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Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (died AD 47) was a noble Roman who lived during the 1st century. (He is not to be confused with his namesake Pompey the Great.) Pompeius was one of the sons of the consul of the year AD 27, Marcus Licinius Crassus Frugi and Scribonia.
According to Suetonius, Pompeius was a nobleman of the highest ancient birth. Pompeius’ birth name is unknown, however by birth and adoption through his father, Pompeius was of the gens Licinia , hence the nomen Licinius. During the Roman Empire, it was common for Roman nobles to drop their paternal names and assume the names of their maternal ancestors. Roman nobles did this to either honour the memory of their ancestors or for adoption purposes.
His paternal grandfather was consul and governor Marcus Licinius Crassus. Crassus was the adoptive son of consul and general Marcus Licinius Crassus, who was the grandson of triumvir Marcus Licinius Crassus. He was the last known direct descendant of the triumvir and was the last known direct descendant of the triumvir who bore his name.
Little is known on the life of Pompeius. During the reign of Roman Emperor Caligula (reigned AD 37–41), the emperor removed his cognomen Magnus or The Great from him and wouldn't allow Pompeius to use his cognomen. When Caligula was assassinated in AD 41, his paternal uncle Claudius became the new emperor. Claudius restored Pompeius' cognomen to him.
Pompeius’ father gained the favour of the new emperor and it was probably through this favour, that Claudius arranged for Pompeius to marry Claudia Antonia, Claudius’ daughter and only child from his second marriage to Aelia Paetina. Antonia and Pompeius married in AD 43. [1]
Claudius had successfully conquered Britain and added it as a province to the Roman Empire. Claudius sent Pompeius to the Roman Senate to proclaim to the senators that his father-in-law had conquered Britain.
According to Suetonius, Pompeius died in AD 47, because he was stabbed to death while in bed with a favourite boyfriend. Cassius Dio states that Roman Empress Valeria Messalina (who was Claudius' third wife and out of her fear of Pompeius being a rival to Messalina and Claudius’ son, Britannicus) ordered his death. With the death of Pompeius, Antonia married Faustus Cornelius Sulla Felix, Messalina's half-brother, in order to strengthen the bloodline of the Julio-Claudian dynasty. Pompeius had no children with Antonia.
After Pompeius died his remains were interred in the tomb of the Licinii Calpurnii located on the Via Salaria. Engraved on the urn of Pompeius is this text:
Pompeius is a character in Robert Graves' novel Claudius the God (the sequel to I, Claudius ). This account claims that Claudius had Pompeius killed as the latter engaged in unnatural sexual practices with the former's daughter. He was omitted from the 1976 television adaptation.
Julia Agrippina, also referred to as Agrippina the Younger, was Roman empress from 49 to 54 AD, the fourth wife and niece of Emperor Claudius, and the mother of Nero.
Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus was a Roman emperor, ruling from AD 41 to 54. A member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, Claudius was born to Drusus and Antonia Minor at Lugdunum in Roman Gaul, where his father was stationed as a military legate. He was the first Roman emperor to be born outside Italy.
The Julio-Claudian dynasty comprised the first five Roman emperors: Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, and Nero.
The gens Claudia, sometimes written Clodia, was one of the most prominent patrician houses at ancient Rome. The gens traced its origin to the earliest days of the Roman Republic. The first of the Claudii to obtain the consulship was Appius Claudius Sabinus Regillensis, in 495 BC, and from that time its members frequently held the highest offices of the state, both under the Republic and in imperial times.
The gens Julia was one of the most prominent patrician families in ancient Rome. Members of the gens attained the highest dignities of the state in the earliest times of the Republic. The first of the family to obtain the consulship was Gaius Julius Iulus in 489 BC. The gens is perhaps best known, however, for Gaius Julius Caesar, the dictator and grand uncle of the emperor Augustus, through whom the name was passed to the so-called Julio-Claudian dynasty of the first century AD. The nomen Julius became very common in imperial times, as the descendants of persons enrolled as citizens under the early emperors began to make their mark in history.
Aelia Paetina or Paetina was the second wife of the Roman Emperor Claudius. Her biological father was a consul of 4 AD, Sextus Aelius Catus, while her mother is unknown.
