother was an unnamed Roman woman, while his father was consul and governor Marcus Licinius Cr ...
and
Scribonia.
Birth and family
According to
Suetonius
Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus (), commonly referred to as Suetonius ( ; c. AD 69 – after AD 122), was a Roman historian who wrote during the early Imperial era of the Roman Empire.
His most important surviving work is a set of biographies ...
, Pompeius was a nobleman of the highest ancient birth. Pompeius’ birth name is unknown, however by birth and adoption through his father, Pompeius was of the ''
gens
In ancient Rome, a gens ( or , ; plural: ''gentes'' ) was a family consisting of individuals who shared the same Roman naming conventions#Nomen, nomen and who claimed descent from a common ancestor. A branch of a gens was called a ''stirps'' (p ...
Licinia'', hence the nomen ''Licinius''. During the
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediterr ...
, it was common for Roman nobles to drop their paternal names and assume the names of their maternal ancestors. Roman nobles did this to either honour the memory of their ancestors or for adoption purposes.
His paternal grandfather was consul and governor
Marcus Licinius Crassus
Marcus Licinius Crassus (; 115 – 53 BC) was a Roman general and statesman who played a key role in the transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire. He is often called "the richest man in Rome." Wallechinsky, David & Wallace, I ...
. Crassus was the adoptive son of consul and general
Marcus Licinius Crassus
Marcus Licinius Crassus (; 115 – 53 BC) was a Roman general and statesman who played a key role in the transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire. He is often called "the richest man in Rome." Wallechinsky, David & Wallace, I ...
, who was the grandson of triumvir
Marcus Licinius Crassus
Marcus Licinius Crassus (; 115 – 53 BC) was a Roman general and statesman who played a key role in the transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire. He is often called "the richest man in Rome." Wallechinsky, David & Wallace, I ...
. He was the last known direct descendant of the triumvir and was the last known direct descendant of the triumvir who bore his name.
Life and career
Little is known on the life of Pompeius. During the reign of
Roman Emperor Caligula
Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (31 August 12 – 24 January 41), better known by his nickname Caligula (), was the third Roman emperor, ruling from 37 until his assassination in 41. He was the son of the popular Roman general Germanicu ...
(reigned AD 37–41), the emperor removed his
cognomen ''Magnus'' or ''The Great'' from him and wouldn't allow Pompeius to use his cognomen. When Caligula was assassinated in AD 41, his paternal uncle
Claudius
Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (; 1 August 10 BC – 13 October AD 54) was the fourth Roman emperor, ruling from AD 41 to 54. A member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, Claudius was born to Nero Claudius Drusus, Drusu ...
became the new emperor. Claudius restored Pompeius' cognomen to him.
Pompeius’ father gained the favour of the new emperor and it was probably through this favour, that Claudius arranged for Pompeius to marry
Claudia Antonia
Claudia Antonia (Classical Latin: ANTONIA•CLAUDII•CAESARIS•FILIA (edd), ''Prosopographia Imperii Romani saeculi I, II et III'', Berlin, 1933 - A 886) (c. AD 30–AD 66) was the daughter and oldest surviving child of the Roman Emperor ...
, Claudius’ daughter and only child from his second marriage to
Aelia Paetina
Aelia Paetina or Paetina (fl. early 1st century AD) was the second wife of the Roman Emperor Claudius. Her biological father was a consul of 4 AD, Sextus Aelius Catus, while her mother is unknown.
Family
She was born into the family of the A ...
. Antonia and Pompeius married in AD 43.
Claudius had successfully conquered
Britain and added it as a province to the Roman Empire. Claudius sent Pompeius to the
Roman Senate
The Roman Senate ( la, Senātus Rōmānus) was a governing and advisory assembly in ancient Rome. It was one of the most enduring institutions in Roman history, being established in the first days of the city of Rome (traditionally founded in ...
to proclaim to the senators that his father-in-law had conquered Britain.
