Battle of Pharsalus

Battle of Pharsalus, (48 bce), the decisive engagement in the Roman civil war (49–45 bce) between Julius Caesar and Pompey the Great. After failing to subdue his enemies at Dyrrhachium (now Dürres, Albania), Caesar clashed with Pompey somewhere near Pharsalus (now Fársala, Greece). Although Caesar was greatly outnumbered, his veteran legions successfully routed Pompey’s diverse but undisciplined levies. Pompey’s flight to Egypt and subsequent murder handed the ultimate victory to Caesar.

Context

By 49 bce Caesar’s relationship with the Roman Senate had dangerously deteriorated. Having recently conquered and pacified the Gallic tribes, he was stationed in Cisalpine Gaul when he received orders from the Senate to relinquish command of his 10 veteran legions. He had already sent two legions to Rome in 51 bce at the Senate’s request, presumably for a Parthian campaign in which they were never used. He was loath to surrender the rest of his legions, nine of which were wintering in Gaul. Caesar understood that his political career would vanish if he obeyed the Senate’s demand, but he also knew that defying it would be an act of war. He decided that war was favourable. On January 10–11, 49 bce, Caesar took Legio XIII Gemina across the Rubicon River and into Italia proper.

Roman Civil War Events

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Campaign of Ilerda

49 BCE

Battle of Pharsalus

48 BCE

Battle of Thapsus

February 6, 46 BCE

Battle of Munda

45 BCE

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The Senate was certain that towns and cities along Caesar’s march south would rally to the defense of the republic, but that assumption quickly proved false. Pompey was the sole consul at the time, and, although he was once Caesar’s fellow triumvir, he was now a firm defender of the Senate and the republic. The Senate had only two legions in Italia—the two that Caesar had sent—and faltering support in the north complicated its ability to levy fresh troops. Pompey urged his fellow senators to evacuate Rome and retreat with their army to Brundisium (modern Brindisi), located at the heel of the Italian Peninsula. When Caesar reached Rome, then, the city opened its gates to him. By March he had been reinforced with four of his Gallic legions and advanced on Brundisium, but not before Pompey and the Senate abandoned Italia to regroup in Epirus.

With the whole of the Italian Peninsula now in his grasp, Caesar observed that while Pompey’s small army was across the Adriatic Sea, seven loyalist legions were still stationed in Hispania, albeit without a general. He chose to first eliminate the larger army before they could organize. He briefly returned to Rome in April, where he pardoned his political opponents, installed a new Senate, and raised at least 14 legions. Then, leaving a sizeable garrison in Italia, Caesar reunited with some of his Gallic forces in southern Gaul before crossing into Hispania. He crushed the loyalists at Ilerda in August and forced the surrender of two legions in Córdoba the following month. When he returned to Rome in October, Caesar’s Senate proclaimed him dictator, conferring unto him supreme authority and sweeping emergency powers.

In the seven months after their flight to Epirus, Pompey and the loyalist senators mustered a formidable army. The bountiful eastern provinces and client kingdoms raised the Senate’s fighting force to nine legions on the ground and a 300-ship fleet that dominated the sea. After wintering at Dyrrhachium, Pompey intended to invade Italy and save the republic from despotism, as his mentor Sulla had done over 30 years earlier. Caesar hoped to kill this plan in its infancy. The Senate expected Caesar to cross the Adriatic in the spring of 48 bce, when the weather would be warmer and the winds stronger. They were surprised to find him on the shores of Epirus in January with seven veteran legions. Four legions, commanded by Mark Antony, were prevented from crossing by the strong loyalist fleet and were forced to winter in Brundisium. This setback did not hinder Caesar, though. He swept through the region, seizing Apollonia and Oricum along the way to Dyrrhachium. There he built fortifications around the city and blockaded it for six months, during which time Antony was able to reach Caesar with the four legions from Brundisium. Pompey broke the blockade but failed to crush Caesar’s army.

It was now August. Still undeterred, Caesar and his legions slinked away from their camp by night. They then marched east. Pompey pursued them, likely under duress; his fellow senators were growing anxious and demanded a swift end to what had now been over a year and a half of civil war. Caesar chose to cross over the Pindus Mountains and into the province of Macedonia, where he found a fertile valley to feed his troops while he awaited his enemies. Exactly where Pompey camped his legions in this valley—and, accordingly, the name of the ensuing battle—has been hotly debated among scholars, a detail complicated both by discrepancies among ancient accounts and modern archaeological evidence. An older theory holds that he set up camp southeast of the Enipeus River on the slope adjacent to the town of Pharsalus (modern Fársala), from which the conventional name of the battle is derived. A more recent theory with growing support finds that he camped north of the river on a slope next to Palaepharsalus (“old Pharsalus,” possibly modern Kríni), in which case the battle would be properly termed the Battle of Palaepharsalus. Nevertheless, scholars on both sides agree that Pompey positioned his legions on a slope a few miles away from Caesar’s camp in the valley and that the Enipeus was a defining natural landmark.

