How the son of Pompey the Great nearly strangled Rome by cutting its grain
Sextus Pompey, the last defender of the Roman Republic, turned Sicily into a naval fortress to challenge the Second Triumvirate. By blockading Italy and weaponizing the grain supply, he forced the future emperor Octavian into a desperate, years-long struggle that reshaped the Roman world and ended the constitutional government.
Following the assassination of Julius Caesar in 44 BC, his heirs—Octavian, Mark Antony, and Lepidus—issued proscription lists to eliminate enemies and fund their wars. Sextus Pompey, son of Pompey the Great, fled to Sicily, where he built a formidable coalition of Optimate loyalists and escaped slaves. His naval dominance was so absolute that he crippled Rome’s food supply, forcing the Triumvirs to negotiate the Pact of Misenum in 39 BC, which briefly recognized his control over Sicily, Sardinia, and Corsica.
The peace was short-lived. Octavian, aided by his commander Marcus Agrippa, launched a massive military buildup, constructing a new fleet and training thousands of oarsmen at the specially engineered Portus Julius. The conflict culminated in 36 BC with the Battle of Naulochus. Agrippa, utilizing heavier ships equipped with advanced artillery like the harpax and corvus, shattered Sextus’ fleet. The scale of the violence was immense; historical estimates suggest 200,000 men perished and 1,000 warships were destroyed during the campaign.
The war’s conclusion triggered a political domino effect. Sextus fled to Miletus, where he was executed without trial in 35 BC. With the Pompeian threat removed, the Triumvirate’s internal stability collapsed. Octavian maneuvered to isolate Lepidus, stripping him of his power and provinces after a confrontation in Sicily. By settling his veterans on ruined Sicilian farmland, Octavian solidified his own authority, effectively ending any hope for the restoration of the Roman Republic and setting the stage for his final showdown with Mark Antony.
Source: War between Sextus Pompey and the Second Triumvirate
