Later Portrayals and Reputation
For the historians of his own and later Roman periods, Pompey fit the trope of the great man who achieved extraordinary triumphs through his own efforts, yet fell from power and was, in the end, murdered through treachery.
He was a hero of the Republic, who seemed once to hold the Roman world in his palm, only to be brought low by his own poor judgment and Caesar. Pompey was idealized as a tragic hero almost immediately after Pharsalus and his murder. Plutarch portrayed him as a Roman Alexander the Great, pure of heart and mind, destroyed by the cynical ambitions of those around him. This portrayal of him survived into the Renaissance and Baroque periods, for example in Corneille's play The Death of Pompey (1642).
Pompey has appeared as a character in several modern novels, plays, motion pictures, and other media. A theatrical portrayal was John Masefield's play The Tragedy of Pompey the Great (1910). Chris Noth portrays Pompey in the 2002 miniseries Julius Caesar. He appears as a major character in the first season of the HBO series Rome, in which he is portrayed by Kenneth Cranham.
In the opening scene of King of Kings, he is portrayed by actor Conrado San Martin.
In the television series Xena Warrior Princess, he is portrayed by the actor Jeremy Callaghan.
In comics, he appears as Julius Caesar's foe throughout the The Adventures of Alix series.
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