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March 17

March 17

March 17 is the 76th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (77th in Leap years). There are 289 days remaining.

Events

- 45 BC - In his last victory, Julius Caesar defeats the Pompeian forces of Titus Labienus and Pompey the Younger in the Battle of Munda.
- 1577 - The Cathay Company is formed to send Martin Frobisher back to the New World for more gold.
- 1673 - Jacques Marquette and Louis Jolliet begin their exploration of the Great Lakes and the Mississippi river.
- 1756 - St. Patrick's Day is celebrated in New York City for the first time (at the Crown and Thistle Tavern).
- 1776 - American Revolution: British forces evacuate Boston, Massachusetts after George Washington places artillery overlooking the city.
- 1805 - The Italian Republic, with Napoleon as president, becomes the Kingdom of Italy, with Napoleon as King.
- 1821 - Mani declared war on the Ottoman Empire starting the Greek War of Independence.
- 1845 - The rubber band is invented
- 1861 - The Kingdom of Italy is proclaimed.
- 1886 - Carrollton Massacre: 20 African Americans are killed in Mississippi.
- 1891 - The British steamship SS Utopia sinks off the coast of Gibraltar, killing 574.
- 1901 - A showing of 71 Vincent van Gogh paintings in Paris, 11 years after his death, creates a sensation.
- 1910 - Luther Gulick and his wife Charlotte found Camp Fire Girls (now Camp Fire USA) (formally announced in 1912).
- 1921 - The Second Republic of Poland adopts the March Constitution.
- 1931 - Nevada legalizes gambling.
- 1939 - Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945): The Battle of Nanchang between the Kuomintang and the Japanese break out.
- 1941 - In Washington, DC, the National Gallery of Art is officially opened by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
- 1948 - Benelux, France, and the United Kingdom sign the Treaty of Brussels, a precursor to the NATO Agreement.
- 1950 - University of California, Berkeley researchers announce the creation of element 98, which they name "Californium".
- 1958 - The United States launches the Vanguard 1 satellite.
- 1959 - Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, flees Tibet and travels to India.
- 1966 - Off the coast of Spain in the Mediterranean, the Alvin submarine finds a missing American hydrogen bomb.
- 1969 - Golda Meir of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA, becomes Prime Minister of Israel.
- 1970 - My Lai massacre: The United States Army charges 14 officers with suppressing information related to the incident.
- 1985 - Serial killer Richard Ramirez, the "Night Stalker", commits his first two murders in Los Angeles, California murder spree.
- 1988 - A Colombian Boeing 727 jetliner, Avianca Flight 410, crashes into the side of the mountains near the Venezuelan border killing 143.
- 1992 - A suicide car-bomb kills 29 and injures 242 at the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
- 2003 - British Cabinet Minister, Robin Cook, resigns over government plans for war with Iraq.
- 2004 - Massive Unrest in Kosovo. Over 22 killed, 200 wounded, 35 destroyed Serb Orthodox shrines in Kosovo and two mosques in Belgrade and Nis.

Births

- 1231 - Emperor Shijo of Japan (d. 1252)
- 1473 - King James IV of Scotland (d. 1513)
- 1628 - François Girardon, French sculptor (d. 1715)
- 1676 - Thomas Boston, Scottish church leader (d. 1732)
- 1725 - Lachlan McIntosh, Scottish-born American military and political leader (d. 1806)
- 1777 - Roger Taney, Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court (d. 1864)
- 1780 - Thomas Chalmers, Scottish pastor, social reformer, author, and scientist (d. 1847)
- 1804 - Jim Bridger, American trapper and explorer (d. 1881)
- 1820 - Jean Ingelow, English poet (d. 1897)
- 1834 - Gottlieb Daimler, German engineer and inventor (d. 1900)
- 1846 - Kate Greenaway, English children's author and illustrator (d. 1901)
- 1862 - Silvio Gesell, Belgian economist (d. 1930)
- 1866 - Pierce Butler, Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (d. 1939)
- 1870 - Horace Donisthorpe, British entomologist (d. 1951)
- 1880 - Sir Patrick Hastings, British barrister (d. 1952)
- 1881 - Walter Rudolf Hess, Swiss physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1973)
- 1883 - Urmuz, Romanian writer (d. 1923)
- 1884 - Alcide Nunez, American jazz clarinetist (d. 1934)
- 1892 - Benjamin Drake Van Wissen, Australian Engineer.
- 1894 - Paul Green, American writer (d. 1981)
- 1895 - Shemp Howard, actor (d. 1955)
- 1901 - Alfred Newman, American film composer (d. 1970)
- 1902 - Bobby Jones, American golfer (d. 1971)
- 1908 - Brigitte Helm, German actress (d. 1996)
- 1912 - Bayard Rustin, American civil rights activist (d. 1987)
- 1914 - Sammy Baugh, American football player
- 1916 - Ray Ellington, British singer (d. 1985)
- 1918 - Mercedes McCambridge, American actress (d. 2004)
- 1919 - Nat King Cole, American singer (d. 1965)
- 1920 - Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Prime Minister of Bangladesh (d. 1975)
- 1926 - Siegfried Lenz, German writer
- 1930 - James Irwin, astronaut (d. 1991)
- 1936 - Ladislav Kupkovic, Slovakian composer
- 1936 - Ken Mattingly, astronaut
- 1938 - Rudolf Nureyev, Russian-born dancer and choreographer (d. 1993)
- 1940 - Mark White, American politician
- 1941 - Paul Kantner, American musician (Jefferson Airplane)
- 1942 - John Wayne Gacy, American serial killer (d. 1994)
- 1944 - Pattie Boyd, British photographer and model
- 1944 - Cito Gaston, baseball player and coach
- 1944 - John Sebastian, American singer and songwriter
- 1945 - Elis Regina, Brazilian singer (d. 1982)
- 1946 - Georges J.F. Kohler, German biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1995)
- 1947 - James Morrow, author
- 1948 - William Gibson, American-born writer
- 1949 - Patrick Duffy, American actor
- 1950 - Patrick Adams, American record producer and songwriter
- 1951 - Kurt Russell, American actor
- 1954 - Lesley-Anne Down, English actress
- 1955 - Gary Sinise, American actor
- 1956 - Patrick McDonnell, American cartoonist
- 1957 - Michael Kelly, American journalist (d. 2003)
- 1959 - Danny Ainge, American basketball player and coach
- 1961 - Casey Siemaszko, American actor
- 1964 - Rob Lowe, American actor
- 1967 - William Patrick Corgan, Jr., American musician
- 1967 - Barry Minkow, American businessman
- 1969 - Mathew St. Patrick, American actor
- 1972 - Mia Hamm, American soccer player
- 1973 - Caroline Corr, Irish singer and musician
- 1973 - Rico Blanco, Filipino singer (Rivermaya)
- 1975 - Justin Hawkins, British singer (The Darkness)
- 1976 - Stephen Gately, Irish singer, musician, and actor (Boyzone)
- 1979 - Andrew Ference, Canadian hockey player

