PompeyвЂ™s political skill lagged far behind his military prowess, however, and he was unable to win large bonuses or farmlands for his veterans. Unlike Sulla or the populist tyrant Gaius Marius, however, Pompey disbanded his troops upon his return and peacefully resumed a political career. When he returned to Rome in 62, Pompey was hailed by the citizenry as the greatest commander of his age. Pompey then marched throughout the East, founding cities and extending RomeвЂ™s power throughout Albania, the Red Sea region, Palestine, Syria, Armenia, Mesopotamia and Arabia. Although outnumbered, Pompey defeated Mithridates at the Euphrates River and pursued him to the shores of the Black Sea. In 66 BC, Pompey was appointed to another extraordinary command, this time against King Mithridates IV, ruler of the eastern kingdom of Pontus. Although PompeyвЂ™s term was scheduled to last an unprecedented three years, through his extraordinary administrative skill and a brilliant concentration of RomeвЂ™s forces, he successfully completed his assignment in only three months. Pompey was virtually made a dictator in 67 when the PeopleвЂ™s Assembly, RomeвЂ™s theoretical governing body, elected him to combat the widespread problem of piracy in the Mediterranean Sea. In late 71 BC, Pompey and his rival Marcus Licinius Crassus were elected consuls, RomeвЂ™s two highest offices for the year 70. The ambitious young general twice wrested from his government a triumph, RomeвЂ™s highest military honor-and one to which he was not technically entitled. PompeyвЂ™s campaigns against the populares in Sicily, Spain and North Africa, and in Italy against SpartacusвЂ™ fugitive gladiators in 71 BC, earned him the title вЂњMagnus,вЂќ or Great, from his troops. Pompey began his career as a handsome, energetic young officer serving in the patrician armies of the Roman dictator Lucius Cornelius Sulla. The roads that led these two great generals-relatives by marriage and former allies-to duel under the Greek sun are a testament to the turbulent politics of the republicвЂ™s last century. Caesar led the populist faction, the populares (favoring the people), nobles supported by RomeвЂ™s farmers, veterans and middle class. Pompey led the patrician faction, the optimatesВ (best ones), composed of RomeвЂ™s aristocrats and senators. Though unknown to Pompey at the time, Caesar had vowed that very day that if Venus brought him victory at Pharsalus he would build a great temple to her in Rome.ДЄlmost two years before the two rivals met at Pharsalus, the Roman Republic, split by a half century of political unrest, had drifted into civil war. Venus was the goddess from whom CaesarвЂ™s aristocratic clan, the Julians, claimed to be descended. The dream must have made the great commander nervous. There he dreamed of being applauded by RomeвЂ™s citizens as he dedicated a temple to the goddess Venus, Bringer of Victory. After quelling the disturbance caused by the meteor, Pompey retired to his tent. To some of his soldiers it was an ill omen.

PompeyвЂ™s unease was fueled by a meteor that had shot across the sky near his camp the night before.

On the morning of August 9, 48 BC, RomeвЂ™s most famous general-Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus, or Pompey the Great-apprehensively prepared his troops to face the army of RomeвЂ™s most successful general, Gaius Julius Caesar. Caesar's Civil War: Battle of Pharsalus | HistoryNet Close

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