In September, 48 BC, Pompey the Great fled to Egypt after being defeated by Caesar in the Battle of Pharsalus during the Roman Civil War.
In September, 48 BC, Pompey the Great fled to Egypt after being defeated by Caesar in the Battle of Pharsalus during the Roman Civil War. But immediately upon his arrival in Alexandria, Pompey was assassinated on the orders of the eunuch Pothinus, regent and political minister of the 14-year-old pharaoh Ptolemy XIII. Pothinus and the other court officials saw clearly which way the winds of war were blowing and hoped that by dispatching Caesar’s enemy they would win favor with the Roman general. They badly miscalculated, however. Caesar arrived in Egypt in pursuit of Pompey with a legion of troops, shortly after Pompey’s murder, and upon his arrival, Pothinus and Ptolemy presented him with Pompey’s severed head. Seeing the treacherous and inglorious end that had befallen the great Roman hero, his long-time comrade and former son in law, Caesar famously wept. Caesar did not avenge Pompey immediately, but when informed by a slave that Pothinus had arranged for Caesar to be ass...