What If…
WHAT IF POMPEY HAD DEFEATED JULIUS CAESAR?
How the outcome of one battle would have changed the history of the Roman Empire as we know it
Interview by David J Williamson
INTERVIEW WITH DR SIMON ELLIOTT
Dr Elliott is a bestselling author, historian, archaeologist, broadcaster, and Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Kent. His books include Roman Legionaries, Julius Caesar: Rome’s Greatest Warlord and Roman Conquests: Britain
Former political allies, and even allied through marriage, Julius Caesar and Pompey faced each other across a battlefield at Pharsalus in Greece, in 48 BCE, as deadly enemies. Political convenience had turned to dust and the outcome of this battle would determine the fate of both men, and the future of Rome and its influence in the world.
Was it inevitable that Pompey and Caesar would come to blows? How different were they, and was Pompey as ambitious as Caesar?
Yes, absolutely they would have come to blows. Both were the leading protagonists in their generation for the two main political factions in Roman politics. These were the optimates who were reactionary and pro-Senate, and the populares who were in favour of reform and supported by the lower orders of the Roman aristocracy and society. They were both the latest incumbents to champion their respective causes, following on from Lucius Cornelius Sulla and Gaius Marius in the preceding generation.
While both men were ambitious, it was Caesar who definitely had the edge. All political leaders of the Roman Republic were in effect independent warlords, and shared to a greater or lesser degree a number of leadership traits. These included personal bravery; the ability to be brutal when necessary; strategic and tactical prowess; the ability to communicate with audiences high and low; that most Roman of traits, grit, which meant they kept coming back; the charisma to inspire on a large scale; and decisiveness. Caesar was the only one who had them all, and because of this he was the warlord who was the most constantly, and conspicuously, successful. That is why I believe he was Rome’s greatest warlord.