Battle

Pompey’s army maintained its position on the high ground for several days. Each morning Caesar would edge his legions closer to the hill, and Pompey would respond by moving his men a little farther down the slope. Caesar refused to meet Pompey on this disadvantageous ground and was in the process of striking his tents to march elsewhere when he saw that Pompey had inexplicably descended onto the plain. Both sides prepared to engage the following day, August 9.

Leaving behind seven cohorts at his camp, Pompey drew up his legions in three lines perpendicular to the Enipeus. At his disposal were 47,000 legionaries overall, many of whom were recent recruits. Under his personal command were legions I and III—the two that Caesar had sent the Senate—and he kept them on his left flank. Here he also placed his missile troops and cavalry, the latter of which was led by Titus Labienus and numbered nearly 7,000 men. He positioned his inexperienced Syrian legions in the centre, commanded by his father-in-law, Metellus Scipio. On the right was Lucius Afranius with his seasoned Cilician legion and Spanish cohorts. They were naturally protected by the Enipeus.

Caesar possessed a much smaller fighting force. He left two cohorts at his camp and advanced to meet Pompey with 22,000 men drawn into three thinner lines. Unlike the mélange of loyalist troops, Caesar’s nine legions were nearly all veterans, and many of them had fought for him in Gaul. On Caesar’s left was Mark Antony with legions IX and VIII; because legion IX had suffered greatly at Dyrrhachium, the two legions were placed close together. In the centre were six more legions, commanded by Domitius Calvinus. Caesar himself stood on his right flank with legion X and a cavalry force of around 1,000 men. However, he knew that Pompey’s cavalry vastly outnumbered his own, so he drew six or eight cohorts to form a fourth line behind his cavalry.

At Caesar’s order, his first and second lines charged forward for a short distance before realizing that Pompey’s legions had not responded. They slowed their advance and launched their javelins at the enemy, but loyalists held their positions and fired javelins of their own. Caesar’s legions then rushed forward again, this time engaging in combat with their swords. At this point Pompey ordered Labienus on his left to charge with the cavalry against Caesar’s right wing, and the mass of horses thundered across the plain with the archers and slingers in tow. Caesar’s own cavalry was quickly overwhelmed and retreated a little. Labienus began to divide his horsemen into smaller divisions in preparation for a coordinated flanking maneuver.

However, neither Pompey nor Labienus saw the eight cohorts that Caesar had planted behind his cavalry. Caesar gave them the signal to attack. Labienus’s horsemen were so surprised that they scrambled for safety in the hills as quickly as they had left them. Caesar then ordered his third line to reinforce the fatiguing first and second lines; they had been withheld for this purpose, and they struck unease into the hearts of the loyalist legionaries. When the cohorts that had routed Labienus’s cavalry barreled through Pompey’s scattering missile troops and into his exposed left flank, the legions began to break. Pompey ordered a hasty retreat.

Caesar’s army pursued Pompey’s fleeing men to their hillside camp and again to a spot not far from Lárissa to the northeast, where four legions surrendered. Pompey himself donned plain clothes and evaded capture.

Losses and aftermath

Caesar’s victory at Pharsalus was the deciding battle of the civil war. Pompey’s army suffered some 15,000 casualties, and 24,000 of its soldiers were taken prisoner. Little is known about Caesar’s casualties; he personally reported 230 dead or missing legionaries, although that improbably low number should be treated with skepticism. With the bulk of its army now gone, the exiled Senate was in no position to mount an offensive. Caesar pardoned all his surviving enemies. Pompey was thoroughly stunned by his army’s destruction and fled by sea to Egypt in the hope that young Ptolemy XIII would grant him refuge. Ptolemy’s advisors had Pompey killed as he was coming ashore. Caesar reached Egypt shortly thereafter and is said to have mourned his old friend’s murder.

When hostilities finally abated in 45 bce, Caesar returned to Rome as the undisputed victor of the civil war and dictator of the Roman Republic. He would bear that honour until his own assassination a year later.