Julius Caesar had already known Seville long before the final struggle against the supporters of Pompey brought him back to southern Hispania. One Sevillian tradition tells how, after the decisive campaign of Munda, Caesar returned to a city that had supported his enemies carrying a grim symbol of his victory: the head of Gnaeus Pompey.
THE ILLUSTRATED LEGEND
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THE HEAD OF GNAEUS POMPEY
Julius Caesar, civil war and a dramatic return to Seville.
According to Sevillian tradition, Julius Caesar had developed a special affection for Seville during the years in which he held public office in Hispania Ulterior. The story remembers him as a protector of the city who helped to reduce some of the heavy taxes imposed upon its inhabitants.
Years later, Rome was torn apart by the civil war between Caesar and Pompey the Great. After Pompey's defeat and death, his sons Gnaeus and Sextus Pompey continued the struggle in Hispania, gathering veteran Roman troops and supporters opposed to Caesar. The conflict culminated in the great Battle of Munda, where Caesar achieved a decisive victory over the Pompeian forces.
The legend tells that Caesar then returned towards Seville deeply angered. The city had supported the Pompeian cause, received enemy troops and provided them with weapons, money and assistance. After the remaining Pompeian forces around Hispalis had been defeated, Caesar prepared to enter the city as victor.
According to the traditional story, when Caesar reached the area near what is today La Cartuja, one of his soldiers approached him carrying the severed head of Gnaeus Pompey. Caesar took the grim trophy and continued towards Hispalis, entering the city and making his way through streets traditionally associated with today's Villasís and Calle Cuna towards the ancient Roman forum, located around the present-day Alfalfa.
The inhabitants would have watched the procession with very different emotions. Caesar's supporters celebrated his victory, while those who had backed Pompey could only look on with fear. Once at the forum, the tradition says that Caesar placed the head where everyone could see it and addressed the people of the city in a severe and threatening speech.
Caesar reminded them of the favours he had granted the province during his earlier years in Hispania and bitterly reproached them for having supported his enemies. The ancient account of the campaign preserves a harsh speech delivered by Caesar in Hispalis, in which he accused the inhabitants of ingratitude and condemned their conduct during the war.
Yet according to the Sevillian tradition, Caesar's anger did not last forever. His old attachment to the city eventually prevailed, and the legend credits him with promoting the expansion and improvement of Hispalis, even attributing to him a major enlargement of its walls.
Thus the story of the head of Gnaeus Pompey combines a very real Roman civil war with one of the most dramatic images associated with Caesar's legendary presence in Seville: the victorious general entering Hispalis while carrying the remains of the man whose cause the city had supported.
BETWEEN HISTORY AND LEGEND
A real civil war surrounded by later Sevillian tradition.
Julius Caesar's involvement in Hispania and the final campaign against the sons of Pompey are historical events. The Battle of Munda took place in 45 BC and resulted in a decisive Caesarian victory. Hispalis had supported the Pompeian cause, and Caesar later addressed an assembly there, reproaching the province for having forgotten the benefits he claimed to have granted during his earlier service in Hispania.
There is, however, an important difference between the traditional account and the historical record. Gnaeus Pompey was not killed during the Battle of Munda itself. He escaped after the defeat and was killed later while attempting to flee. His brother Sextus Pompey survived and continued to play an important role in the Roman civil wars.
The Bellum Hispaniense, an ancient account written from a Caesarian perspective, preserves the harsh speech delivered after the campaign in Hispalis. The dramatic scene in which Caesar receives Gnaeus Pompey's head near La Cartuja, carries it through Seville and displays it in the forum belongs instead to the local legendary tradition.
The precise urban works later attributed to Caesar, including the rapid enlargement of Seville's walls described by the tradition, should also be treated cautiously. Caesar's victory had major political consequences for Hispalis, but the detailed reconstruction presented by the legend cannot be considered fully documented historical fact.
PODCAST VERSION
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SOURCE AND ADAPTATION
Adapted for Sevilla Ciudad Mágica from the Sevillian tradition collected by José María de Mena in Tradiciones y Leyendas Sevillanas.
Seville is not only discovered through its monuments and streets.
Its legends are also part of its history and cultural memory.
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