Gnaeus Pompeius should not be confused with his father, Gnaeus Pompeius MagnusGnaeus Pompeius Magnus, also known as Pompey or Pompey the Great , was a military and political leader of the late Roman Republic...
, known as "Pompey the Great."
Gnaeus PompeiusPompeius , sometimes anglicized as Pompey, is the nomen of the gens Pompeia, an important family of ancient Rome from the Italian region of Picenum, which lies between the Apennines and the Adriatic...
(ca. 75 BC – April 12, 45 BC), also known as
Pompey the Younger (sometimes spelled Cneius, Gneius), was a
RomanAncient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
politician and general from the late
RepublicThe Roman Republic was the period of the ancient Roman civilization where the government operated as a republic. It began with the overthrow of the Roman monarchy, traditionally dated around 508 BC, and its replacement by a government headed by two consuls, elected annually by the citizens and...
(1st century BC).
Gnaeus Pompeius was the elder son of
Pompey the GreatGnaeus Pompeius Magnus, also known as Pompey or Pompey the Great , was a military and political leader of the late Roman Republic...
(Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus) by his third wife,
Mucia TertiaMucia Tertia was a Roman matrona who lived in the 1st century BC. She was the daughter of Quintus Mucius Scaevola, the pontifex maximus, consul in 95 BC. Her mother was a Licinia that divorced her father to marry Quintus Caecilius Metellus Nepos, in a scandal mentioned by several sources...
. Both he and his younger brother Sextus Pompey grew up in the shadow of their father, one of Rome's best generals and not originally a conservative politician who drifted to the more traditional faction when
Julius CaesarGaius Julius Caesar was a Roman general and statesman and a distinguished writer of Latin prose. He played a critical role in the gradual transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire....
became a threat. When Caesar crossed the
RubiconThe Rubicon is a shallow river in northeastern Italy, about 80 kilometres long, running from the Apennine Mountains to the Adriatic Sea through the southern Emilia-Romagna region, between the towns of Rimini and Cesena. The Latin word rubico comes from the adjective "rubeus", meaning "red"...
in 49 BC, thus starting a civil war, Gnaeus followed his father in their escape to the East, as did most of the conservative
senatorsThe Senate of the Roman Republic was a political institution in the ancient Roman Republic, however, it was not an elected body, but one whose members were appointed by the consuls, and later by the censors. After a magistrate served his term in office, it usually was followed with automatic...
. Pompey's army lost the
Battle of PharsalusThe Battle of Pharsalus was a decisive battle of Caesar's Civil War. On 9 August 48 BC at Pharsalus in central Greece, Gaius Julius Caesar and his allies formed up opposite the army of the republic under the command of Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus...
in 48 BC, and Pompey himself had to run for his life, only to be murdered in Egypt on September 29 of the same year.
After the murder, Gnaeus and his brother Sextus joined the resistance against Caesar in the
Africa ProvinceThe Roman province of Africa was established after the Romans defeated Carthage in the Third Punic War. It roughly comprised the territory of present-day northern Tunisia, and the small Mediterranean coast of modern-day western Libya along the Syrtis Minor...
. Together with
Metellus ScipioQuintus Caecilius Metellus Pius Scipio Nasica , in modern scholarship often as Metellus Scipio, was a Roman consul and military commander in the Late Republic. During the civil war between Julius Caesar and the senatorial faction led by Pompeius Magnus , he remained a staunch optimate...
,
Cato the YoungerMarcus Porcius Cato Uticensis , commonly known as Cato the Younger to distinguish him from his great-grandfather , was a politician and statesman in the late Roman Republic, and a follower of the Stoic philosophy...
and other senators, they prepared to oppose Caesar and his army to the end. Caesar defeated Metellus Scipio and Cato, who subsequently committed suicide, at the
Battle of ThapsusThe Battle of Thapsus took place on April 6, 46 BC near Thapsus . The Republican forces of the Optimates, led by Quintus Caecillius Metellus Scipio, clashed with the veteran forces loyal to Julius Caesar.-Prelude:...
in 46 BC. Gnaeus escaped once again, this time to the
Balearic IslandsThe Balearic Islands are an archipelago of Spain in the western Mediterranean Sea, near the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula.The four largest islands are: Majorca, Minorca, Ibiza and Formentera. The archipelago forms an autonomous community and a province of Spain with Palma as the capital...
, where he joined Sextus. Together with
Titus LabienusTitus Atius Labienus was a professional Roman soldier in the late Roman Republic. He served as Tribune of the Plebs in 63 BC, and is remembered as one of Julius Caesar's lieutenants, mentioned frequently in the accounts of his military campaigns...
, former general in Caesar's army, the Pompey brothers crossed over to
HispaniaAnother theory holds that the name derives from Ezpanna, the Basque word for "border" or "edge", thus meaning the farthest area or place. Isidore of Sevilla considered Hispania derived from Hispalis....
(the
Iberian PeninsulaThe Iberian Peninsula , sometimes called Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe and includes the modern-day sovereign states of Spain, Portugal and Andorra, as well as the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar...
, comprising modern
SpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
and
PortugalPortugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
), where they raised yet another army.
Caesar soon followed and, on March 17, 45 BC, the armies met in the
battle of MundaThe Battle of Munda took place on March 17, 45 BC in the plains of Munda, modern southern Spain. This was the last battle of Julius Caesar's civil war against the republican armies of the Optimate leaders...
. Both armies were large and led by able generals. The battle was closely fought, but eventually a cavalry charge by Caesar turned events to his side. In the battle and the panicked escape that followed, Titus Labienus and an estimated 30,000 men of the Pompeian side died. Gnaeus and Sextus managed to escape once again. However, this time, supporters were difficult to find because it was by now clear Caesar had won the civil war. Within a few weeks, Gnaeus Pompeius was caught and executed for treason. Sextus Pompeius was able to keep one step ahead of his enemies, and survived his brother for yet another decade.
Gnaeus Pompeius married
Claudia PulchraClaudia Pulchra was the name of several women of Roman gens of Claudii during the 1st century BC and 1st century AD. The Latin pulchra is the root of the English word pulchritude .-Wife of Tiberius Gracchus:...
, who survived him; they had no children.