Battle of Pharsalus - Location

Location

Controversy long raged among scholars over the location of the battlefield. Caesar himself 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. Until the early 20th century, unsure of the site of Palaepharsalos, scholars followed Arrian (2.75) and located the battle 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 site was by Driskole, 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.”