Pharsalus
Pharsalus is a historically significant city located in the region of Phthiotis, eastern Thessaly, Greece. It is known for its strategic position and impressive acropolis that overlooks the surrounding area. Historically, Pharsalus is associated with the legendary figure of Peleus, the father of Achilles, and has maintained rich cultural traditions, including hero cults and athletic games in honor of its mythological figures. The city played a crucial role in ancient Greek politics, with various alliances and conflicts, including its support for Athens during the Peloponnesian War and its later domination by powerful rulers like Philip II of Macedonia.
Pharsalus is perhaps best known for the Battle of Pharsalus in 48 BC, which was a decisive confrontation in the civil war between Julius Caesar and Pompey the Great. The battle ended in a significant defeat for Pompey, leading to his flight to Egypt, where he was ultimately killed. The city is also noted for its archaeological remains, including ancient walls and a temple of Zeus Thaulios, which reflect its long history of occupation from the Neolithic period through various epochs. Today, Pharsalus is recognized for its historical and archaeological significance, representing the complex interplay of cultural and political developments in ancient Greece.
Pharsalus
Pharsalos
A city of Phthiotis (eastern Thessaly, northeastern Greece). Possessing an impressive acropolis that overlooked a lower city (the modern Pharsalos) at the eastern corner of the more westerly of Thessaly's two plains, it stood at the foot of Mount Narthakion (Kassidiari) about three miles south of the left bank of the Riber Enipeus (Mavrolongos). Abundant evidence of Neolithic and especially Bronze Age occupation has come to light. Although Homer's Phthia, legendary birthplace of Peleus the father of Achilles, had been a principality and not a town, the ancients often believed that it was a town, and the Pharsalians claimed to be its successors. They maintained hero cults of Peleus, Thetis, Achilles, Chiron and Patroclus, in whose honor Games were celebrated.
The city became an important communications center and its aristocratic rulers, the Echecratidae, who sought to rival Larissa for the leading position in Thessaly, were allies of Athens after the Persian Wars; but when they were ejected by their own countrymen in 457 BC, an Athenian siege failed to restore them. During the Peloponnesian War (431–404), however, Pharsalus was allied to Athens. In 395 it came into the hands of Medius of Larissa, but was later dominated by the autocratic rulers (tyrants) of Pherae (Velestinou). Their downfall at the hands of Philip II of Macedonia made Pharsalus the strongest city in Thessaly, controlling the important harbor of Halus (Almiros; before 346). Pharsalian cavalry served in Alexander the Great's expedition to Asia, but in the Lamian War after his death, their city declared against the Macedonians, and was captured by Antipater (322).
During the period that followed it was no longer of great importance. The town apparently belonged to the Aetolian League c 228 but was occupied not long afterward by Philip V of Macedonia, and again by the Seleucid Antiochus III the Great (192), from whom it was taken in the following year by the Roman general Manius Acilius Glabrio. Its territory was the scene of one of the decisive battles of history during the civil war between Julius Caesar and Pompey the Great (48), when, according to Plutarch, `the flower and strength of Rome met in collision with itself’. Moving inland from the Adriatic coast, Caesar had marched eastwards into the grain land of Thessaly. Pompey followed, and camped his army opposite Caesar's on higher ground near Pharsalus; the battle that followed was said to have taken place near the town of Palaiopharsalos (Old Pharsalus). But the exact whereabouts of this place is disputed; it has recently been suggested that the engagement took lace near Driskoli, on the north bank of the Enipeus. At all events, Pompey finally decided to move to the attack. But he was defeated with very heavy losses and fled to Egypt, where he was killed.
Pharsalus was described as a free city by Pliny the Elder (d. AD 79), and in the later empire became an episcopal see. Its outstanding remains today are city walls, including polygonal masonry of c 500 BC and enlargements and reinforcements of mid-fourth-century date, notably a recently excavated tower. An inscription refers to a temple of Zeus Thaulios, and foundations of a colonnaded building of c 300 have come to light. Cemeteries have yielded material of various epochs.