The Romans - Timelines

106 BC	Gnaeus Pompeius born 29 September, probably in Picenum.
89	Serves at Ausculum in the Social War under his father, Gnaeus Pompeius Strabo, consul in that year, who has raised an army in Picenum.
88	Strabo, replaced as commander by the consul Q. Pompeius Rufus, allows Rufus to be murdered and then resumes command.
87	Strabo, whose duty it is to defend Rome against Cinna and Marius, negotiates with Cinna, but dies during the general epidemic. His body is then dragged through the streets, and his house is ransacked by Cinna’s men.
86	Pompey is acquitted of illegally acquiring booty from Ausculum.
c.85	Marries Antistia.
83	Raises a private army of three legions in Picenum, with which he scores victories for Sulla over armies of the state. Sulla and Pompey hail each other as imperator.
82	Pompey defeats what remains of the army of Carbo, who has fled. He divorces Antistia in order to marry Aemilia, Sulla’s stepdaughter. Despatched to Sicily with the imperium of praetor, he catches up with Carbo, and has him executed. Further victories follow in Africa.
81	Sulla reluctantly grants Pompey a triumph, having just celebrated his own. At about this time Pompey assumes the surname Magnus (the “Great”).
80	Death of Aemilia. Pompey marries Mucia Tertia, with whom he has two sons, Gnaeus (b. 79) and Sextus (b. c.67), and a daughter.
79	Supports M. Aemilius Lepidus for the consulship for 78, thus losing the goodwill of Sulla, who cuts him out of his will.
78	Death of Sulla, whose funeral he organizes. By his operations in the north he assists ex-consul Q. Lutatius Catulus to defeat Lepidus.
77	Sent to Spain to assist in the campaign against Quintus Sertorius, a former supporter of Cinna and Marius.
71	The campaign over, Pompey returns to Italy, having set up a monument recording the taking by him and his troops of 876 cities. On his way he mops up fugitives from Crassus’s defeat of the army of Spartacus in the south. Awarded a second triumph. He and Crassus elected unopposed to consulships for 70.
70	As consul, is instrumental in restoring some of the powers of the tribunes of the people and in reviving the office of censor, which Sulla had abolished.
67	Lex Gabinia gives Pompey extraordinary powers against the pirates. He completes his three-year assignment in three months.
66	Appointed to replace L. Licinius Lucullus as governor in the east and to continue the conduct of the war against Mithridates, and also Mithridates's son-in-law, Tigranes, king of Armenia, who surrenders in 66. Pompey reorganizes the region to suit the interests of Rome, creating provinces, establishing city-states, and enrolling client-kingdoms.
63	Suicide of Mithridates. Pompey annexes Syria by conquest, and invades Judaea, which becomes subservient to the Roman governor of Syria.
62	Returns to Italy and disbands his army, demanding land for his veterans and ratification of his actions in the east. Divorces Mucia for alleged adultery. Requests marriage for himself with one of Cato’s nieces and for his son Gnaeus with her sister: Cato refuses.
61	Pompey’s third triumph. Plans the building of the Theatre of Pompey, dedicated in 55.
60	Forms the political understanding with Caesar and Crassus known as the “First Triumvirate”.
59	Consulship of Caesar, who ensures that land is made available for Pompey’s veterans and that Pompey’s actions in the east are ratified. Pompey marries Caesar’s daughter Julia, who at this time was probably about 16. It is a marriage of political convenience, but also of love.
58	Clodius drives Cicero into exile and begins a campaign of hatred and violence against Pompey.
57	Pompey secures for five years the post of corn supply supremo.
56	Renewal of arrangement between Caesar, Crassus, and Pompey.
55	Second consulship of Crassus and Pompey.
54	Pompey appointed to govern Spain for five years, which he does from Rome through his legates. Death of Julia in childbirth.
53	Death of Crassus in Parthia.
52	Death of Clodius. Pompey elected consul with immediate effect, and serves for some months without a colleague. His Spanish assignment is extended for another five years. His lex de provinciis establishes a compulsory five-year gap between holding an office of state and a provincial governorship. He marries as his fifth wife, Cornelia, widow of Crassus’s younger son and daughter of Q. Caecilius Metellus Pius Scipio, whom Pompey takes on as his consular colleague for the rest of the year.
51	There are attempts to deprive Caesar of his command.
50	Open differences between Caesar and Pompey. Each is ordered to relinquish one legion for service in the east. Pompey nominates one which he had lent to Caesar, who returns it and another. Pompey retains both.
49	Senate’s proposal finally to deprive Caesar of his command are vetoed by the tribunes Q. Cassius and Mark Antony. Threatened with violence, they take refuge with Caesar. Pompey authorized by senatus consultum ultimum to take over the running of the state. Caesar brings his troops across the Rubicon. Pompey orders the evacuation of Rome, and embarks his army to Greece from Brundisium. Caesar protects his rear by comprehensively defeating Pompey’s adherents in Spain before crossing to Greece.
48	Pompey impels Caesar to take extraordinary measures to extricate his forces from Dyrrachium. Caesar regroups his troops, and by superior tactics scores a great victory at Pharsalus. Pompey takes flight, hoping to find support in Egypt, where he is murdered as he steps ashore, while his wife can only look on from the ship which has brought them from Mytilene.
45	Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus, having rounded up support in Spain, is defeated at Munda, then hunted down and killed. His brother survives.
35	Sextus Pompeius Magnus, who has raised a fleet with which he captures Corsica, Sardinia, and Sicily and seriously disrupts Rome’s corn supplies, is executed for having failed to keep his side of the bargain agreed in 39.