Deaths

- 45 BC - Titus Labienus, Roman leader (in battle)
- 45 BC - Gnaeus Pompeius, the Younger, Roman general (executed)
- 180 - Marcus Aurelius, Roman emperor (b. 121)
- 461 - Saint Patrick, patron saint of Ireland
- 1040 - Harold Harefoot, King of England
- 1058 - King Lulach I of Scotland
- 1272 - Emperor Go-Saga of Japan (b. 1220)
- 1425 - Ashikaga Yoshikazu, Japanese shogun (b. 1407)
- 1516 - Giuliano di Lorenzo de' Medici, ruler of Florence (b. 1478)
- 1565 - Alexander Ales, Scottish theologian (b. 1500)
- 1640 - Philip Massinger, English dramatist (b. 1583)
- 1680 - François de La Rochefoucauld, French writer (b. 1613)
- 1704 - Menno van Coehoorn, Dutch military engineer (b. 1641)
- 1715 - Gilbert Burnet, Scottish Bishop of Salisbury (b. 1643)
- 1741 - Jean-Baptiste Rousseau, French poet (b. 1671)
- 1764 - George Parker, 2nd Earl of Macclesfield, English astronomer
- 1782 - Daniel Bernoulli, Dutch-born mathematician (b. 1700)
- 1830 - Laurent, Marquis de Gouvion Saint-Cyr, French marshal (b. 1764)
- 1846 - Friedrich Bessel, German mathematician and astronomer (b. 1784)
- 1849 - William II of the Netherlands (b. 1792)
- 1853 - Christian Doppler, Austrian physician and mathematician (b. 1803)
- 1893 - Jules Ferry, French statesman (b. 1832)
- 1917 - Franz Brentano, German philosopher and psychologist (b. 1838)
- 1937 - Austen Chamberlain, English statesman, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1863)
- 1956 - Fred Allen, American actor and comedian (b. 1894)
- 1956 - Irene Joliot-Curie, French physicist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (b. 1897)
- 1957 - Ramon Magsaysay, President of the Philippines (b. 1907)
- 1965 - Amos Alonzo Stagg, baseball, basketball, and football coach and player (b. 1862)
- 1976 - Luchino Visconti, Italian director (b. 1906)
- 1983 - Haldan Keffer Hartline, American physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1903)
- 1987 - Santo Trafficante, Jr., American gangster (b. 1914)
- 1989 - Merritt Butrick, American actor (b. 1959)
- 1990 - Capucine, French actress (b. 1931)
- 1993 - Helen Hayes, American actress (b. 1900)
- 1995 - Ronnie Kray, British gangster (b. 1933)
- 1999 - Ernest Gold, Austrian composer (b. 1921)
- 1999 - Rod Hull, British comedian (b. 1936)
- 2002 - Rosetta LeNoire, American actress and producer (b. 1911)
- 2002 - Pat Weaver, American broadcast executive (b. 1908)
- 2004 - J.J. Jackson, American television personality (b. 1941)
- 2005 - George F. Kennan, American Cold War strategist and historian (b. 1904)
- 2005 - Andre Norton, American writer (b. 1912)

Holidays and observances

- Ancient Latvia - Kustonu Diena observed
- Boston, Massachusetts - Evacuation Day
- Feast day of St Patrick: a public holiday in Ireland and Montserrat, widely celebrated in North America (see St. Patrick's Day)
- ancient Rome - the second day of the Bacchanalia in honor of Bacchus
- ancient Rome - the Liberalia in honor of Liber

External links

- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/17 BBC: On This Day]
- [http://www.tnl.net/when/3/17 Today in History: March 17] ---- March 16 - March 18 - February 17 - April 17 -- listing of all days ko:3월 17일 ms:17 Mac ja:3月17日 simple:March 17 th:17 มีนาคม

March 17

March 17 is the 76th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (77th in Leap years). There are 289 days remaining.

Events

Births

Deaths

Holidays and observances

External links

76 (number)

76 is the natural number following 75 and preceding 77.


Cardinal	seventy-six
Ordinal	76th (seventy-sixth)
Factorization	$76 = 2^2 \cdot 19$
Divisors	2, 4, 19, 38
Roman numeral	LXXVI
Binary	1001100
Hexadecimal	4C

In mathematics

Seventy-six is a Lucas number, an automorphic number, a nontotient, a 14-gonal number, and a centered pentagonal number.

