![]() Caesar became an arbiter in the dispute between Cleopatra and her brother Ptolemy XIII. However, Caesar chased Pompey who went to Egypt and was soon murdered by King Ptolemy’s ministers. If the winner from Alesia had prevented this concentration, the war would have ended just after the battle of Pharsalus. Roman aristocrats fighting for Pompey who survived the rout gathered the remnants of the army in Greece and in the Balkans and went with them to Africa. ![]() The next clash took place in August 48 BCE at Pharsalus, where Caesar defeated Pompey’s more numerous army. After the failure to block his forces near Dyrrahium, Caesar’s troops withdrew to Thessaly. After capturing Massilia and a short stay in Rome, the slayer of the Gauls crossed the Adriatic to land on the other side of the sea where Pompey had gathered 11 legions supported by numerous cavalry and fleet. Another Pompeian legate in Spain, Varro also capitulated. Within 40 days, he forced their large and well-trained army to surrender. In 49 BCE Caesar set off to Spain to fight against Pompey’s legates – Afranius and Petreius. The defeat influenced the further course of the war and deprived the empire’s capital city of one of the sources of grain supply, which was compensated by the seizures of Sicily and Sardinia by the Caesarians. After initial success, Curio was ambushed by the Numidians and his two legions were destroyed. Caesar underestimated his opponent sending an unexperienced commander Scribonius Curio at the head of legions composed largely of former Pompeians against him. As well as that, Juba I, the king of Numidia also held a hostile attitude towards Caesarians. Within two months, the slayer of the Gauls became the ruler of Italy, with almost no loss! Meanwhile, in 49 BCE Caesar suffered a defeat in Africa. Nevertheless, Caesar failed to destroy Pompey’s army in Italy by blocking the port of Brundisium. ![]() The man from whom he encountered stronger resistance was Domitius Ahenobarbus, but he was also defeated. Started in 49 BCE, the civil war from the very beginning was characterized by offensive actions of Caesar, who brought down his forces from Transalpine Gaul, quickly marched along the eastern shores of Italy capturing every city he came across.
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