Quintus Pompeius - Consul of 88 BC

Consul of 88 BC

Quintus Pompeius Rufus (flourished 2nd and 1st century BC, died 88 BC), was the son to the above by an unnamed woman and eldest brother to tribune Aulus Pompeius. He appears to be the first in his family to bear the cognomen Rufus. However, the origins of him gaining this cognomen are unknown - although it may simply be that he was red-haired.

Cicero states that Pompeius was among the orators he had heard in his youth. Pompeius was a supporter of the Dictator Lucius Cornelius Sulla. In 100 BC Pompeius was tribune of the plebs; was praetor in 91 BC and served his consulship with Sulla in 88 BC. When the civil war broke out between Sulla and Gaius Marius, Pompeius was deprived of his consulship and fled to Nola, where Pompeius met up with Sulla and his army. Sulla took the place in the war against Mithridates and left Pompeius in charge of Italy.

While Gnaeus Pompeius Strabo was commanding the war against the Marsi tribe, the Optimates gave his army to Pompeius Rufus, the new consul. This caused Pompeius Rufus to be murdered by Strabo’s soldiers.

Pompeius had married an unnamed Roman woman and they had a son a younger Quintus Pompeius Rufus, who married Sulla’s first daughter Cornelia Sulla.