Pompey

Born into senatorial nobility on 29 September 106 BC, Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus made his name as a commander under the dictator Sulla during the civil war of 83–81 BC, brutal enough that opponents called him "teenage butcher." His early victories let him skip the traditional ladder of Roman office, and he won consulships in 70, 55, and 52 BC while fighting wars from Spain to the East—Sulla himself gave him the cognomen "Magnus" after Alexander. In 60 BC he joined Crassus and Caesar in the First Triumvirate, sealed by marrying Caesar's daughter Julia, but after her death in 54 BC and Crassus's the…