In science

- The atomic number of osmium In astronomy, : Messier object M76, a magnitude 12.0 planetary nebula in the constellation Perseus, also known as the Little Dumbbell Nebula : The New General Catalogue [http://www.ngcic.org/ object] NGC 76, a spiral galaxy in the constellation Pisces :The Saros [http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/SEsaros/SEsaros1-175.html number] of the solar eclipse series which began on -575 June 18 and ended on 705 July 25. The duration of Saros series 76 was 1280.1 years, and it contained 72 solar eclipses. :The Saros [http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/LEsaros/LEsaros1-175.html number] of the lunar eclipse series which began on -255 April 7 and ended on 1043 May 26. The duration of Saros series 76 was 1298.1 years, and it contained 73 lunar eclipses.

In other fields

May 26 Seventy-six is also
- the designation of two highways named Interstate 76, one mostly in Colorado and the other mostly in Pennsylvania
- The registry of the U.S. Navy's nuclear aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76), named after U.S. President Ronald Reagan.
- the name of a band, see 76 (band)
- a brand of ConocoPhillips gas stations, Union 76
- the name of a professional basketball team, the Philadelphia 76ers (taken from 1776, the year of American independence)
- the number of trombones in the big brass band, according to the song. Also, Seventy-Six Trombones is a musical by Meredith Willson.
- The year AD 76, 76 BC, or 1976. Category:Integers ko:76 ja:76

Leap year

A leap year (or intercalary year) is a year containing an extra day or month in order to keep the calendar year in sync with an astronomical or seasonal year. Seasons and astronomical events do not repeat at an exact number of days, so a calendar which had the same number of days in each year would over time drift with respect to the event it was supposed to track. By occasionally inserting (or intercalating) an additional day or month into the year, the drift can be corrected. Leap years (which keep the calendar in sync with the year) should not be confused with leap seconds (which keep clock time in sync with the day).

Gregorian calendar

The Gregorian calendar, the current standard calendar in most of the world, adds a 29th day to February in all years evenly divisible by 4, except for century years (those ending in -00), which receive the extra day only if they are evenly divisible by 400. Thus 1996 was a leap year whereas 1999 was not, and 1600, 2000 and 2400 are leap years but 1700, 1800, 1900 and 2100 are not. The reasoning behind this rule is as follows:
- The Gregorian calendar is designed to keep the vernal equinox on or close to March 21, so that the date of Easter (celebrated on the Sunday after the 14th day of the Moon that falls on or after 21 March) remains correct with respect to the vernal equinox.
- The vernal equinox year is currently about 365.242375 days long.
- The Gregorian leap year rule gives an average year length of 365.2425 days. This difference of a little over 0.0001 days means that in around 8,000 years, the calendar will be about one day behind where it should be. But in 8,000 years' time the length of the vernal equinox year will have changed by an amount we can't accurately predict (see below). So the Gregorian leap year rule does a good enough job. Image:Gregoriancalendarleap.png

Which day is the leap day?

The Gregorian calendar is a modification of the Julian calendar first used by the Romans. The Roman calendar originated as a lunar calendar (though from the 5th century BC it no longer followed the real moon) and named its days after three of the phases of the moon: the new moon (calends, hence "calendar"), the first quarter (nones) and the full moon (ides). Days were counted down (inclusively) to the next named day, so 24 February was ante diem sextum calendas martii ("the sixth day before the calends of March"). Since 45 BC, February in a leap year had two days called "the sixth day before the calends of March". The extra day was originally the second of these, but since the third century it was the first. Hence the term bissextile day for 24 February in a bissextile year. Where this custom is followed, anniversaries after the inserted day are moved in leap years. For example, the former feast day of Saint Matthias, 24 February in ordinary years, would be 25 February in leap years. This historical nicety is, however, in the process of being discarded: The European Union declared that, starting in 2000, 29 February rather than 24 February would be leap day, and the Roman Catholic Church also now uses 29 February as leap day. The only tangible difference is felt in countries that celebrate feast days.

Julian calendar

The Julian calendar adds an extra day to February in years divisible by 4. This rule gives an average year length of 365.25 days. The excess of about 0.0076 days with respect to the vernal equinox year means that the vernal equinox moves a day earlier in the calendar every 130 years or so.

Revised Julian Calendar

The Revised Julian calendar adds an extra day to February in years divisible by 4, except for years divisible by 100 that do not leave a remainder of 200 or 600 when divided by 900. This rule agrees with the rule for the Gregorian calendar until 2799. The first year that dates in the Revised Julian calendar will not agree with the those in the Gregorian calendar will be 2800, because it will be a leap year in the Gregorian calendar but not in the Revised Julian calendar. This rule gives an average year length of 365.242222… days. This is a very good approximation to the mean tropical year, but because the vernal equinox tropical year is slightly longer, the Revised Julian calendar does not do as good a job as the Gregorian calendar of keeping the vernal equinox on or close to 21 March.

Chinese calendar

The Chinese calendar is lunisolar, so a leap year has an extra month, often called an embolismic month after the Greek word for it. In the Chinese calendar the leap month is added according to a complicated rule, which ensures that month 11 is always the month that contains the northern winter solstice. The intercalary month takes the same number as the preceding month; for example, if it follows the second month then it is simply called "leap second month".

Hebrew calendar

The Hebrew calendar is also lunisolar with an embolistic month. In the Hebrew calendar the extra month is called Adar Alef (first Adar) and is added before Adar, which then becomes Adar Sheni (second Adar). According to the Metonic cycle, this is done seven times every nineteen years, specifically, in years, 3, 6, 8, 11, 14, 17, and 19. In addition, the Hebrew calendar has postponement rules that postpone the start of the year by one or two days. The year before the postponement gets one or two extra days, and the year whose start is postponed loses one or two days. These postponement rules reduce the number of different combinations of year length and starting day of the week from 28 to 14, and regulate the location of certain religious holidays in relation to the Sabbath.

