More recently, scholars have started to avoid the term in publications altogether. By the 19th century, usage was somewhat regular – mostly in English and French sources, though not in German ones, – usually prefaced with clarifications that the term did not refer to any official position.
First attested in 1681, the term emerged into widespread use only during the 18th century for some time, knowledge that the term was a modern coinage was unknown, "revealed" only in 1807. The usage of the term "triumvirate" to describe this political alliance was unattested during the Renaissance. In the ancient world, the triple alliance was referred to with varying terms: Cicero, contemporaneously, wrote of "three men" ( tris homines) exercising a regnum a satire by Marcus Terentius Varro called it a "three-headed monster" later historians such as Suetonius and Livy referred to the three as a societas or conspiratio the allies themselves "would presumably have referred to it simply as amicitia". The term appears nowhere in any ancient source, refers to no official position, and is "completely and obviously erroneous". Boards of a certain number of men such as decemviri were a feature of Roman administration, but this alliance was not counted among them. The term "First Triumvirate", while well-known, is a misleading one which is regularly avoided by modern scholars of the late republic. Deteriorating trust through 50 BC, along with the influence of Catonian anti-Caesarian hardliners on Pompey, eventually pushed Caesar into open rebellion in January 49 BC. These drew him slowly into a policy of confrontation with Caesar. Pompey, however, moved to form alliances to counterbalance Caesar's influence after Crassus' death. They remained allies even after Pompey's assumption of a sole consulship in 52 BC and the death of Julia (Caesar's daughter and Pompey's wife). Amid even stronger backlash at Rome against the use of naked force and chaos to achieve political ends, Crassus was killed during his ill-fated invasion of Parthia in 53 BC.Ĭaesar and Pompey, the two remaining allies, maintained friendly relations for a few years. Caesar's command in Gaul was then renewed for another five years plum provincial commands placed Pompey in Spain and Crassus in Syria. By force and with political disruption aided by their allies, they delayed consular elections into 55 BC and intimidated the comitia into electing Pompey and Crassus again as consuls. The three men, however, came together in mutual interest to renew their pact. Political alliances at Rome reorganised to counterbalance the three men in the coming years.īy 55 BC, the alliance was fraying. The early success of the alliance, however, triggered substantial political backlash. Caesar also was placed in a long-term governorship in Gaul. Caesar secured passage of an agrarian law which helped resettle Pompey's veterans, a law ratifying Pompey's settlements after the Third Mithridatic War, and legislation on provincial administration and tax collection. Initially secret, it emerged publicly during Caesar's first consulship in 59 BC to push through legislation for the three allies.
It was formed between the three men due to their mutual need to overcome opposition in the senate against their proposals in the previous years. The "triumvirate" was not a formal magistracy, nor did it achieve a lasting domination over state affairs.
In order to bypass constitutional obstacles and force through the political goals of the three men, they forged in secret an alliance where they promised to use their respective influence to support each other. The constitution of the Roman republic had many veto points. The First Triumvirate was an informal political alliance among three prominent politicians in the late Roman Republic: Gaius Julius Caesar, Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus and Marcus Licinius Crassus. For the 19th century AD Argentine alliance, see First Triumvirate (Argentina).Ĭaesar, Crassus, and Pompey, the members of the political alliance. This article is about the ancient Roman political alliance between Caesar, Pompey, and Crassus.
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