Battle of Pharsalus

The Battle of Pharsalus was a decisive battle of Caesar's Civil War. On 9 August 48 BC at Pharsalus in central Greece, Gaius Julius Caesar and his allies formed up opposite the army of the republic under the command of Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus ("Pompey the Great"). Pompey had the backing of a majority of the senators, of whom many were optimates, and his army significantly outnumbered the veteran Caesarian legions.

The two armies confronted each other over several months of uncertainty, Caesar being in a much weaker position than Pompey. The former found himself isolated in a hostile country with only 22,000 men and short of provisions, while on the other side of the river he was faced by Pompey with an army at least three times as great in strength. Pompey wanted to delay, knowing the enemy would eventually surrender from hunger and exhaustion. Pressured by the Senators present and by his officers, he reluctantly engaged in battle and suffered an overwhelming defeat, ultimately fleeing the camp and his men disguised as an ordinary citizen.

Prelude
A dispute between Caesar and the Senate of Rome culminated in Caesar marching his army on Rome and forcing Pompey, accompanied by much of the Roman Senate, to flee from Italy to Greece in 49 BC where he could better conscript an army to face his former ally. Caesar, lacking a fleet to immediately give chase, solidified his control over the western Mediterranean – Spain specifically – before assembling ships to follow Pompey. Bibulus, whom Pompey had appointed to command his 600-ship fleet, set up a massive blockade to prevent Caesar from crossing to Greece and to prevent any aid to Italy. Caesar, defying convention, chose to cross the Adriatic during the winter, with only half his fleet at a time. This move surprised Bibulus and the first wave of ships managed to run the blockade easily. Now prepared, Bibulus managed to prevent any further ships from crossing, but died soon afterwards.

Caesar was now in a precarious position, holding a beachhead at Epirus with only half his army, no ability to supply his troops by sea, and limited local support, as the Greek cities were mostly loyal to Pompey. Caesar's only choice was to fortify his position, forage what supplies he could, and wait on his remaining army to attempt another crossing. Pompey by now had a massive international army; however, his troops were mostly untested raw recruits, while Caesar's troops were hardened veterans. Realizing Caesar's difficulty in keeping his troops supplied, Pompey decided to simply mirror Caesar's forces and let hunger do the fighting for him. Caesar began to despair and used every channel he could think of to pursue peace with Pompey. When this was rebuffed he made an attempt to cross back to Italy to collect his missing troops but was turned back by a storm. Finally, Marc Antony rallied the remaining forces in Italy, fought through the blockade and made the crossing, reinforcing Caesar's forces in both men and spirit. Now at full strength Caesar felt confident to take the fight to Pompey.

Pompey was camped in a strong position just south of Dyrrhachium with the sea to his back and surrounded by hills, making a direct assault impossible. Caesar ordered a wall to be built around Pompey's position in order to cut off water and pasture land for his horses. Pompey built a parallel wall and in between a kind of no man's land was created, with fighting comparable to the trench warfare of World War I. Finally the standoff was broken by a traitor in Caesar's army, who informed Pompey of a weakness in Caesar's wall. Pompey immediately exploited this information and forced Caesar's army into a full rout, but ordered his army not to pursue, fearing Caesar's reputation for setting elaborate traps. This caused Caesar to remark, "The day was theirs had there been anyone among them to take it." Pompey continued his strategy of mirroring Caesar's forces and avoiding any direct engagements. After trapping Caesar in Thessaly, the prominent Senators in Pompey's camp began to argue loudly for a more decisive victory. Although Pompey was strongly against it - he wanted to surround and starve Caesar's army instead - he eventually gave in and accepted battle from Caesar on a field near Pharsalus.

Caesar had the following legions with him:


 * Legions of veterans from the Gallic Wars – Caesar's favourite legion, X Equestris, and those later known with the names of VIII Augusta, IX Hispana, and XII Fulminata
 * Legions levied for the civil war – legions later known as I Germanica, III Gallica, and IV Macedonica

However, all of these legions were 'short', and did not have the requisite numbers of troops. Some only had about a thousand men at the time of Pharsalus, due partly to losses at Dyrrhachium and partly to Caesar's wish to rapidly advance with a picked body as opposed to a ponderous movement with a large army.

