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Greek city of Pharsalos in Thessaly
Silver Hemidrachm 18mm (2.56 grams) Struck 480-450 B.C.
Reference: Lavva 60 (V33/R36); BCD Thessaly II 664.2; Sear 2189
var.
Head of Athena right, of archaic style, in close-fitting crested helmet.
ΦΑΡΣ around horse's head right; all
within shallow incuse square.
One of the more important towns of Thessaly, Pharsalos was
built on the northern slopes of Mt. Narthakios. It was the scene of Caesar's
famous victory over Pompey in 48 B.C.
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Athena or Athene
(Latin:
Minerva), also referred to as
Pallas Athena, is the goddess of war, civilization, wisdom, strength,
strategy, crafts, justice and skill in
Greek mythology.
Minerva,
Athena's Roman
 incarnation,
embodies similar attributes. Athena is also a shrewd companion of
heroes and the
goddess of
heroic endeavour. She is the
virgin patron of
Athens. The Athenians built the
Parthenon on the Acropolis of her namesake
city, Athens, in her honour (Athena Parthenos). Athena's cult as the patron of
Athens seems to have existed from the earliest times and was so persistent that
archaic myths about her were recast to adapt to cultural changes. In her role as
a protector of the city (polis),
many people throughout the Greek world worshiped Athena as Athena Polias
("Athena of the city").
Athens and Athena bear etymologically connected
names.
Farsala (Greek:
Φάρσαλα), known in Antiquity as
Φάρσαλος, Pharsalos or Pharsalus,
is a city in southern
Thessaly, in
Greece. Farsala is located in the southern part
of
Larissa Prefecture, and is one of its largest
cities. The city is linked with
GR-3, the old highway linking
Larissa and
Lamia and is also accessed by
GR-30 linking
Karditsa and
Volos. The
GR-1/E65
and
E75 superhighway runs to the east of the city.
Several mountain ranges lie to the South, while the
Thessalian Plain lies to the North, some hills
to the East and the Farsalian Fields in the central part. Farsala is located SE
of
Karditsa, S of
Larissa, W of
Volos and N of
Lamia.
The area is an economic and agricultural centre of the province. The
population are mainly rural especially with
cotton production and breeding, one of the many
are in local production units in agricultural production as well as clothing and
textile industries. Farsala is famous for its distinctive
halva. The population (2006) is about 13,500.
The population in 1981 was 7,094, in 1991 8,413 and in 2001 9,801.
Ancient Pharsalos
The Homeric
Phthia of the
Mycenaean period, capital of the Kingdom of the
Myrmidons and of
Peleus, father of
Achilles, has sometimes been identified with
the later city of Farsalos (Greek: Φάρσαλος), now Pharsala. A
Cyclopean Wall which protected a city still
exists today near modern Pharsala, as does a vaulted tomb from that period.
The Pharsalos of the historic era was built over a hillside of the Narthacius
mountains at an elevation of some 160 m, where modern Pharsala stands. It was
one of the main cities in Thessaly and was the capital of the Phthian
tetrarch. In the
Persian Wars it sided with the
Athenians. A distinctive tribe of the city was
that of Echecratidon. In the early-4th
century BC, the city was a part of the Thessalian Commons. Later, it
joined the
Macedonian Kingdom under
Philip II. The area became a theatre of war
where the Aetolians and the Thessalians clashed with the Macedonians, especially
during the
Second and the
Third Macedonian Wars. After the defeat of the
Macedonian Kingdom, Pharsalos and the whole area became a part of the
Roman Republic. The whole area suffered great
destruction during the
Roman Civil War. The
Battle of Pharsalus took place in 48 BC in the
fields of the Pharsalian Plain, where
Julius Caesar defeated
Pompey.
The geographer Strabo speaks of two towns, Old Pharsalos (Palaepharsalos) and
Pharsalos, existing in historical times. His statement (9.5.6) that the
Thetideion, the temple to Thetis south of Skotoussa, was “near both the
Pharsaloi, the Old and the New”, seems to imply that Palaepharsalos was not
itself close by Pharsalos. Although the battle of 48 BC 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. In 198 B.C. Philip V
had sacked Palaepharsalos (Livy 32.13.9). If that town had been close to
Pharsalos he would have sacked both, and Livy would have written “Pharsalus”
instead of “Palaepharsalus”. The British scholar
F. L. Lucas demonstrated (Annual of the
British School at Athens, No. XXIV,
1919-21) that the battle of 48 BC must have been fought north of the
Enipeus, near modern-day Krini; and John D. Morgan in “Palae-pharsalus – the
Battle and the Town” (The American Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 87, No.
1, Jan. 1983), suggests that Krini is built on the site of Palaepharsalos, where
the old road south from Larissa emerged from the hills on to the Pharsalian
Plain.
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