Rome's involvement in the area dated from 63 BC, following the end of the Third Mithridatic War, when Rome made a province of Syria. After the defeat of Mithridates VI of Pontus, general Pompeius Magnus (Pompey the Great) remained there to secure the area. Subsequently, during the 1st century BC, Judea's Hasmonean Kingdom became a client kingdom and then a province of the Roman Empire.