Domitia Lepida was a Roman aristocrat, related to the imperial family. She was mother of Valeria Messalina, wife of the Emperor Claudius. Lepida was a beautiful and influential figure. Like her sister, she was also very wealthy. She had holdings in Calabria and owned the praedia Lepidiana.
The gens Licinia was a celebrated plebeian family at ancient Rome, which appears from the earliest days of the Republic until imperial times, and which eventually obtained the imperial dignity. The first of the gens to obtain the consulship was Gaius Licinius Calvus Stolo, who, as tribune of the plebs from 376 to 367 BC, prevented the election of any of the annual magistrates, until the patricians acquiesced to the passage of the lex Licinia Sextia, or Licinian Rogations. This law, named for Licinius and his colleague, Lucius Sextius, opened the consulship for the first time to the plebeians. Licinius himself was subsequently elected consul in 364 and 361 BC, and from this time, the Licinii became one of the most illustrious gentes in the Republic.
Claudia Antonia was the daughter and oldest surviving child of the Roman Emperor Claudius and the only child of his second wife Aelia Paetina. Antonia was a great great-niece of the Emperor Augustus, great-niece of the Emperor Tiberius, first cousin of the Emperor Caligula, half-sister to Claudia Octavia and Britannicus, and cousin, stepsister and sister-in-law of the Emperor Nero.
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.
Lucius Calpurnius Piso Frugi Licinianus (38–69) was a Roman nobleman who lived in the 1st century. His adoption by the Roman emperor Galba on 10 January 69 AD precipitated their joint murder by Otho, who had expected to be adopted instead. Otho then became the second emperor of the Year of the Four Emperors.
Licinia is the name used by ancient Roman women of the gens Licinia.
Naming conventions for women in ancient Rome differed from nomenclature for men, and practice changed dramatically from the Early Republic to the High Empire and then into Late Antiquity. Females were identified officially by the feminine of the family name, which might be further differentiated by the genitive form of the father's cognomen, or for a married woman her husband's. Numerical adjectives might distinguish among sisters, such as Tertia, "the Third". By the late Republic, women also often adopted the feminine of their father's cognomen.
Scribonia Magna, known in modern historical sources as Scribonia Crassi, was a Roman noblewoman. Scribonia was descended from Pompey.
Marcus Licinius Crassus Frugi was a Roman nobleman of consular rank who lived during the Roman Empire. Frugi's mother was an unnamed Roman woman, while his father was consul and governor Marcus Licinius Crassus Frugi. Frugi's adoptive paternal grandfather was consul and general Marcus Licinius Crassus the Younger. Crassus was the grandson of triumvir Marcus Licinius Crassus and the last known direct descendant of his grandfather. He had a daughter called Licinia who married the consul Lucius Calpurnius Piso; their son, Gaius Calpurnius Piso, was a conspirator against the Emperor Nero.
The gens Antonia was a Roman family of great antiquity, with both patrician and plebeian branches. The first of the gens to achieve prominence was Titus Antonius Merenda, one of the second group of Decemviri called, in 450 BC, to help draft what became the Law of the Twelve Tables. The most prominent member of the gens was Marcus Antonius.
The gens Domitia was a plebeian family at ancient Rome. The first of the gens to achieve prominence was Gnaeus Domitius Calvinus, consul in 332 BC. His son, Gnaeus Domitius Calvinus Maximus, was consul in 283, and the first plebeian censor. The family produced several distinguished generals, and towards the end of the Republic, the Domitii were looked upon as one of the most illustrious gentes.
The gens Plautia, sometimes written Plotia, was a plebeian family at ancient Rome. Members of this gens first appear in history in the middle of the fourth century BC, when Gaius Plautius Proculus obtained the consulship soon after that magistracy was opened to the plebeian order by the Licinio-Sextian rogations. Little is heard of the Plautii from the period of the Samnite Wars down to the late second century BC, but from then to imperial times they regularly held the consulship and other offices of importance. In the first century AD, the emperor Claudius, whose first wife was a member of this family, granted patrician status to one branch of the Plautii.