Which prominent Roman statesman and military commander bridged the First Triumvirate alongside Julius Caesar and Crassus, but was later defeated at Pharsalus and assassinated upon arriving in Ptolemaic Egypt?
Answer and explanation
Correct answer: A. Pompey the Great (Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus)
- Step 1: Pompey was awarded triumphs for victories in Sicily, Africa, and against King Mithridates VI in the East, forming an informal political alliance (First Triumvirate) with Caesar and Crassus in 60 BCE.
- Step 2: When civil war broke out, Pompey led Republican senatorial forces; defeated by Caesar at Pharsalus in 48 BCE, he fled to Pelusium where he was murdered by advisors of young King Ptolemy XIII.
Answer
Pompey the Great (Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus)
Why not the others: 'Mark Antony' Mark Antony was part of the Second Triumvirate with Octavian and Lepidus, not the First Triumvirate; 'Lucius Cornelius Sulla' Sulla was an earlier Roman dictator who marched on Rome in 88 BCE and instituted bloody proscriptions; 'Gaius Marius' Marius was a Roman general who reformed the army into professional standing legions (Marian reforms), Sulla's chief rival.
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