Hindu Calendar

In the Hindu calendar, which is a lunisolar calendar, the embolismic month is called adhika maas (extra month). It is the month in which the sun is in the same sign of the stellar zodiac on two consecutive dark moons.

Iranian calendar

The Iranian calendar also has a single intercalated day once in every four years, but every 33 years or so the leap years will be five years apart instead of four years apart. The system used is more accurate and more complicated, and is based on the time of the March equinox as observed from Teheran. The 33-year period is not completely regular; every so often the 33-year cycle will be broken by a cycle of 29 or 37 years.

Long term leap year rules

The accumulated difference between the Gregorian calendar and the vernal equinoctial year amounts to 1 day in about 8,000 years. This suggests that the calendar needs to be improved by another refinement to the leap year rule: perhaps by avoiding leap years in years divisible by 8,000. (The most common such proposal is to avoid leap years in years divisible by 4,000 [http://www.google.com/search?q=%22gregorian+calendar%22+error+%22leap+year%22+4000]. This is based on the difference between the Gregorian calendar and the mean tropical year. Others claim, erroneously, that the Gregorian calendar itself already contains a refinement of this kind [http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mleapyr.html].) However, there is little point in planning a calendar so far ahead because over a timescale of tens of thousands of years the number of days in a year will change for a number of reasons, most notably: #Precession of the equinoxes moves the position of the vernal equinox with respect to perihelion and so changes the length of the vernal equinoctial year. #Tidal acceleration from the sun and moon slows the rotation of the earth, making the day longer. In particular, the second component of change depends on such things as post-glacial rebound and sea level rise due to climate change. We can't predict these changes accurately enough to be able to make a calendar that will be accurate to a day in tens of thousands of years.

Marriage proposal

There is a tradition, said to go back to Saint Patrick and Saint Bridget in 5th century Ireland, whereby women may only make marriage proposals in leap years.

Saint Patrick and the leap year

:Saint Patrick, having driven the frogs out of the bogs was walking along the shores of Lough Neagh, when he was accosted by Saint Bridget in tears, and was told that a mutiny had broken out in the nunnery over which she presided, the ladies claiming the right of popping the question. :Saint Patrick said he would concede them the right every seventh year, when Saint Bridget threw her arms round his neck, and exclaimed, "Arrah, Pathrick, jewel, I daurn't go back to the girls wid such a proposal. Make it one year in four." Saint Patrick replied, "Bridget, acushla, squeeze me that way again, an' I'll give ye leap-year, the longest of the lot." Saint Bridget, upon this, popped the question to St Patrick himself, who, of course, could not marry: so he patched up the difficulty as best he could with a kiss and a silk gown. (Source: Evans, Ivor H, Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, Cassell, London, 1988) According to a 1288 law in Scotland, fines were levied if the proposal was refused by the man; compensation ranged from a kiss to a silk gown to soften the blow. Because men felt that put them at too great a risk, the tradition was in some places tightened to restricting female proposals to 29 February.

Birthdays

A person who was born on 29 February may be called a "leapling". In non-leap years they usually celebrate their birthday on 28 February or 1 March. There are many instances in children's literature where a person's claim to be only a quarter of their actual age turns out be based on counting their leap-year birthdays. A similar device is used in the plot of the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta The Pirates of Penzance. Category:Calendars Category:Units of time als:Schaltjahr ko:윤년 ja:閏年 simple:Leap year th:ปีอธิกสุรทิน

45 BC

Events

Rome :
- January 1 - Julian calendar goes into effect :
- March 17 - In his last victory, Julius Caesar defeats the Pompeian forces of Titus Labienus and Pompey the younger in the Battle of Munda. Pompey the younger was excuted, and Labienus died in battle, but Sextus Pompey escaped to take command of the remnants of the Pompeian fleet. :
- The veterans of Julius Caesar's Legions Legio XIII Gemina and Legio X Equestris dembobilized. The veterans of the 10th legion would be settled in Narbo, while those of the 13th would be given somewhat better lands in Italia it'self. :
- Julius Caesar is named dictator for life :
- Caesar probably writes the Commentaries in this year.
- Possible first year of the Azes I Era

Births

- Iullus Antonius - son of Mark Antony and Fulvia; consul 10 BC
- Wang Mang - "usurper" of the Han Dynasty and Emperor of the Xin Dynasty

Deaths

- February - Tullia, daughter of Cicero
- March 17 - Titus Labienus, killed in the battle of Munda
- March 17 - Gnaeus Pompeius, son of Pompey the Great, executed after the battle of Munda Category:45 BC ko:기원전 45년

