Who runs the world…

A triumphal procession was a huge spectacle. Enormous crowds would gather to see what a victorious general had brought to Rome from the territories he had conquered. In fact, Pompey's third triumph was so big that it lasted two consecutive days. We know that Pompey’s parade contained vast arrays of treasure, exotic plants and animals, captives in their native dress and placards proclaiming Pompey’s deeds, such as the number of cities he had founded. All this was followed by Pompey in his horse-drawn chariot, and behind him were his soldiers singing bawdy songs. In his first triumph Pompey even tried to replace his horses with elephants, which turned out to be unsuccessful because they couldn’t fit through the gates. Plutarch, Life of Pompey, 14.4; Pliny, Natural History, 8.4. .

Among the objects on display in the parade was also a “huge and expensively decorated …. trophy of the world”. This globe is depicted in the center of the coin. Not only does it show us that the Romans knew that the world was round, but to a person looking at the coin, it would convey the message that the Romans had now conquered the entire world (or at least the known world). Mary Beard, The Roman Triumph (Cambridge MA 2007) 20-21; C. Nicolet, Space, Geography and Politics in the Early Roman Empire (Ann Arbor 1991) 31-33. With his conquests on three different continents, Pompey had achieved something extraordinary: he could now boast that he himself had followed in the footsteps of Alexander the Great himself!

Pompey was now at the peak of his career, but the honors bestowed on him (often in, or as a result of, unconventional ways) also caused a lot of resentment among his peers. Unwittingly, he had set a precedent for some other illustrious men like Caesar to acquire similar powers. The rivalries between these men would soon result in the civil war that ended the Republic and gave rise to the Empire. When Caesar won, he chased Pompey to Egypt, where the Pharaoh beheaded Pompey intending his head to be a gift to Caesar. For all this little coin’s brave subtlety, the irony that Pompey’s head did not end up on a coin, but a plate, is all too obvious. They say pride goeth before the fall.