Battle of Pharsalus

48 BCE

The Battle of Pharsalus was fought in 48 BC in Greece between Julius Caesar and Pompey. Caesar’s smaller army defeated Pompey’s larger force, forcing Pompey to flee and destroying the strongest immediate military challenge to Caesar. The battle became one of the decisive moments in the collapse of the republic.

Pharsalus mattered because it ended the illusion that the old senatorial coalition could easily restore its authority. Pompey’s defeat scattered his supporters and pushed the civil war into new theatres. It also made Caesar’s personal dominance over Rome much harder to reverse.

Pharsalus is a major event for fiction about Caesar and Pompey. Conn Iggulden, Colleen McCullough, Robert Harris, and Steven Saylor all write in the political world that this battle transformed, even when their focus falls on different characters. The battle works for novels about old allies becoming enemies, desperate senatorial hopes, battlefield miscalculation, and the personal consequences of choosing the losing side.

Related people for Battle of Pharsalus

Cato the Younger95–46 BCE Cicero107 BCE–44 BCE Cleopatra70 BCE–31 BCE Clodiaborn 96 BCE Julius Caesar101 BCE–45 BCE Mark Antony83–30 BCE Pompey106–48 BCE Ptolemy XIII Theos Philopator63 BCE–48 BCE

Books