Pompey

This article refers to the prominent military leader and politician of the late Roman republic, who also had descendants named Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus. Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (Latin: CN·POMPEIVS·CN·F·SEX·N·MAGNVS¹) (September 29 106 BC – September 29 48 BC), commonly referred to in English as either Pompey or Pompey the Great, was a distinguished and ambitious Roman military leader, provincial administrator and politician of the 1st century BC, the period of the Late Republic. Hailing from an Italian provincial background, Pompey first distinguished himself as a talented military leader during the dictatorship of Lucius Cornelius Sulla. For his military exploits against pirates in the Mediterranean Sea and in the lands around the eastern Mediterranean, he earned the cognomen of Magnus or the Great. (Although, according to Plutarch's work on the subject, Pompey was awarded this title prior to those campaigns, during some of Sulla's "mopping-up" operations against the Marians.) Pompey later served Rome in putting down the slave rebellion led by the gladiator Spartacus. To promote his own agenda, Pompey aligned himself with Julius Caesar and Marcus Crassus in the First Triumvirate. Sealing the arrangement, Pompey married Caesar's only daughter, Julia. This agreement, however, was short-lived. After the death of Crassus in 53 BC, Pompey attempted politically to outmaneuver Caesar, and to dominate personally the affairs of the Roman Republic. These actions sparked a civil war between Pompey's supporters and those of Caesar. Pompey battled Caesar until their final confrontation at the battle of Pharsalus, ending in his defeat. Pompey fled into Egypt, where he was betrayed and ultimately murdered, by Ptolemy XIII of Egypt.
Early life and political debut
Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus was born on September 29, 106 BC, as the son or heir of Gnaeus Pompeius Strabo, an extremely wealthy man from the Italian region of Picenum. Though patrician by birth, their branch of the Pompeius family was traditionally provincial, making them the inevitable subject of prejudice from the Roman elite. His family had only achieved a first consulship some 35 years earlier. He was thus of respectable but somewhat provincial background, a slight taint that clung to him throughout his long competition with the most powerful patricians in Rome. His father, Pompey Strabo, was an important general and the first senator of the family, being elected consul in 89 BC. Pompey grew up with his father in the military camps, involved in army and political affairs. Strabo had fought first with Marius, then with Sulla in the civil wars of 88-87 BC. At age 17, Pompey was fully involved in his father's wars. He also acquired a protégé of his own with the young staff officer, Marcus Tullius Cicero. According to Plutarch, sympathetic to Pompey, he was a popular teenager, considered a look-alike of Alexander the Great. Strabo died in the conflicts between Gaius Marius and Lucius Cornelius Sulla, leaving young Pompey in control of his affairs and fortune. Despite his youth, Pompey sided with Sulla after his return from the First Mithridatic War in 83 BC. In Rome, Sulla was expecting trouble with the Cinna administration and found the 23-year-old, and his father's three veteran legions, useful. This political alliance boosted Pompey's career in Rome. Sulla, now the dictator in absolute control of the city, forced the divorce of his pregnant stepdaughter Aemilia Scaura from her husband to marry his young ally. Pompey was only too happy to divorce Antistia, a provincial matrona, and take the patrician Aemilia. The young Pompey was placed high within Sulla's ranks, even so far as among his private council. In the course of Sulla's campaigns across Italy, Pompey would encounter two individuals that would shape both his and Rome's futures: Marcus Licinius Crassus and Gaius Julius Caesar. Pompey would meet Crassus from within the army. Crassus, like Pompey, had been left a small fortune and military force by his father, and sided with Sulla. The two would develop a rivalry that would last for years to come. Pompey first met Caesar when Sulla brought Caesar before him and demanded he divorce his wife Cornelia, the daughter of Cinna. When Caesar refused, Sulla pardoned him. When Pompey commented on his action, Sulla responded saying that he wanted to leave a few enemies alive for later adventures. Pompey viewed Caesar not so much as an enemy, but as a much-respected obstacle. Some reports of the event suggest that Pompey was inspired by Caesar's refusal to divorce his wife, reminding him of the same scenario that Pompey had faced only two years prior.
Sicily and Africa
Although his young age kept him a privatus (a man holding no political office of – or associated with – the cursus honorum), Pompey was a very rich man and a talented general in control of three veteran legions. Moreover, he was ambitious for glory and power. Happy to acknowledge his son-in-law's wishes, and to clear his own situation as dictator, Sulla sent Pompey to Sicily to recover the island and its invaluable grain supply from the Marians. Sicily was strategically very important, since the island held the majority of Rome's grain supply. Without it, the city population would starve and riots would certainly ensue. Pompey dealt with the resistance with a harsh hand and when the citizens complained about his methods he replied with one of his most famous quotations: "Stop quoting laws, we carry weapons." He routed the opposing forces in Sicily and then went to Africa, where he continued his string of unbroken victories in 82-81 BCE. His ruthless extermination of opposing forces created bitter hatred among the surviving Marians. Proclaimed imperator by his troops on the field in Africa, Pompey demanded a triumph for his African victories, refusing to disband his legions and appearing with his demand at the gates of Rome where, amazingly, Sulla gave in and agreed to award him his triumph. It is also around this point that Pompey gained his cognomen Magnus, meaning Great. Legend says that it was Sulla himself who had the idea, although this is not certain.
Hispania and Spartacus
Pompey's reputation for military genius, and occasional bad judgment, continued when he demanded proconsular imperium (although he had not yet served as Consul) to go to Hispania to fight against Sertorius, a Marian general who maintained a lone presence there. He refused to disband his legions until his request was granted, and he joined Metellus Pius against Sertorius. The campaign against the brilliant guerrilla general would last from 76 BC to 71 BC. It is significant that the war was finally won only when rivals murdered Sertorius, not because either Pompey or Metellus Pius had been able to achieve a clean victory on the battlefield. In the months after Sertorius' death, however, Pompey revealed one of his most significant talents; a genius for the organization and administration of a conquered province. Fair and generous terms extended his patronage throughout Hispania and into southern Gaul. When Crassus was facing difficulties against Spartacus at the end of the Third Servile War in 71 BC, Pompey returned to Italy with his army to bring a decisive ending to the revolt, although arguably Crassus already had the revolt subdued and Pompey merely finished off the remaining rebels, thereby assuming the victory as his. Disgruntled opponents, especially Crassus, said he was developing a talent for showing up late in a campaign and taking all the glory for its successful conclusion. This growing enmity between Crassus and Pompey would not be resolved for over a decade. Back in Rome, Pompey celebrated his second extralegal triumph for the victories in Hispania. Admirers saw in Pompey the most brilliant general of the age. In 71 BC, at only 35 years of age (see cursus honorum), Pompey was elected Consul for the first time, serving in 70 BC as junior partner of Crassus, with the overwhelming support of the Roman population.
