Palaepharsalus or Palaipharsalos ( grc, Παλαιοφάρσαλος - meaning "Old Pharsalus") was a town of

ancient Thessaly Thessaly or Thessalia ( Attic Greek: , ''Thessalía'' or , ''Thettalía'') was one of the traditional regions of Ancient Greece. During the Mycenaean period, Thessaly was known as Aeolia, a name that continued to be used for one of the major tribe ...

, from which the town moved to the later location of

Pharsalus ''Pharsalus''Melichar L (1906) ''Monographie der Issiden. (Homoptera). Abhandlungen der K. K. Zoologisch-botanischen Gesellschaft in Wien.'' Wien 3: 1-327 21 is the type genus of planthoppers in the subfamily Pharsalinae (family Ricaniidae); ...

. The geographer Strabo writes of two towns, Palaepharsalus and Pharsalus, existing in historical times. His statement that the Thetideion, the temple to

Thetis Thetis (; grc-gre, Θέτις ), is a figure from Greek mythology with varying mythological roles. She mainly appears as a sea nymph, a goddess of water, or one of the 50 Nereids, daughters of the ancient sea god Nereus. When described as ...

south of Scotussa, was "near both the Pharsaloi, the Old and the New," seems to imply that Palaeopharsalus was not itself close by Pharsalus. Although the battle of 48 BCE between Julius Caesar and

Pompey Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (; 29 September 106 BC – 28 September 48 BC), known in English as Pompey or Pompey the Great, was a leading Roman general and statesman. He played a significant role in the transformation of ...

is often called the

Battle of Pharsalus The Battle of Pharsalus was the decisive battle of Caesar's Civil War fought on 9 August 48 BC near Pharsalus in central Greece. Julius Caesar and his allies formed up opposite the army of the Roman Republic under the command of Pompey ...

by modern historians, four ancient writers – the author of the ''Bellum Alexandrinum'',

Frontinus Sextus Julius Frontinus (c. 40 – 103 AD) was a prominent Roman civil engineer, author, soldier and senator of the late 1st century AD. He was a successful general under Domitian, commanding forces in Roman Britain, and on the Rhine and Danub ...

, Eutropius, and

Orosius Paulus Orosius (; born 375/385 – 420 AD), less often Paul Orosius in English, was a Western Roman Empire, Roman priest, historian and theology, theologian, and a student of Augustine of Hippo. It is possible that he was born in ''Bracara Au ...

– place it specifically at Palaepharsalus. In 198 BCE

Philip V Philip V may refer to: * Philip V of Macedon (221–179 BC) * Philip V of France (1293–1322) * Philip II of Spain Philip II) in Spain, while in Portugal and his Italian kingdoms he ruled as Philip I ( pt, Filipe I). (21 May 152713 September ...

sacked Palaepharsalus but apparently spared Pharsalus itself.

Location

John D. Morgan in his article “Palae-pharsalus – the Battle and the Town”, discusses the various locations which have been proposed for the location of Palaepharsalus. He rules out the hill of Fatih-Dzami within the walls of Pharsalus itself, proposed by Kromayer (1903, 1931) and Gwatkin (1956), since the attack by Philip V did not affect the new town. He also shows that it is unlikely to have been at Palaiokastro, 19 miles north-west of Pharsalus, proposed by Béquignon, since the site was abandoned c. 500 BC. A possibility, proposed by Holmes (1908) and Lucas (1921), is the hill of Khtouri (Ktouri, Koutouri), some 7 miles north-west of Pharsalus on the south bank of the Enipeus. However, Morgan believes it is more likely to have been the hill just east of the village of Krini (formerly Driskoli) very close to the ancient highway from Larisa to Pharsalus.See Google maps. This site, which is some six miles (10km) north of Pharsalus, and three miles north of the river Enipeus, not only has remains dating back to neolithic times but also signs of habitation in the 1st century BC and later. The identification seems to be confirmed by the location of a place misspelled "Palfari" or "Falaphari" shown on a medieval route map of the Pharsalus-Larissa road just north of Pharsalus. This site also more closely matches the description of the battle of 48 BC (which is now held to have taken place north of the river Enipeus) as being close to Palaepharsalus.

References

Populated places in ancient Thessaly Former populated places in Greece {{AncientThessaly-geo-stub