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 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 nomen and who claimed descent from a common ancestor. A branch of a gens was called a ''stirps'' (plural: ''stirpes''). The ''gen ...

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 Medite ...

, 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, ...

. Crassus was the adoptive son of consul and general

, who was the grandson of triumvir

. 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 Germanic ...

(reigned AD 37–41), the emperor removed his

cognomen A ''cognomen'' (; plural ''cognomina''; from ''con-'' "together with" and ''(g)nomen'' "name") was the third name of a citizen of ancient Rome, under Roman naming conventions. Initially, it was a nickname, but lost that purpose when it became her ...

''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 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. Antonia and Pompeius married in AD 43. Claudius had successfully conquered

Britain Britain most often refers to: * The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands * Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...

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

, 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 (who was Claudius' third wife and out of her fear of Pompeius being a rival to Messalina and Claudius’ son, Britannicus) ordered his death. With the death of Pompeius, Antonia married Faustus Cornelius Sulla Felix, 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, estat ...

. 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 throu ...

. 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' novel ''Claudius the God'' (the sequel to ''

I, Claudius ''I, Claudius'' is a historical novel by English writer Robert Graves, published in 1934. Written in the form of an autobiography of the Roman Emperor Claudius, it tells the history of the Julio-Claudian dynasty and the early years of the R ...

''). 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.

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

Birth and family

Life and career

In fiction

See also

References

Sources