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28-533: Farsala lies at the southern edge of the Thessalian Plain , 4 km south of the river Enipeas . The Greek National Road 3 ( Larissa - Lamia ) and the Greek National Road 30 ( Karditsa - Volos ) pass through the town. The Palaiofarsalos railway station (litt. " Ancient Pharsalus "), on the line from Athens to Thessaloniki and head of the branch line to Kalambaka , is located in

56-518: A World War II bombardment and a catastrophic earthquake that struck the area in 1954. Small scale urbanization processes attracted population from surrounding villages during the 80's and 90's creating an urban landscape typical of Greek cities with small apartment buildings in nearby plots of land. The municipality Farsala was formed at the 2011 local government reform by the merger of the following 4 former municipalities, that became municipal units: The province of Farsala ( Greek : Επαρχία Φαρσάλων )

84-476: A locality identified as Palaepharsalus . This is supported by excavated remains of a fortified site called Xylades near Enipeus , which is located in the easternmost part of the Pharsalian territory. This ancient site was also associated by accounts of ancient writers with a holy place dedicated to Thetis called Thetidium . For instance, Euripides used this as a setting for Andromache . The Pharsalos of

112-611: A peace agreement. Glabrio accepted the offer, lifted the siege, and sent his own envoys back to Rome for the discussions. The negotiations fell through and the war continued. Glabrio was prorogued as a proconsul for the next year to continue military operations. While in Greece, he provided gifts to Delphi and its oracle . Considered by the Romans to have dealt moderately with the Greeks, showing leniency and self-restraint during and after

140-610: A portion of the Greek spoils in his own house and, after one of his legates gave evidence against him, he withdrew from the race and, on the basis of surviving records, seems to have withdrawn almost entirely from public life. His death is not recorded but probably occurred sometime after 175 BC. Following his victory at Thermopylae, Acilius Glabrio made a sacred vow to establish a temple dedicated to piety ( pietas ) in Rome. His son Manius Acilius Glabrio completed and consecrated

168-692: The Aegean to Ephesus . He then moved against the city-states of the Aetolian League who had resisted Roman hegemony. He captured Heraclea by the early summer, attempted peace negotiations, and then—when those failed—besieged Naupactus . In September, the former consul Titus Quinctius Flamininus —the chief victor of the Second Macedonian War—was approached to seek a truce, allowing the Aetolians to send embassies to Rome to negotiate

196-713: The Aetolian League to invite the Seleucid emperor Antiochus III to liberate, in their framing, Greece from Roman domination; this was a view little shared by other Greeks, who after the Second Macedonian War had largely been left to their own affairs. From a decree of the senate, the consuls brought the question of war with Antiochus to the people and after its passage Glabrio drew its command. After landing in Thessaly, Glabrio then defeated Antiochus at Thermopylae , compelling Antiochus to withdraw across

224-707: The Athenian commander Myronides , after his victory in Boeotia , but without success. At the commencement of the Peloponnesian War , Pharsalus was one of the Thessalian towns that sent succour to the Athenians. Medius of Larissa took Pharsalus by force, about 395 BC. Pharsalus, under the conduct of Polydamas , resisted Jason of Pherae for a time, but subsequently formed an alliance with him. In

252-575: 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 Pharsalos (Greek: Φάρσαλος), now Farsala. A Cyclopean Wall which protected a city still exists today near modern Farsala, as does a vaulted tomb from that period. There is a theory that claimed the existence of an earlier Pharsalos in the form of

280-566: The Pindus mountain range to the west, which separates Thessaly from Epirus ; Mount Othrys and its outliers in the south; Mount Pelion to the east; Mount Ossa and Mount Olympus to the northeast, with the pass of the Tempe Valley leading to Macedonia ; and the Chasia and Kamvounia mountains to the north. The plain was extremely fertile, and up until the early 20th century the area

308-832: The Republican . He served as consul in 191 BC while Rome was at war with the Seleucid Empire . He defeated Emperor Antiochus the Great at Thermopylae , helping establish Roman unipolar control over the Mediterranean , and was awarded a triumph . Credible accusations that he had embezzled spoils from his conquests in Greece while consul caused him to withdraw from his attempt to run for censor , after which he largely retired from public life. He and his son—who later served as suffect consul —were responsible for

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336-744: The Romans , Pharsalus was for a time in the possession of the Syrian monarch; but on the retreat of the latter, it surrendered to the consul Acilius Glabrio in 191 BC. 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 , where Julius Caesar defeated Pompey and changed

364-648: 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. It has been suggested that Krini was built on the site of Palaeopharsalos, where the old road south from Larissa emerged from the hills on to the Pharsalian Plain. In the time of Pliny the Elder , Pharsalus was a free state. It is also mentioned by Hierocles in

392-711: The construction of Rome's Temple of Piety beside the Forum Olitorium . One of its decorations was a gilt statue of Acilius Glabrio, the first such golden statue of a citizen in Rome. Manius was a less common praenomen of both patricians and plebeians , abbreviated at first as ꟿ and then as M'. The cognomen Glabrio—apparently first ascribed to this figure—derived from the Latin adjective glaber ("smooth, slick") and presumably indicated baldness , although it has been suggested it may have intended effeminately hairless instead. Manius Acilius Glabrio

