Pompey’s Murder at Alexandria

She fled to the eastern Nile Delta and began assembling an army of mercenaries and loyalists,

determined to reclaim her throne. Meanwhile, Rome—increasingly the arbiter of all

Hellenistic politics—was engulfed in its own civil war between Julius Caesar and Pompey the Great.

That conflict arrived on Egypt’s doorstep in 48 BCE. Pompey, fleeing after his

defeat at Pharsalus, sought refuge in Alexandria, expecting Ptolemy’s support as a longtime

Roman ally. Instead, Pothinus and the boy-king’s advisors, hoping to curry

favor with Caesar, had Pompey assassinated and presented his severed head to the approaching

Roman general. Caesar was horrified—not out of loyalty to Pompey, but because the