A Plain in Thessaly

In all of my travels to research the Antonius Trilogy, I was struck by two big things when it came to broad swaths of land. First, the scale of some ancient battles was enormous. When it comes to battles scenes in my upcoming book, Antonius: Second in Command, we're talking about a twenty to twenty-five mile radius. And this was without walkie-talkies, radios of any sort, cell-phones, or Morse Code. The second thing that amazes me is how many sites are yet untouched archaeologically. Sometimes this has to do with land ownership. But (probably) it also has to do with the fact that the Mediterranean has so many sites that could be excavated, yet the money and grants to bring in a team of noteworthy archaeologists is limited. Naturally, it's also important to maintain sites that are already excavated and popular with tourists.

So the exact location of the Battle of Pharsalus (Farsala, in Greek), still remains unknown.

Four years ago, I had the opportunity to visit Greece and the many sites that would factor into my novel's story line. The Battle of Pharsalus was fought on a large plain in Thessaly. Ancient sources tell us that Caesar and Pompeius Magnus slugged it out someplace near the ancient city of Pharsalus. On the day of my visit, my friend Kathryn and I actually climbed a good portion of the ancient acropolis of the city, overlooking the plain. Someplace out there, two-thousand years ago, a Roman civil war was underway. I had limited information for my driver to explain "where" it may have taken place. However, we do know from ancient sources that Antony commanded the left wing of Caesar's forces, and that he was alongside a river called the Enipeus. 

Our driver that day kept stopping and asking people, "Where's the Enipeus River?" Most didn't even know. Apparently, even in Antony and Caesar's day, the Enipeus wasn't that big a deal, either. We kept driving, kept looking, I kept HOPING that maybe we'd get lucky and run into this river. I just wanted to get a general idea for where the fight took place. Suddenly, I saw a sign with both Greek and English, stating that we were crossing the Enipeus River!!! I've never been as excited to cross a river that was probably no bigger than a creek back home, known as Peter's Creek. In fact, this river flowed lazily and murkily. It wasn't very pretty. Nor was it impressive in size. But HERE, someplace along this inconsequential stream, a portion of my novel's story played itself out. 

That day, Marc Antony took several of Caesar's most undermanned legions and held his position through the worst of the fighting. While Caesar maneuvered his cavalry around to entrap Pompeius's men, Antony's wing held steady and didn't budge. 

From the top of that acropolis, looking out over the plain in Thessaly, my imagination ran wild! What a sight the townspeople of ancient Pharsalus must have had! I imagined them hunkered down on top of their acropolis, fearful of the possible looting of their town, when Romans were so close by. That day, sixty to seventy thousand Roman legionaries fought it out in a war that would settle the rivalry between Caesar and Pompeius once and for all. It must have been one incredible sight!

And the research continues. I'm not one to intentionally leave stones left unturned. 

The Enipeus River is more like a creek. But one can clearly see the surrounding plain and somewhere near here, Caesar faced off with Pompeius Magnus.