Gnaeus Pompeius Strabo

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.

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 Strabo's provincial roots, he and his family were Roman citizens and therefore took up Rome's cause during the civil war the Republic fought against its Italian Allies.

In 90 BC, while marching his legions south through Picenum, he was suddenly attacked by a large force of Picentes, Vestini and Marsi.

Eventually he found himself blockaded in Picenum, but in the autumn of 90 he launched two sorties that successfully caught his enemies in a pincer.

[3] Through his successful counter-offensive he became very popular, and he used his fame to get elected as one of the consuls for 89 BC, his consular partner being Lucius Porcius Cato.

[6] At the end of his term as consul, Strabo apparently sought a second immediate consulship for the year 88 BC – an act that was not illegal, as the case of Gaius Marius demonstrates in the late second century, but was highly irregular nonetheless.

Strabo evidently failed in his attempt, as Lucius Cornelius Sulla and Quintus Pompeius Rufus were elected consuls.

He remained in Picenum until 87 BC, when he responded to the Senate's request for help against Gaius Marius and Lucius Cornelius Cinna who were also marching their forces on Rome.

His avarice and cruelty had made him hated by the soldiers to such a degree that they tore his corpse from the bier and dragged it through the streets.

Strabo had at least two children: a son, Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus, and a daughter, Pompeia, who married Gaius Memmius and then Publius Cornelius Sulla.