Battle of Pharsalus — Caesar Defeats Pompey
After crossing the Rubicon in January 49 BCE and sweeping through Italy in weeks, Caesar controlled the western empire. Pompey and the senatorial forces had retreated to Greece, where they spent 48 BCE amassing a massive army — reportedly twice Caesar's strength in infantry. The battle came on 9 August 48 BCE at Pharsalus in Thessaly. Caesar had anticipated the cavalry threat: he secretly placed six cohorts of veteran infantry at an angle behind his own cavalry, ordering them to thrust their pila upward at the faces of Pompey's horsemen. When Pompey's cavalry swept Caesar's horsemen aside, it ran directly into these hidden cohorts. The Pompeian cavalrymen broke and fled. Caesar's secret cohorts then fell on Pompey's exposed left flank. At the same moment Caesar's main line advanced. The Pompeian army disintegrated. Pompey fled to Egypt. He was stabbed in a rowing boat as he came ashore, killed by a Roman officer in Egyptian service. Caesar arrived in Egypt three days later. When Ptolemy's servants presented him with Pompey's pickled head, Caesar reportedly turned away in tears — Pompey had been his son-in-law and for years his friend.
- Year: 48 BCE
- Category: Military