According to
Suetonius
Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus (), commonly referred to as Suetonius ( ; c. AD 69 – after AD 122), was a Roman historian who wrote during the early Imperial era of the Roman Empire.
His most important surviving work is a set of biographies ...
, Pompeius died in AD 47, because he was stabbed to death while in bed with a favourite boyfriend.
Cassius Dio
Lucius Cassius Dio (), also known as Dio Cassius ( ), was a Roman historian and senator of maternal Greek origin. He published 80 volumes of the history on ancient Rome, beginning with the arrival of Aeneas in Italy. The volumes documented the ...
states that Roman Empress
Valeria Messalina
Valeria Messalina (; ) was the third wife of Roman emperor Claudius. She was a paternal cousin of Emperor Nero, a second cousin of Emperor Caligula, and a great-grandniece of Emperor Augustus. A powerful and influential woman with a reputation ...
(who was Claudius' third wife and out of her fear of Pompeius being a rival to Messalina and Claudius’ son,
Britannicus
Tiberius Claudius Caesar Britannicus (12 February AD 41 – 11 February AD 55), usually called Britannicus, was the son of Roman emperor Claudius and his third wife Valeria Messalina. For a time he was considered his father's heir, but that ...
) ordered his death. With the death of Pompeius, Antonia married
Faustus Cornelius Sulla Felix
Faustus Cornelius Sulla Felix (22 – 62 AD) was one of the lesser known figures of the Julio-Claudian dynasty of Ancient Rome.
Life
Felix was the son of Domitia Lepida the Younger and the suffect consul of 31, Faustus Cornelius Sulla Lucullus, a ...
, Messalina's half-brother, in order to strengthen the bloodline of the
Julio-Claudian dynasty
, native_name_lang=Latin, coat of arms=Great_Cameo_of_France-removebg.png, image_size=260px, caption= The Great Cameo of France depicting emperors Augustus, Tiberius, Claudius and Nero, type= Ancient Roman dynasty, country= Roman Empire, estates=* ...
. Pompeius had no children with Antonia.
After Pompeius died his remains were interred in the tomb of the ''Licinii Calpurnii'' located on the
Via Salaria
The Via Salaria was an ancient Roman road in Italy.
It eventually ran from Rome (from Porta Salaria of the Aurelian Walls) to ''Castrum Truentinum'' (Porto d'Ascoli) on the Adriatic coast, a distance of 242 km. The road also passed throug ...
. Engraved on the urn of Pompeius is this text:
:"
ere liesGnaeus Pompeius Magnus, son of Crassus, pontiff, quaestor of the Emperor Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, his father-in-law
"
In fiction
Pompeius is a character in
Robert Graves
Captain Robert von Ranke Graves (24 July 1895 – 7 December 1985) was a British poet, historical novelist and critic. His father was Alfred Perceval Graves, a celebrated Irish poet and figure in the Gaelic revival; they were both Celtic ...
' novel ''Claudius the God'' (the sequel to ''
I, Claudius''). This account claims that Claudius had Pompeius killed as the latter engaged in unnatural sexual practices with the former's daughter. He was omitted from the 1976 television adaptation.
See also
*
Licinia gens
The gens Licinia was a celebrated plebeian family at ancient Rome, which appears from the earliest days of the Republic until imperial times, and which eventually obtained the imperial dignity. The first of the gens to obtain the consulship was ...
*
Pompeia gens
The gens Pompeia was a plebeian family at ancient Rome, first appearing in history during the second century BC, and frequently occupying the highest offices of the Roman state from then until imperial times. The first of the Pompeii to obtain t ...
References
Sources
*Suetonius – The Lives of the Twelve Caesars – Caligula & Claudius
*http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/2825.html
*http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/Places/Europe/Italy/Lazio/Roma/Rome/_Texts/Lanciani/LANPAC/6*.html
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pompeius Magnus, Gnaeus
1st-century Romans
47 deaths
Deaths by stabbing in Rome
Licinii
Year of birth unknown