420-631: The course of the Roman Republic forever, took place in 48 BC in the fields of the Pharsalian Plain. The geographer Strabo speaks of two towns, Old Pharsalos, Παλαιοφάρσαλος (Palaeopharsalos) and Pharsalos, existing in historical times. His statement (9.5.6) that the Thetideion, the temple to Thetis south of Scotussa , was “near both the Pharsaloi, the Old and the New”, seems to imply that Palaeopharsalos

448-780: 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 . The city during the classical period was influential as demonstrated in the influence wielded by

476-640: The historic era was built over a hillside of the Narthacius mountains at an elevation of some 160 m, where modern Farsala stands. It was one of the main cities in Thessaly and was the capital of the Phthian tetrarch . It was also a polis (city-state). In the Persian Wars it sided with the Athenians. A distinctive tribe of the city was that of Echecratidon. In 455 BC Pharsalos was besieged by

504-600: The sixth century. Farsala was known as Çatalca during Ottoman rule. Following the Treaty of Berlin the city became part of the Hellenic Kingdom together with the rest of Thessaly in 1881. During the First Greco-Turkish War (1897), a major battle  [ el ] took place in the vicinity of Farsala. The contemporary town has no historical or medieval buildings left as a result of

532-541: The temple as a duumvir in 181 BC. This Temple of Piety stood at the northern end of the Forum Olitorium , the Roman vegetable market, until it was demolished by Julius Caesar to make way for what would eventually become the Theater of Marcellus . The temple seems to have been moved or rebuilt, however, as its services are still recorded well into the imperial era. The gilt statue of Manius Acilius Glabrio in front of

560-673: The temple was the first gold statue of a Roman citizen in the city. Ammianus Marcellinus further credits Acilius Glabrio with introducing the practice of gilding to the city's artisans. His son was elected suffect consul in 154 BC. Other descendants served as consul in the Late Republic and the Imperial Age , and the Acilii Glabriones have been described as the very longest-lived clan in ancient Roman politics. The family estates led to modern name of Acilia ,

588-584: The tetrarch Daochos, who ruled from Pharsalos. He was part of the Council of Amphictyonic League , administered the Temple of Apollo at Delphi, and conducted the Pythian Games . Daochos built several monuments at Pharsalos dedicated to members of his family. Parts of the eight portraits that survived showed classical style, depicting subjects in their youthful vigor. In the war between Antiochus III and

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616-400: The village of Stavros , 12 km to the west. Farsala is located 38 km south of Larissa, 41 km east of Karditsa , 44 km north of Lamia and 49 km west of Volos . The municipality Farsala has an area of 739.74 km, the municipal unit Farsala has an area of 121.433 km, and the community Farsala has an area of 57.928 km. Φ A / P Σ The Homeric Phthia of

644-451: The war, he was given a triumph on his return to Rome. This Roman defeat of the most powerful remaining Diadochi state has been considered the establishment of Roman unipolar control over the Mediterranean litoral. While consul, he was also responsible for the lex Acilia , which placed responsibility for intercalation of the Roman calendar with the college of pontiffs . This

672-549: Was a breadbasket for Greece. The existence of the plain also made Thessaly one of the few areas in ancient Greece that could field large numbers of cavalry; the Thessalian cavalry was an important component in the Ancient Macedonian army of Philip II and Alexander the Great . Manius Acilius Glabrio (consul 191 BC) Manius Acilius Glabrio was a plebeian Roman politician and general during

700-509: Was born in the 3rd century BC to a plebeian family. He was the first in his family to attain the consulship , making him a " new man " ( novus homo ). He served as tribune of the plebs in 201, as plebeian aedile in 197, and as praetor peregrinus in 196. During his praetorship, he suppressed a slave revolt in Etruria . Glabrio was elected consul for 191 BC with Publius Cornelius Scipio Nasica . A series of disputes had led

728-451: Was necessary because the calendar was sometimes manipulated by the Senate for political ends, speeding or delaying elections or limiting or extending terms in office, and could fall far out of sync with the seasons. In 189 BC, the year after his service as proconsul in Greece, he attempted to stand for the censorship . He was, however, accused by the plebeian tribunes of having concealed

756-621: 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 Palaeo pharsalos. In 198 B.C. Philip V had sacked Palaeopharsalos ( 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 “Palaeopharsalus”. The British scholar F. L. Lucas demonstrated ( Annual of

784-598: Was one of the provinces of the Larissa Prefecture. It had the same territory as the present municipality. It was abolished in 2006. Thessalian Plain The Thessalian plain ( Greek : Θεσσαλική πεδιάδα, Θεσσαλικός κάμπος ) is the dominant geographical feature of the Greek region of Thessaly . The plain is formed by the Pineios River and its tributaries and is surrounded by mountains:

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