The Campaign against the Pirates — Pompey in the East
By 69 BC, Pompey was the darling of the Roman masses although many Optimates were deeply suspicious of his intentions. His primacy in the state was enhanced by two extraordinary proconsular commands, unprecedented in Roman history. In 67 BC, two years after his consulship, Pompey was nominated commander of a special naval task force to campaign against the pirates that controlled the Mediterranean. This command, like everything else in Pompey's life, was surrounded with polemic. The conservative faction of the senate was most suspicious of his intentions and afraid of his power. The Optimates tried every means possible to avoid it. Significantly, Caesar was one of a handful of Senators (if not the only one) who supported Pompey's command from the start. The nomination was then proposed by the Plebeian Tribune Aulus Gabinius who proposed the Lex Gabinia, giving Pompey command in the war against the Mediterranean pirates, with extensive powers that gave him absolute control over the sea and the coasts for 50 miles inland, setting him above every military leader in the east. It took Pompey only a few months to clear the Mediterranean of the danger of pirates. In three short months (67-66 BC), Pompey's forces swept the Mediterranean free of the pirates, showing extraordinary precision, discipline, and organizational ability. The quickness of the campaign showed that he was a talented general also at sea, with strong logistic abilities too. Pompey was the hero of the hour. Pompey was then nominated to the Third Mithridatic War to fight Mithridates VI of Pontus in the East. This command essentially entrusted Pompey with the conquest and reorganization of the entire Eastern Mediterranean. This was the second command that Caesar supported in favor of Pompey. He conducted the campaigns of 65 BC to 62 BC with such military and administrative skill that Rome annexed much of Asia firmly under its control. Pompey destroyed not only Mithridates, but also defeated Tigranes the Great, king of Armenia, with whom he later developed a treaty relationship. He defeated Antiochus XIII of Syria, which region he organised as a new Roman province, and proceeded to Jerusalem, which he captured. Pompey imposed an overall settlement on the kings of the new eastern provinces, which took intelligent account of the geographical and political factors involved in creating Rome's new frontier on the East. With Tigranes as a friend and ally of Rome, the chain of Roman protectorates now extended as far east as the Black Sea and the Caucasus. The amount of tribute and bounty Pompey brought back to Rome was almost incalculable: Plutarch lists 20,000 talents in gold and silver added to the treasury, and the increase in taxes to the public treasury rose from 50 million to 85 million drachmas annually. His administrative brilliance was such that his dispositions endured largely unchanged until the fall of Rome.
Pompey’s Return to Rome
In December 62 BC, Pompey finally returned to Rome with a dilemma to address. On one hand he wanted his third triumph, on the other he wanted to run for a second consulship. Roman laws state that a general cannot cross the pomerium without losing the right of the triumph, but an electoral candidate must be in the city in order to apply personally for the election. Pompey tried to use diplomacy and asked the senate to postpone the consular election for the day after the triumph. The Optimates, led by Cato the Younger, strongly opposed this and forced Pompey to choose. He chose the triumph, but didn't let go of the consulship. If he couldn't be elected, at least he could bribe the voters to pick his candidate, Affranius. According to several sources, it was a huge scandal with the voters heading in masses to Pompey's house outside the pomerium. His third triumph took place on September 29, 61 BC (Pompey's 45th birthday), celebrating the victories over the pirates and in the Middle East, and was to be an unforgettable event in Rome. Two entire days were scheduled for the enormous parade of spoils, prisoners, army and banners depicting battle scenes to complete the route between Campus Martius and the temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus. To conclude the festivities, Pompey offered an immense triumphal banquet and made several donations to the people of Rome, enhancing his popularity even further. Although now at his zenith, by this time Pompey had been largely absent from Rome for over five years and a new star had arisen. Pompey had been busy in Asia during the consternation of the Catiline Conspiracy, when a young Julius Caesar pitted his will against that of the Consul Cicero and the rest of the Optimates. His old colleague and enemy, Crassus, had loaned Caesar money. Cicero was in eclipse, now hounded by the ill-will of Publius Clodius and his factional gangs. New combinations had been made and the conquering hero had been out of touch. Back in Rome, Pompey deftly dismissed his armies, disarming worries that he intended to spring from his conquests into domination of Rome as Dictator. Yet Pompey was still a supreme tactician; he simply sought new allies and pulled strings behind the political scenes. The Optimates had fought back to control much of the real workings of the Senate; in spite of his efforts, Pompey found their inner councils were closed to him. His magnificent settlements in the East were not promptly confirmed. The public lands he had promised his veterans were not forthcoming. From now on, Pompey's political maneuverings suggest that, although he toed a cautious line to avoid offending the conservatives, he was increasingly puzzled by Optimate reluctance to acknowledge his solid achievements. Pompey's frustration would force him into strange political alliances.
Caesar and the First Triumvirate
Although Pompey and Crassus distrusted each other, by 61 BC their grievances pushed them both into an alliance with Caesar. Crassus' tax farming clients were being rebuffed at the same time Pompey's veterans were being ignored. Thus entered Caesar, six years younger than Pompey, returning from service in Hispania, and ready to seek the Consulship for 59 BC. Caesar somehow managed to forge a political alliance with both Pompey and Crassus (the so-called First Triumvirate). Pompey and Crassus would make him Consul, and he would use his power as Consul to force their claims. Plutarch quotes Cato as later saying that the tragedy of Pompey was not that he was Caesar's defeated enemy, but that he had been, for too long, Caesar's friend and supporter. Caesar's tempestuous consulate in 59 brought Pompey not only the land and political settlements he craved, but a new wife: Caesar's own young daughter, Julia. Pompey was supposedly besotted with his bride. After Caesar secured his proconsular command in Gaul at the end of his Consular year, Pompey was given the governorship of Hispania Ulterior, yet was permitted to remain in Rome overseeing the critical Roman grain supply, exercising his command through subordinates. Pompey handled the grain issue with his usual excellent efficiency, but his success at political intrigue was less sure. The Optimates had never forgiven him for abandoning Cicero when Publius Clodius forced his exile. Only when Clodius began attacking Pompey was the great man persuaded to work with others towards Cicero's recall in 57 BC. Once Cicero was back, his usual vocal magic helped soothe Pompey's position somewhat, but many still viewed him as a traitor for his alliance with Caesar. Other agitators tried to persuade Pompey that Crassus was plotting to have him assassinated. Rumor (quoted by Plutarch) also suggested that the aging conqueror was losing interest in politics in favor of domestic life with his young wife. He was occupied by the details of construction of the mammoth complex later known