ABSTRACT
The name of Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (Pompey) stands large over all that happened in the three decades that followed Sulla’s retirement from Rome; Pompey’s power rose to a pinnacle in the mid-to-late 60s, only to be lost again to Julius Caesar in the early 40s. It has commonly been said of Pompey that, whilst he may have been a great general, he was no match for others in the political arena. In the Roman republic such a distinction is to an extent unreal; our sources, however, reveal a figure who achieved what he wanted in politics more often than not.