Deployment
Pompey had every tactical advantage an army could hope for; he held the higher ground, had superiority of numbers, and was better supplied from his many allies in Greece. This caused the great general to be conservative, careful, and dangerously predictable. Pompey deployed his army in the traditional formation of three lines with a depth of ten men. Again according to convention he posted his most experienced legions on the flanks (the first and the third legion on his left with Pompey himself commanding, the Syrian legions in the center with Scipio, the Cilician legion and the Spanish cohorts on the right with Afranius), dispersing his new recruits along the center. In total, Caesar counted 110 complete cohorts in the Pompeian army, 11 legions consisting of about 45,000 men. Pompey's right was protected by the River Enipeus, therefore he amassed all his cavalry on Caesar's right. He had given command of the cavalry to Labienus, the former commander of Caesar's favourite X legion. He deployed the rest of the army on his left together with his auxiliary troops. Pompey's plan was to allow Caesar's infantry to advance, have his cavalry attack and push back the numerically inferior Julian horses, and then attack Caesar's infantry from behind.

Caesar knew this would be his last stand as they had run out of supplies and with no lines of retreat they would be at Pompey's mercy and likely to be slaughtered if they lost the battle. This "nothing to lose" mentality was played up by Caesar to his men as he explained that defeat meant nothing less than death. Caesar also deployed in three lines but could only set them to six men deep if he was to match the length of Pompey's line. Like Pompey he was protected by the river on his left allowing him to position all his cavalry to the right as a counter. As was typical of Caesar he gambled and began discreetly thinning his already depleted ranks of men then repositioned them as a fourth line to support his cavalry against the inevitable assault by the much larger Pompeian cavalry. Caesar himself commanded the cavalry, he posted the notorious tenth legion on his right under Sulla, with the undermanned eighth and possibly the ninth on his left under Marc Antony. In the center he designated Domitius as the commanding officer. According to his accounts, he had 80 cohorts on the battlefield, about 22,000 men.

Conflict
There was significant distance between the two armies, according to Caesar. Pompey ordered his men not to charge, but to wait until Caesar's legions came into close quarters. Pompey's adviser Caius Triarius believed that Caesar's infantry would be fatigued and fall into disorder if they were forced to cover twice the expected distance. But seeing that Pompey's army was not advancing, Caesar's men, without orders, stopped to rest and regroup before continuing the charge. Caesar, in his history of the war, would praise his own men's discipline and experience, and questioned Pompey's decision not to charge.

When the lines joined, Labienus ordered the cavalry to attack; as expected they successfully pushed back Caesar's cavalry until his hidden fourth line joined in, using their pila to thrust at Pompey's cavalry and turn them to flight. After this, Caesar ordered his six cohorts from his left flank to attack the flank of Pompey's army -- a move which at this point meant that the battle was more or less decided.

Pompey could see this. After observing his cavalry routed, Pompey retreated to his camp and left his troops to their own devices. He ordered the garrison to defend it as he gathered his family, loaded up as much gold as he could, threw off his general's cloak and fled.

Caesar urged his men to end the day by capturing the enemy camp. They complied with his wishes, furiously attacking the walls. The Thracians and the other auxiliaries who were left in the camp, in total seven cohorts, defended bravely, but were not able to fend off the assault.

Caesar had won his greatest victory, having lost only about 1,200 soldiers and 30 centurions.

Aftermath
Pompey fled from Pharsalus to Egypt, where he was assassinated on the order of Pharaoh Ptolemy XIII. Interestingly enough, Ptolemy XIII sent Pompey's head to Caesar in an effort to win his favor, but instead secured him as a furious enemy. Ptolemy, advised by his regent, the eunuch Pothinus, and his rhetoric tutor Theodotus of Chios, had failed to take into account that Caesar was granting amnesty to a great number of those of the senatorial faction in their defeat. Even men who had been bitter enemies were allowed to not only return to Rome but assume their previous positions in Roman society.