as Pompey's Theater on the Campus Martius; not only the first permanent theater ever built in Rome, but an eye-popping complex of lavish porticoes, shops, and multi-service buildings. Caesar, meanwhile, was himself gaining a greater name as a general of genius in his own right. By 56 BC, the bonds between the three men were fraying. Caesar called first Crassus, then Pompey, to a secret meeting in the northern Italian town of Lucca to rethink both strategy and tactics. By this time, Caesar was no longer the amenable silent partner of the trio. At Luca it was agreed that Pompey and Crassus would again stand for the consulship in 55 BC. At their election, Caesar's command in Gaul would be extended for an additional five years, while Crassus would receive command in Syria (from which he longed to conquer Parthia and extend his own achievements). Pompey would continue to govern Hispania in absentia after their consular year. This time, however, opposition to the three men was electric, and it took bribery and corruption on an unprecedented scale to secure the election of Pompey and Crassus in 55 BC. Their supporters received most of the important remaining offices. The violence between Publius Clodius and other factions were building and civil unrest was becoming endemic.
Confrontation to War
The triumvirate was about to end. The bonds of the triumvirate were snapped by death. First, Pompey's wife (and at that time Caesar's only child), Julia, died in 54 BC in childbirth. Later that year, Crassus and his army were annihilated by the Parthian armies at the Battle of Carrhae. Caesar's name, not Pompey's, was now firmly before the public as Rome's great new general. The public turmoil in Rome resulted in whispers as early as 54 that Pompey should be made dictator to force a return to law and order. After Julia's death, Caesar sought a second matrimonial alliance with Pompey, offering a marital alliance with one of his endless supply of grandnieces. This time, Pompey refused. In 52 BC, he married Cornelia, daughter of Metellus Scipio, one of Caesar’s greatest enemies, and continued to drift toward the Optimates. They had apparently decided that Pompey was the lesser of two evils. In that year, the murder of Publius Clodius and the burning of the Curia (the Senate House) by an inflamed mob led the Senate to beg Pompey to restore order, which he did with ruthless efficiency. The trial of the accused murderer, Milo, is notable in that Cicero, counsel for the defense, was so shaken by a Forum seething with armed soldiers that he was unable to complete his defense. After order was restored, the suspicious Senate and Cato, seeking desperately to avoid giving Pompey dictatorial powers, came up with the alternative of entitling him sole Consul without a colleague; thus his powers, although sweeping, were not unlimited. While Caesar was fighting for his life against Vercingetorix in Gaul, Pompey proceeded with a genuinely beneficial legislative agenda for Rome, which also revealed that he was now covertly allied with Caesar's enemies. While instituting legal and military reorganization and reform, Pompey also passed a law making it possible to be retroactively prosecuted for electoral bribery — an action correctly interpreted by Caesar's allies as opening Caesar to prosecution once his imperium was ended. Pompey also prohibited standing for the consulship in absentia, although this had frequently been allowed in the past. This was an obvious blow at Caesar's plans after his term in Gaul expired. Finally, in 51 BC, Pompey made it clear that Caesar would not be permitted to stand for Consul unless he turned over control of his armies. This would, of course, leave Caesar defenseless before his enemies. In any event, Pompey had been diminished by age, uncertainty, and the harassment of being the chosen tool of a quarreling Optimate oligarchy. As Cicero sadly noted, Pompey had begun to fear Caesar. The coming conflict was inevitable.²
Civil War
Although in the beginning, Pompey claimed he could defeat Caesar and raise armies merely by stamping his foot on the soil of Italy, by the spring of 49 BC, with Caesar crossing the Rubicon and his invading legions sweeping down the peninsula, Pompey ordered the abandonment of Rome. His legions fled south towards Brundisium, where Pompey intended to find renewed strength by waging war against Caesar in the East. In the process, almost unbelievably, neither Pompey nor the Senate thought of taking the vast treasury with them, which was left conveniently for Caesar when his forces entered Rome. Escaping Caesar by a hair in Brundisium, Pompey regained his confidence during the siege of Dyrrhachium, in which Caesar nearly lost the war. Yet, by failing to pursue at the critical moment of Caesar's defeat, Pompey threw away the chance to destroy Caesar's armies. As Caesar himself said, "Today the enemy would have won, if they had had a commander who was a winner" (Plutarch, 65). With Caesar on their backs, the conservatives led by Pompey fled to Greece. The armies clashed in the Battle of Pharsalus in 48 BC. The fighting was hard for both sides but would eventually return a decisive victory for Caesar. Like all the other conservatives, Pompey had to run for his life. He met his wife Cornelia and his son Sextus Pompeius on the island of Mytilene. He then wondered where to go next. The decision of running to one of the eastern kingdoms was overruled in favor of Egypt. After his arrival in Egypt, Pompey's fate was decided by three counselors of Ptolemy XIII, the boy-king. While Pompey waited offshore for word, they argued the cost of offering him refuge with Caesar already en route for Egypt. It was decided to murder Caesar's enemy to ingratiate themselves with him. On September 29, his 58th birthday, the great Pompey was lured toward a supposed audience on shore in a small boat in which he recognized two old comrades-in-arms from the glorious, early battles. They were his assassins. While he sat in the boat, studying his speech for the boy king, they stabbed him in the back with sword and dagger. After decapitation, the body was left, contemptuously unattended and naked, on the shore. His freedman, Philipus, organized a simple funeral pyre and cremated the body on a pyre of broken ship's timbers. Caesar arrived a short time afterwards. As a welcoming present he received Pompey's head and ring in a basket. However, he was not pleased in seeing his enemy, once his ally and son-in-law, murdered by traitors. When a slave offered him Pompey's head, " …he turned away from him with loathing, as from an assassin; and when he received Pompey's signet ring on which was engraved a lion holding a sword in his paws, he burst into tears" (Plutarch, 80). He deposed Ptolemy, executed his regent Pothinus, and elevated Cleopatra to the throne of Egypt. Caesar gave Pompey's ashes and ring to Cornelia, who took them back to his estates in Italy. In late 45 BC, Pompey was deified by the Senate at Caesar's request. In a stroke of irony, Caesar was assassinated on the Ides of March, 44 BC, in Pompey's Theater at the base of Pompey’s statue. It is rumored that Caesar prayed to his best friend, son-in-law, and greatest rival as he lay dying.
Historic View
To the historians of his own and later Roman periods, the life of Pompey was simply too good to be true. No more satisfying historical model existed than the great man who, achieving extraordinary triumphs through his own efforts, yet fell from power and influence and, in the end, was murdered through treachery. He was the hero of the Republic, who seemed once to hold the Roman world in his palm only to be brought low by his own weak judgment and Caesar's indomitability. Pompey was idealized as a tragic hero almost immediately after Pharsalus and his murder: Plutarch portrayed him as a true Roman Alexander, pure of heart and mind, destroyed by the cynical ambitions of those around him. The truth, of course, is another matter.
Marriages and Offspring

