Gnaeus Pompeius Strabo

Gnaeus Pompeius Strabo ( – 87 BC) was a Roman general and politician, who served as consul in 89 BC. He is often referred to in English as Pompey Strabo, to distinguish him from his son, the famous Pompey the Great, or from Strabo the geographer. Strabo, the cognomen, means "cross eyed". He lived in the Roman Republic and was born and raised into a noble family in Picenum (in the south and the north of the modern regions of Marche and Abruzzo respectively) in central Italy, on the Adriatic Coast. Strabo's mother was called Lucilia. Lucilia's family originated from Suessa Aurunca (modern Sessa Aurunca) and she was a sister of satiric poet Gaius Lucilius. Lucilius was a friend of Roman general Scipio Aemilianus. Strabo's paternal grandfather was Gnaeus Pompeius, while his father was Sextus Pompeius. His elder brother was Sextus Pompeius and his sister was Pompeia. Career Strabo was a prominent member of the Pompeii, a noble family in Picenum, in the north-east of Italy. The Pompeii had become the richest and most prominent family of the region, and had a large clientele and a lot of influence in Picenum and Rome. Despite the anti-rural prejudice of the Roman Senate, the Pompeii could not be ignored. After serving in the military, probably as a military tribune, Strabo climbed the cursus honorum and became promagistrate in Sicily 93 BC and consul in the year 89 BC, in the midst of the Social War.