Sextus Pompeius was a Roman senator who lived during the 1st century BC and into the 1st century AD. He appeared to have a witty character and to be very intelligent. Sextus was a patron of literature and the Roman poet

Ovid Publius Ovidius Naso (; 20 March 43 BC – AD 17/18), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Augustan literature (ancient Rome), Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a younger contemporary of Virgil and Horace, with whom he i ...

addressed to him four poems when he was living in exile. These poems were collected in the fourth book of ''

Epistulae ex Ponto ''Epistulae ex Ponto'' (''Letters from the Black Sea'') is a work of Ovid, in four books. It is a collection of letters describing Ovid's exile in Tomis (modern-day Constanța) written in elegiac couplets and addressed to his wife and friends. The ...

''. His relationship to the homonymous consul of 35 BC is problematic. Some authors infer he was his son. However,

Ronald Syme Sir Ronald Syme, (11 March 1903 – 4 September 1989) was a New Zealand-born historian and classicist. He was regarded as the greatest historian of ancient Rome since Theodor Mommsen and the most brilliant exponent of the history of the Roma ...

notes "an intermediate generation should be allowed for, as happens in the stemmata of other noble families." Based on

Cassius Dio Lucius Cassius Dio (), also known as Dio Cassius ( ), was a Roman historian and senator of maternal Greek origin. He published 80 volumes of the history of ancient Rome, beginning with the arrival of Aeneas in Italy. The volumes documented the ...

's assertion that this Sextus Pompeius had a connection to the imperial family, Syme catalogues some possible individuals who could have been his mother. Some authorities follow

Bartolomeo Borghesi Bartolomeo (also Bartolommeo) Borghesi (11 July 178116 April 1860) was an Italian antiquarian who was a key figure in establishing the science of numismatics. He was born at Savignano, near Rimini, and studied at Bologna and Rome. Having weake ...

and assert she was the daughter of Lucius Marcius Philippus suffect consul in 38 BC. Syme suggests she might be the daughter of

Sextus Appuleius Sextus Appuleius is the name of four figures during the 1st century BC and 1st century AD. The first Sextus Appuleius was married to Octavia Major, the elder half-sister of Augustus. The three subsequent figures named Sextus Appuleius are respecti ...

, consul in 29 BC or the daughter of that consul's brother, Marcus Appuleius consul in 20 BC. Sextus served as consul in AD 14 with

. The two men held office when the first Roman emperor,

Augustus Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian (), was the founder of the Roman Empire, who reigned as the first Roman emperor from 27 BC until his death in A ...

, died, and they were the first to swear allegiance to the new Emperor,

Tiberius Tiberius Julius Caesar Augustus ( ; 16 November 42 BC – 16 March AD 37) was Roman emperor from AD 14 until 37. He succeeded his stepfather Augustus, the first Roman emperor. Tiberius was born in Rome in 42 BC to Roman politician Tiberius Cl ...

, Augustus’ adopted son and successor. At the funeral of Augustus, Sextus broke his leg. In Tiberius’ reign, he was one of seven witnesses of the ''Senatus consultum de Cn. Pisone patre'', the Roman Senate's official act concerning the trial and punishment of Gnaeus Calpurnius Piso; the act was published on 10 December AD 20. Later, Sextus served as

proconsul A proconsul was an official of ancient Rome who acted on behalf of a Roman consul, consul. A proconsul was typically a former consul. The term is also used in recent history for officials with delegated authority. In the Roman Republic, military ...

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

from 24 to 26.

Seneca the Younger Lucius Annaeus Seneca the Younger ( ; AD 65), usually known mononymously as Seneca, was a Stoicism, Stoic philosopher of Ancient Rome, a statesman, a dramatist, and in one work, a satirist, from the post-Augustan age of Latin literature. Seneca ...

alludes to the wealth of a Pompeius, whose domains included the sources and mouths of rivers, then contrasts this with

Caligula Gaius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (31 August 12 – 24 January 41), also called Gaius and Caligula (), was Roman emperor from AD 37 until his assassination in 41. He was the son of the Roman general Germanicus and Augustus' granddaughter Ag ...

taking him into his palace and starving Pompeius to death, then arranging a public funeral for his victim. Although experts often identify Seneca's reference to a Pompeius with this Sextus Pompeius, Syme points out this would lead to "interesting (or rather intolerable) consequences for the chronology of

Valerius Maximus Valerius Maximus () was a 1st-century Latin writer and author of a collection of historical anecdotes: ' ("Nine books of memorable deeds and sayings", also known as ''De factis dictisque memorabilibus'' or ''Facta et dicta memorabilia''). He worke ...

", and argues the Pompeius Caligula was so inhospitable to was an otherwise unattested son.Syme, ''History in Ovid'', pp. 162

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pompeius, Sextus 1st-century BC Romans 1st-century Romans Imperial Roman consuls Sextus Roman governors of Asia