Pompey’s third triumph on his birthday
A golden mountain and a portrait in pearls
pr. k. Octobres
Pompey celebrated his triumph over the pirates, Asia and Pontus on his birthday; Pliny lists from the official record a gaming board made of two gems and a golden mountain.
tertio triumpho, quem de piratis, Asia, Ponto gentibusque et regibus in VII volumine operis huius indicatis M. Pisone M. Messala cos. pr. k. Octobres natali suo egit
In his third triumph, over the pirates, Asia, Pontus and the peoples and kings listed in the seventh book of this work, which he celebrated in the consulship of Marcus Piso and Marcus Messala on the day before the Kalends of October, his birthday…
Background
Pompey returned from the East after defeating the pirates and King Mithridates and reorganising Asia. His third triumph, held in the consulship of Marcus Piso and Marcus Messala, fell on his own birthday. Pliny the Elder, writing about the Roman taste for gems, quotes the official record of Pompey's triumphs to show where the fashion began per Pliny.
The list is dazzling. Pliny says the procession carried a gaming board with its pieces, made of two gemstones and measuring three feet by four, with a golden moon weighing thirty pounds on it; three dining couches; gold and jewelled vessels enough for nine sideboards; three gold statues of Minerva, Mars and Apollo; thirty-three crowns of pearls; a square golden mountain with deer, lions and fruit of every kind, ringed by a golden vine; and a "museum" of pearls with a sundial on top.
There was also a portrait of Pompey himself made of pearls. Pliny disapproves: it was, he says, a triumph of luxury over severity. Pliny adds that pearls first came into fashion at Rome from this victory, just as earlier triumphs had brought in chased silver, Attalid fabrics and bronze dining couches.
Before Caesar's reform (45 BC) the calendar had drifted from the seasons, so the real seasonal date was different; we don't give a modern equivalent. Why?