- First wife, Antistia
- Second wife, Aemilia Scaura (Sulla's stepdaughter)
- Third wife, Mucia Tertia (from whom he divorced for adultery, according to Cicero's letters)
- Gnaeus Pompeius, executed in 45 BC, after the Battle of Munda
- Pompeia, married to Faustus Cornelius Sulla
- Sextus Pompeius, who would rebel in Sicily against Augustus
- Fourth wife, Julia Caesaris (daughter of Caesar)
- Fifth wife, Cornelia Metella (daughter of Metellus Scipio)
Chronology of Pompey's Life and Career

- 106 BC September 29 — born in Picenum
- 83 BC — aligns with Sulla, after his return from the Mithridatic War; marriage to Aemilia Scaura
- 82–81 BC — defeats Marius's allies in Sicily and Africa; first triumph
- 76–71 BC — campaign in Hispania against Sertorius
- 71 BC — returns to Italy and puts an end to the Spartacus's slave rebellion; second triumph
- 70 BC — first consulship (with M. Licinius Crassus)
- 67 BC — defeats the pirates and goes to Asia province
- 66–61 BC — defeats king Mithridates of Pontus; end of the Third Mithridatic War
- 61 BC September 29 — third triumph
- 59 BC April — the first triumvirate is constituted; Pompey allies to Julius Caesar and Licinius Crassus; marriage to Julia Caesaris
- 58–55 BC — governs Hispania Ulterior by proxy, construction of Pompey's Theater
- 55 BC — second consulship (with M. Licinius Crassus)
- 54 BC — Julia Caesaris dies; the first triumvirate ends
- 52 BC — third consulship with Metellus Scipio; marriage to Cornelia Metella
- 51 BC — forbids Caesar (in Gaul) to stand for consulship in absentia
- 49 BC — Caesar crosses the Rubicon River and invades Italy; Pompey retreats to Greece with the conservatives
- 48 BC — led by Pompey, the conservatives lose the battle of Pharsalus; Pompey runs away to Egypt, where he is killed on September 29
Pompey in Literature and the Arts
The historical character of Pompey plays a prominent role in several books from the Masters of Rome series of historical novels by Australian author Colleen McCullough. Pompey also plays a key role in the first season of the Rome HBO/BBC television production.
Notes
1- Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus, son of Gnaeus, grandson of Sextus 2- Many historians have suggested that Pompey was, in spite of everything, politically unaware of the fact that the Optimates, including Cato, were merely using him against Caesar so that, with Caesar destroyed, they could then dispose of him.
Further reading

- Robin Seager, Pompey the Great, Oxford: Blackwells, 2002. ISBN 0631227210 Category:106 BC births Category:48 BC deaths Category:Ancient Romans Category:Roman generals Category:Murdered Romans Category:Roman Republican consuls ja:ポンペイウス

Titus Labienus

Titus Labienus (c. 100 BC - March 17, 45 BC) was the most important member of a Roman family said (without authority) to belong to the gens Atia. He is remembered as one of Caesar's lieutenants, mentioned frequently in the accounts of his military campaigns. His early service was ca. 78-74 in Cilicia under Servilius. In 63 BC, at Caesar's instigation, Labienus prosecuted Gaius Rabirius for treason; in the same year, as tribune of the plebs, he carried a plebiscite which indirectly secured for Caesar the dignity of pontifex maximus (Dio Cassius xxxvii. 37). He served as a legatus throughout Caesar's Gallic campaigns and took Caesar's place whenever he went to Rome. His chief exploits in Gaul were the defeat of the Treviri under Indutiomarus in 54, his expedition against Lutetia (Paris) in 52, and his victory over Camulogenus and the Aedui in the same year. He was Ceasar´s friend and chief deputy in the Gallic War and a skillfull cavalry commander. On the outbreak of the civil war (49), however, he was one of the first to desert Caesar, apparently resentful at lack of recognition. He was rapturously welcomed on the Pompeian side, bringing 3700 Gallic and German cavalry with him. But his ill fortune under Pompey was as marked as his success had been under Caesar. From the defeat at the Battle of Pharsalus, to which he had contributed by affecting to despise his late comrades, he fled to Corcyra, and thence to