Pompey's assassination had deprived Caesar of his ultimate public relations moment -- pardoning his most ardent rival. The Battle of Pharsalus ended the wars of the First Triumvirate. The Roman Civil War, however, was not ended. Pompey's two sons, Gnaeus and Sextus, and the Pompeian faction, led now by Metellus Scipio and Cato, survived and fought for their cause in the name of Pompey the Great. Caesar spent the next few years 'mopping up' remnants of the senatorial faction. After seemingly destroying all his enemies and bringing peace to Rome he was assassinated by friends in a conspiracy organized by Marcus Junius Brutus and Gaius Cassius Longinus.

Importance
Paul K. Davis wrote that "Caesar's victory took him to the pinnacle of power, effectively ending the Republic." The battle itself did not end the civil war but it was decisive and gave Caesar a much needed boost in legitimacy. Until then much of the Roman world outside of Italy supported Pompey and his allies due to the extensive list of clients he held in all corners of the Republic. After Pompey's defeat former allies began to align themselves with Caesar as some came to believe the gods favored him, while for others it was simple self-preservation.

This mentality is possibly difficult to understand in our modern age, but the ancients took great stock in success as a sign of favoritism by the gods. This is especially true of success in the face of almost certain defeat -- as Caesar experienced at Pharsalus. This allowed Caesar to parlay this single victory into a huge network of willing clients to better secure his hold over power and force the Optimates into near exile in search for allies to continue the fight against Caesar.

Battle date
The date of the battle is given as 9 August 48 BC according to the republican calendar. According to the Julian calendar however, the date was either 29 June (according to Le Verrier's chronological reconstruction) or possibly 7 June (according to Drumann/Groebe). Pompey was assassinated on 3 September 48 BC. Thus, had the battle actually taken place in the true month of August, when the harvest was becoming ripe, Pompey's strategy of starving Caesar would not be plausible.

Location
The location of the battlefield was for long a subject of controversy among scholars. Caesar himself, in his Commentarii de Bello Civili, mentions few place-names; and although the battle is called after Pharsalos, four ancient writers – the author of the Bellum Alexandrinum (48.1), Frontinus (Strategemata 2.3.22), Eutropius (20), and Orosius (6.15.27) – place it specifically at Palaepharsalos. Strabo in his Geographica (Γεωγραφικά) mentions both old and new Pharsaloi, and notes that the Thetideion, the temple to Thetis south of Scotoussa, was near both. In 198 B.C. in the Second Macedonian War Philip V of Macedon sacked Palaepharsalos (Livy, Ab urbe condita 32.13.9), but left new Pharsalos untouched. These two details perhaps imply that the two cities were not close neighbours. Until the early 20th century, unsure of the site of Palaepharsalos, scholars followed Appian (2.75) and located the battle of 48 B.C. south of the Enipeus or close to Pharsalos (today's Pharsala).

The “north-bank” thesis of F. L. Lucas, based on his 1921 solo field-trip to Thessaly, is now, however, broadly accepted by historians. “A visit to the ground has only confirmed me,” Lucas wrote in 1921; “and it was interesting to find that Mr. Apostolides, son of the large local landowner, the hospitality of whose farm at Tekés I enjoyed, was convinced too that the [battle-]site was by Driskole [now Krini], for the very sound reason that neither the hills nor the river further east suit Caesar’s description.” John D. Morgan in his definitive “Palae-pharsalus – the Battle and the Town”, arguing for a site closer still to Krini, where he places Palaepharsalos, writes: “My reconstruction is similar to Lucas’s, and in fact I borrow one of his alternatives for the line of the Pompeian retreat. Lucas’s theory has been subjected to many criticisms, but has remained essentially unshaken.”

Named after battle
The battle gives its name to


 * Pharsalia, a poem by Lucan
 * Pharsalia, New York, U.S.
 * Pharsalia Technologies, Inc.