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The Battle of Pharsalus, 48 BC: Caesar beats Pompey

Caesar's civil war · 9 August 48 BC · Caesar vs Pompey · ~6 min read · Updated October 2026

By Echoes of Battle

Plan of the Battle of Pharsalus, 48 BC

At a glance

Caesar's legionsJulius Caesar
vs
The Senate's armyPompey the Great
Date
9 August 48 BC (traditional date)
Location
Near Pharsalus, Thessaly, Greece
Period
Caesar's civil war
Outcome
Decisive victory for Caesar
By the numbers
SideStrengthLosses
Caesar~22,000 (outnumbered)Light; a few hundred to ~1,2001
Pompey~45,000, with a large cavalry wing2Heavy; thousands killed, tens of thousands surrendered

Ancient figures vary and are debated; only rough ranges can be given.

Quick answer

Julius Caesar won the Battle of Pharsalus on 9 August 48 BC.1 Though outnumbered nearly two to one by Pompey the Great2, Caesar used a hidden fourth line of infantry to smash Pompey's cavalry charge, then routed his whole army. The victory decided Rome's civil war and left Caesar master of the Roman world.

In the summer of 48 BC the two greatest Romans of the age met in battle on a plain in Greece. Pompey the Great had the Senate, the larger army and the cavalry; Julius Caesar had his hardened veterans and nerve. In a single morning Caesar broke him, and with him the Roman Republic.

The road to civil war

When the Senate, backed by Pompey, ordered Caesar to give up his command, Caesar crossed the Rubicon in 49 BC and plunged Rome into civil war. Pompey withdrew to Greece to raise a great army from Rome's eastern provinces. After a check at Dyrrhachium, Caesar followed him into Thessaly, and the two finally faced each other near Pharsalus.

Black and white map of northern Greece with a dotted line marking Caesar's route
Macedonia and Greece in the civil war, with Caesar's line of march and the battle sites marked. Map from How and Leigh's History of Rome to the Death of Caesar (1896). Public domain

The armies at Pharsalus

Pompey's army was far larger, perhaps twice Caesar's, and strongest in cavalry, which he massed on one wing to sweep round Caesar's flank and roll up his line. Caesar, with fewer but veteran legions, saw the danger and prepared a counter. He anchored his left on a stream and quietly pulled cohorts out of his third line2 to form a hidden fourth line behind his exposed right flank.

Marble head of a heavy faced Roman man with a raised quiff of hair
Marble portrait head of Pompey the Great from the mid first century BC, in the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen. Richard Mortel, CC BY 2.0

Caesar's hidden fourth line

When Pompey's great cavalry charge came, it drove Caesar's horsemen back as expected. But as the Pompeian riders pressed on, Caesar's hidden fourth line stood up and struck them head on, reportedly thrusting at the faces of the young aristocrats3. The charge broke and fled, exposing Pompey's left. Caesar's veterans wheeled into the gap4 and took Pompey's infantry in the flank.

Outnumbered two to one, Caesar read Pompey's plan before Pompey could spring it.

The rout of Pompey

With his cavalry gone and his flank turned, Pompey's huge army collapsed. Pompey himself rode from the field to his camp and then away in disguise. Caesar, who had ordered his men to spare fellow Romans who yielded, took tens of thousands of prisoners2. Pompey fled east to Egypt, where he was murdered as he stepped ashore5.

Long Renaissance panel crowded with knights in battle beside ships and a walled city
The Battle of Pharsalus and the Death of Pompey, a painted Florentine chest panel from the workshop of Apollonio di Giovanni and Marco del Buono, about 1455 to 1460, in the Art Institute of Chicago. Public domain

Why Pharsalus mattered

Pharsalus decided the civil war in Caesar's favour. It left him the most powerful man in the Roman world and set him on the road to dictatorship6, and Rome on the road from republic to empire. It is studied as a masterclass in how a smaller, better-led army can beat a larger one by anticipating the enemy's plan. See how Caesar's generalship compares in Alexander vs Caesar.

Frequently asked questions

When and where was the Battle of Pharsalus?

It was fought on 9 August 48 BC (by the Roman calendar of the time) on a plain near Pharsalus in Thessaly, Greece.

Who won the Battle of Pharsalus?

Julius Caesar, decisively, even though he was heavily outnumbered by Pompey the Great.

How was Caesar outnumbered yet victorious?

He expected Pompey's massed cavalry charge and hid a fourth line of infantry behind his flank; it broke the charge, after which Caesar turned Pompey's exposed wing and routed the army.

What happened to Pompey after Pharsalus?

He fled to Egypt, where he was assassinated on the orders of the Egyptian court as he came ashore in September 48 BC.

Why was Pharsalus so important?

It decided Caesar's civil war, made him master of Rome, and accelerated the fall of the Roman Republic.

Sources and notes

Numbered notes in the text point to the works below.

  1. World History Encyclopedia (Mark Cartwright), “The Battle of Pharsalus” ↩ a b
  2. Julius Caesar, The Civil War (Bellum Civile), Book 3, chapters 88 to 99. ↩ a b c d
  3. Plutarch, Parallel Lives: Caesar; Pompey, Caesar 44 to 46; Pompey 69 to 80. ↩
  4. Si Sheppard, Pharsalus 48 BC: Caesar and Pompey, Clash of the Titans (Osprey Publishing (Campaign 174), 2006). ↩
  5. Encyclopaedia Britannica, “How did Pompey the Great die?” ↩
  6. Adrian Goldsworthy, Caesar: Life of a Colossus (Yale University Press, 2006). ↩
  7. Wikipedia, “Battle of Pharsalus”
  8. Wikipedia, “Bitwa pod Farsalos”

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