Theatre of Pompey

The Theatre of Pompey (Latin: Theatrum Pompeii, Italian: Teatro di Pompeo) was a structure in Ancient Rome built during the later part of the Roman Republican era. It was completed in 55BC. Enclosed by the large columned porticos was an expansive garden complex of fountains and statues. Along the stretch of covered arcade were rooms dedicated to the exposition of art and other works collected by Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (English: "Pompey the Great") during his campaigns.

On the opposite end of the garden complex was a curia for political meetings. The senate would often use this building along with a number of temples and halls that satisfied the requirements for their formal meetings. This is infamous as the place of Julius Caesar's murder by the Liberatores of the Roman Senate and elite.

The structure's last recorded repairs were carried out in 507–511. Following Rome's populational decline during and after the Roman-Gothic wars of 535–554 there was no need for a large theater. The marble covering material was used to maintain other buildings. Being located near the Tiber, the building was also regularly flooded, causing further damage. The building's concrete core remained standing in the 9th century. In the eleventh century the ruins were converted into two churches and houses, with the theater's old plan remaining visible. Around 1150 the powerful Orsini family bought all buildings on the site of the theater and transformed them into a large fortress. Later in the Middle Ages the Campo de' Fiori square was built and the remaining parts of the theater were quarried to supply stone for many newer buildings which still exist in modern Rome.

Pompey

Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (Classical Latin: [ˈgnae̯.ʊs pɔmˈpɛj.jʊs ˈmaŋ.nʊs]; 29 September 106 BC – 29 September 48 BC), usually known in English as Pompey /ˈpɒmpiː/ or Pompey the Great, was a military and political leader of the late Roman Republic. He came from a wealthy Italian provincial background, and his father had been the first to establish the family among the Roman nobility. Pompey's immense success as a general while still very young enabled him to advance directly to his first consulship without meeting the normal requirements for office. His success as a military commander in Sulla's Second Civil War resulted in Sulla bestowing the nickname Magnus, "the Great", upon him. He was consul three times and celebrated three triumphs.

In mid-60 BC, Pompey joined Marcus Licinius Crassus and Gaius Julius Caesar in the unofficial military-political alliance known as the First Triumvirate, which Pompey's marriage to Caesar's daughter Julia helped secure. After the deaths of Julia and Crassus, Pompey sided with the optimates, the conservative faction of the Roman Senate. Pompey and Caesar then contended for the leadership of the Roman state, leading to a civil war. When Pompey was defeated at the Battle of Pharsalus, he sought refuge in Egypt, where he was assassinated. His career and defeat are significant in Rome's subsequent transformation from Republic to Principate and Empire.

Pompey (dog)

Pompey was the pug dog of William The Silent. According to legend, during a campaign against the Spanish by Prince of Orange, William The Silent, his Pug, Pompey, thwarted an assassination attempt. One night at Hermigny, France, while the prince slept, assassins crept toward his tent. Pompey heard them and began barking and scratching to warn his master, finally jumping on his master's face to alert him to the impending danger.

This incident would link together the Pug breed with the House of Orange, and would cause the breed to be shipped to England with William and Mary, joint sovereigns of the Kingdom of England.

On the monument of William the Silent, at the Church of St. Ursula, in Delft, Pompey is carved lying at his master's feet.

Disputed breed

The dog referred to in this legend may have instead been a Kooikerhondje. The dog carved in the monument at Delft does not have a flat face and was in 1873 referred to as a "spaniel" by a U.S. court.

References

Pompey (horse)

Pompey (1923–1944) was an American Champion Thoroughbred racehorse. He was bred by William Coe and raced under the colors of his Shoshone Stable. Pompey was a son of Cleopatra and Sun Briar who also sired U.S. Racing Hall of Fame inductee, Sun Beau. Sun Briar's dam was Sweet Briar, a French daughter of Leopold de Rothschild's St. Frusquin, whose wins included the Classic 2,000 Guineas Stakes and who was the Leading sire in Great Britain and Ireland in 1903 and 1907.

A Champion at age two

Trained by William Karrick, Pompey won seven of ten starts in 1925 including the United States Hotel Stakes, East View Stakes, and defeated arch rival Chance Play in the two most important races of the year for two-year-olds, the August 29 Hopeful Stakes at Saratoga Race Course and the September 12 Futurity Stakes at Belmont Park. Voted the 1925 American Champion Two-Year-Old Colt, Pompey was an early favorite to win the 1926 Kentucky Derby.

U.S. Triple Crown series

In his 1926 season debut, Pompey won the May 1st Wood Stakes at New York's Jamaica Race Course. He was not entered in the Preakness Stakes which that year was run on May 10 and was the first leg of the U.S. Triple Crown series. On May 15, Pompey was sent off as the second choice by bettors in the Derby at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky. Ridden by Laverne Fator, in the mile and a quarter event the colt faded after three-quarters of a mile and finished fifth to winner, Bubbling Over. Pompey did not run in the final leg of the Triple Crown, the Belmont Stakes.