Enjoy fast, free delivery, exclusive deals, and award-winning movies & TV shows with Prime
Try Prime
and start saving today with fast, free delivery
Amazon Prime includes:
Fast, FREE Delivery is available to Prime members. To join, select "Try Amazon Prime and start saving today with Fast, FREE Delivery" below the Add to Cart button.
Amazon Prime members enjoy:- Cardmembers earn 5% Back at Amazon.com with a Prime Credit Card.
- Unlimited Free Two-Day Delivery
- Streaming of thousands of movies and TV shows with limited ads on Prime Video.
- A Kindle book to borrow for free each month - with no due dates
- Listen to over 2 million songs and hundreds of playlists
- Unlimited photo storage with anywhere access
Important: Your credit card will NOT be charged when you start your free trial or if you cancel during the trial period. If you're happy with Amazon Prime, do nothing. At the end of the free trial, your membership will automatically upgrade to a monthly membership.
Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.
Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.
Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.
The Battle of Pharsalus (48 BC): Caesar, Pompey and their Final Clash in the Third Roman Civil War Hardcover – July 31, 2023
Purchase options and add-ons
In August 48 BC, following the earlier battle at Dyrrhachium, the two greatest Roman commanders of their generation met in battle again at Pharsalus in Greece. Julius Caesar, conqueror of Gaul, had been defeated at Dyrrhachium and forced to retreat but now stood at bay to face Pompey the Great, conqueror of the East. At stake lay the future of the ailing Roman Republic, each man believing he alone had the solution to restoring Republican government.
Gareth Sampson examines the campaigns which led up to the battle as well as the role played by the various regional powers who got drawn into the Roman Civil War. The Battle of Pharsalus itself is analyzed in detail to determine the strengths and weakness of both armies and their various commanders, as well as the organization, equipment and tactics of the forces involved in the battle which culminated in a decisive victory for Caesar. The author concludes with consideration of the aftermath of the battle, which saw Pompey murdered in Egypt and Caesar distracted by the affairs of the East.
- Print length224 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherPen and Sword Military
- Publication dateJuly 31, 2023
- Dimensions6.06 x 1.02 x 9.29 inches
- ISBN-101526793628
- ISBN-13978-1526793621
The Amazon Book Review
Book recommendations, author interviews, editors' picks, and more. Read it now.
Frequently bought together
Similar items that may deliver to you quickly
Editorial Reviews
Review
Historical Miniatures Gaming Society
About the Author
Product details
- Publisher : Pen and Sword Military (July 31, 2023)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 224 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1526793628
- ISBN-13 : 978-1526793621
- Item Weight : 1.45 pounds
- Dimensions : 6.06 x 1.02 x 9.29 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #1,047,666 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1,771 in Ancient Roman History (Books)
- #2,041 in Military Strategy History (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
Customer reviews
Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.
To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness.
Learn more how customers reviews work on Amazon-
Top reviews
Top review from the United States
There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.
Sampson sees this conflict as constituting the third Roman civil war and sees Pompey as instigating the conflict with Caesar in order to remove his nascent rival and dominate the republic. I would consider these to be his more aggressive suppositions. Sampson is on his most solid footing when appraising the military situation. He has a keen mind and understanding of ancient military tactics which allow him to dispel many of the myths surrounding the Battle of Pharsalus and the war more broadly. This book and the last one read sometimes as an exoneration of Pompey the general and politician. It only reads that way because of how skewed the current understanding is. Sampson easily does away with the narrative that Pompey was caught flat-footed by the war, indecisive and unsure of how to react; a characterization of Pompey in the aftermath of the crossing of the Rubicon derived mostly from Cicero's letters which came more from Cicero's own ambivalence about the war and his horror at having to leave the Rome again that he had so lately returned to. It's not borne out in the events of the war or when Pompey's overall strategy for victory, as Sampson has so skillfully laid it out, is concerned.
Another dominant narrative which Sampson has taken his hammer to is the dramatic tradition that portrays Pompey as wholly defeated, desperate and hopeless after Pharsalus. Sampson does an expert job at explicating Pompey's comprehensible and rational strategy for continuing the war and building up the fighting force necessary to face Caesar again and prolong the war. It was a strategy that nevertheless ended near a sandy beach in Egypt at the hands of a former Pompeian legionary turned mercenary for Pharaoh. I do very much enjoy Plutarch's moving and dramatic death of Pompey, but moving and drama is what it is above all.
The other great figure in Sampson's work and indeed in the war itself is Caesar. Sampson's Caesar is not so invincible or infallible as history has since crowned him. He's a wildly talented general, in battlefield tactics chiefly, but prone to huge risks and gambles that sometimes worked out splendidly and other times required lots of luck to save his life at the last second. Sampson takes the Caesar that became a god and turns him human again. Equally good at getting himself into trouble as he was at getting himself back out of it again. If not for Caesar's determination, his loss at the Battle of Dyrrhachium might have been the start of the end of the war. And if not for his lack of determination, his victory at the Battle of Pharsalus might have been the start of the end of the war.
Sampson never seems to lose sight of the fact that this is a conflict where both figureheads ended up casualties of the war they helped start, their military and political goals left unfinished in their own lifetimes. Sampson balances the scales, bringing both figures closer in line with how they must have lived and thought when they were men, before history got hold of them and made them something else.