This Roman General Postponed a Military Parade To Fall on His Birthday

Pompey the Great—one of ancient Rome’s most successful generals—was heralded with an extravagant parade for his military successes on September 29, 61 B.C. The procession took place before tens of thousands of revelers in the Eternal City.

The fact that it happened to be his birthday was no coincidence. Pompey had delayed his return to Rome by seven months so the Triumph—as military parades were known—could take place on his birthdate.

Essentially religious observations, Roman Triumphs were as much victory celebrations as they were opportunities to enhance a leader’s political prospects through ostentatious and excessive displays. Over a period of 1,000 years, the Roman Senate granted some 300-plus military parades to its conquering heroes—most of whom used the lavish spectacles to exhibit their authority and wealth to the public. For Pompey, that meant deliberately postponing his Triumph to coincide with his 45th birthday—a personal milestone that, much like today, was often marked with celebration.

“It’s a demonstration of power,” says Michael Kulikowski, professor of history and classics at Pennsylvania State University, Triumphs were "displays of a raw, unadulterated capacity to dominate.”

According to legend, the first Triumph was held in 752 B.C. for Romulus, Rome’s founder and first king. He proclaimed a celebration for himself after defeating the nearby town of Caenina. In a chariot pulled by four horses, Romulus appeared last in the parade, wearing a purple robe and a laurel crown, according to the Greek historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus in Roman Antiquities, written in the first century B.C.

Following his Triumph, the Roman king constructed a temple dedicated to Jupiter, the king of all gods. Future triumphators, as the celebrated victors were called, adopted the practice of undertaking building projects to help ensure the prosperity of Rome. These included arches erected by or in honor of emperors Titus (A.D. 81), Septimius Severus (A.D. 203) and Constantine (A.D. 312), and columns for Trajan (A.D. 113) and Marcus Aurelius (A.D. 193).

As Rome grew in size and strength, Triumphs became larger and more lavish. In her 2007 book The Roman Triumph, renowned classicist Mary Beard describes some of the excesses featured in these ornate military parades:

“[C]artloads of bullion and colossal golden statues to precious specimens of exotic plants and other curious bric-à-brac of conquest. Not to mention the eye-catching captives dressed up in their national costumes, the placards proclaiming the conqueror’s achievements (ships captured, cities founded, kings defeated . . .), paintings recreating crucial moments of the campaigns…”

In his Triumph, Pompey was said to be wearing a cloak that belonged to Alexander the Great—earning him the sobriquet “the Great”—while riding in a chariot studded in gems. The procession also included a portrait of the general made entirely of pearls.

While Pompey was great, he was not the greatest. Julius Caesar—once Pompey's ally but later his rival in a brutal civil war—surpassed him with five Triumphs, even declining a sixth. In 59 B.C., the young Caesar had to choose between the procession or running for Consul, one of the magistrates that governed Rome.

“His enemies think they have cornered him,” said William Broadhead, associate professor of history at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “He’s offered the Triumph as an alternative to keep him from running. He surprises them all and is elected Consul. Then he gets his command in Gaul and becomes the Caesar we all know.”

For his part, Pompey was the only general honored for victories on three continents: Europe, Asia and Africa. Greek historian Plutarch recognized that distinction by stating Pompey “seemed to have brought the whole world under his power in his three triumphs.”

“Earning a triumph was like winning the lottery for a general,” said Kulikowski, author of Imperial Triumph: The Roman World from Hadrian to Constantine. “It’s a huge accession of prestige. It’s a period when prestige is almost worth more than raw money. It gave you the ability to influence politics, rise higher in society and reward your clients and those who help you.”

Not all conquerors were granted Triumphs. On occasion, the Senate would bestow an Ovation, declared when an enemy was considered inferior, such as with pirates or slaves. Marcus Licinius Crassus was granted an Ovation in 71 B.C. following his defeat of Spartacus in the Third Servile War—even though the escaped gladiator had beaten several Roman armies in the slave revolt.

Roman Triumphs changed at the beginning of the Imperial era. When Octavius assumed power in 27 B.C. and became Emperor Augustus, emphasis shifted from generals to the head of state. Triumphs were then held in the name of the Roman ruler or in honor of a successful campaign bringing new territory and treasure to the empire. The Senate still granted a Triumph, though at the order of the emperor.

For obvious reasons, some Romans were wary of the power and authority displayed by the triumphator. They were concerned it was a debasement of the principles of the Republic, where citizens—at least, among patricians, the elite ruling class—were supposed to be equal. This adulation and demagoguery was viewed as a corruption of the ideals that made Rome strong.

“Petty sacrilege is punished; sacrilege on a grand scale is the stuff of triumphs,” wrote Lucius Annaeus Seneca, a first century AD philosopher and tutor of Nero.

To counter that concern, a triumphator was supposed to remember that even though he was being lavished with praise and idolatry, he was just a citizen. Beard, in her 1998 book Religions of Rome: Volume 1, co-authored with John North and Simon Price, wrote about a portentous, perhaps mythical, scene believed to have been part of each Triumph:

“As the general basked in the adulation of his fellow citizens, a slave stood behind him holding a golden crown over his head, whispering the words: ‘Look behind you. Remember you are a man.’”