The gens Pompeia was a plebeian family at ancient Rome , first appearing in history during the second century BC, and frequently occupying the highest offices of the Roman state from then until imperial times . The first of the Pompeii to obtain the consulship was Quintus Pompeius in 141 BC, but by far the most illustrious of the gens was Gnaeus Pompeius , surnamed Magnus , a distinguished general under the dictator Sulla , who became a member of the First Triumvirate , together with Caesar and Crassus . After the death of Crassus, the rivalry between Caesar and Pompeius led to the Civil War , one of the defining events of the final years of the Roman Republic .
7-597: Pompeia ( / p ɒ m ˈ p iː ə , - ˈ p eɪ ə / ) was the name of several ancient Roman women of the gens Pompeia : Other ancient and medieval women called Pompeia include: Pompeia gens The nomen Pompeius (frequently anglicized as Pompey ) is generally believed to be derived from the Oscan praenomen Pompo , equivalent to the Latin Quintus , and thus a patronymic surname. The gentilicia Pompilius and Pomponius , with which Pompeius
14-475: A conspicuous role in the final decades of the Republic and under the early Empire, mainly used personal cognomina , such as Strabo , Magnus , Pius , and Faustulus . Strabo , referring to someone with a pronounced squint, belonged to the father of the triumvir, and is said to have been the nickname of his cook, whose proper name was Menogenes; but it then became a nickname of Pompeius, because he resembled
21-570: A procession, or a derived cognomen Pompo , meaning not "fifth", but a participant in a procession; but he concludes that all of these hypotheses are uncertain. The main praenomina of the Pompeii were Gnaeus , Quintus , and Sextus , each of which was used by the two main branches of the family under the Republic, as well as by other members. Individual families made use of Aulus and Marcus . All of these were common names throughout Roman history. A few Pompeii not associated with any of
28-401: Is frequently confounded, were also derived from Pompo . The gentile-forming suffix -eius was typical of Sabine families, suggesting that the Pompeii were of Sabine or Oscan extraction. Cicero describes Quintus Pompeius, the consul of 141 BC, as a man of "humble and obscure origin". Chase posits an alternative etymology: that Pompeius and similar names were instead derived from pompa ,
35-451: The branches of a gens, although others might be unique to individual stirpes. The first branch to appear at Rome acquired the surname Rufus , signifying someone with red hair, but it was only passed down through one line. The surname Bithynicus is also thought to have belonged to a branch of this family, although it is not certain how the name, a reference to Bithynia , was acquired, or precisely when. The other branch, which played
42-422: The cook. Magnus , or "great", was originally an epithet of the triumvir, who won renown as a general under Sulla's command, and later on his own; his sons and some of their descendants also used the name to signify their connection to him. Pius , or "faithful", was assumed by the general's son, Sextus, to signify his filial devotion to pursue vengeance on behalf of his father and brother. Faustulus , found as
49-421: The major families of this gens used other praenomina. According to Velleius Paterculus , the Pompeii of the Republic were divided into two or three distinct families, of which two can be reconstructed with a high degree of probability. How they were related is not known. They used almost entirely different sets of praenomina, which was unusual, since as a rule certain ancestral praenomina would be used by all of
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