Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus one of the great statesmen and generals of the late Roman Republic, a triumvir (61-54 BC), the associate and later opponent of Julius Caesar. He was initially called Magnus (the Great) by his troops in Africa (82-81 BC).

Pompey belonged to the senatorial nobility, although his family first achieved the office of consul only in 141. Fluent in Greek and a lifelong and intimate friend of Greek literati, he must have had the normal education of a young Roman nobleman; but his early experience on the staff of his father, Pompeius Strabo, did much to form his character, develop his military capabilities, and arouse his political ambition. The family possessed lands in Picenum, in eastern Italy, and a numerous body of clients, which Strabo greatly enlarged in the year of his consulship. In a civil war (88-87) between the rival generals Lucius Sulla and Gaius Marius, Strabo defied Sulla and favoured the M...