Farsala
Encyclopedia
Farsala 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 regional unit, and is one of its largest towns. 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
.
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 War
s. 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.
became part of the Hellenic Kingdom. During the first Greco-Turkish War
(1897), a major battle took place in the vicinity of Farsala.
Thessaly
Thessaly is a traditional geographical region and an administrative region of Greece, comprising most of the ancient region of the same name. Before the Greek Dark Ages, Thessaly was known as Aeolia, and appears thus in Homer's Odyssey....
, in Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
. Farsala is located in the southern part of Larissa regional unit, and is one of its largest towns. The city is linked with GR-3
Greek National Road 3
Greek National Road 3 begins from Eleusis and heads north, passing Larissa, Florina and terminates at the border with the Republic of Macedonia in Niki, which from there links with the M3. The road is part of the E65. In the late 1980s, motorway bypasses have been constructed for the towns...
, the old highway linking Larissa
Larissa
Larissa is the capital and biggest city of the Thessaly region of Greece and capital of the Larissa regional unit. It is a principal agricultural centre and a national transportation hub, linked by road and rail with the port of Volos, the city of Thessaloniki and Athens...
and Lamia
Lamia (city)
Lamia is a city in central Greece. The city has a continuous history since antiquity, and is today the capital of the regional unit of Phthiotis and of the Central Greece region .-Name:...
and is also accessed by GR-30
Greek National Road 30
The Greek National Road 30 is a highway or route that links the cities of Volos, Karditsa, Trikala and Arta.-Information:...
linking Karditsa
Karditsa
Karditsa is a city in western Thessaly in mainland Greece. The city of Karditsa is the capital of Karditsa peripheral unit.Inhabitation is attested from 9000 BCE. Karditsa ls linked with GR-30, the road to Karpenisi, and the road to Palamas and Larissa...
and Volos
Volos
Volos is a coastal port city in Thessaly situated midway on the Greek mainland, about 326 km north of Athens and 215 km south of Thessaloniki...
. The GR-1
Greek National Road 1
The Greek Motorway 1 is a motorway, partly under construction, and the 2nd longest in Greece. It is the principal north-south road connection in Greece, connecting the country's capital Athens with the regions of Thessaly and Macedonia, as well as the country's second largest city,...
/E65
European route E65
European route E 65 is a north-south Class-A European route that begins in Malmö, Sweden and ends in Chaniá, Greece. The road is about in length.-Itinerary:* Sweden** E 65: Malmö – Ystad* Baltic sea, ferry Ystad-Świnoujście* Poland...
and E75
European route E75
European route E 75 is part of the International E-road network, which is a series of main roads in Europe.The E 75 starts from Vardø, Norway in the Barents Sea and runs south through Finland, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Serbia and Republic of Macedonia to Sitia, Greece on...
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
Karditsa
Karditsa is a city in western Thessaly in mainland Greece. The city of Karditsa is the capital of Karditsa peripheral unit.Inhabitation is attested from 9000 BCE. Karditsa ls linked with GR-30, the road to Karpenisi, and the road to Palamas and Larissa...
, S of Larissa
Larissa
Larissa is the capital and biggest city of the Thessaly region of Greece and capital of the Larissa regional unit. It is a principal agricultural centre and a national transportation hub, linked by road and rail with the port of Volos, the city of Thessaloniki and Athens...
, W of Volos
Volos
Volos is a coastal port city in Thessaly situated midway on the Greek mainland, about 326 km north of Athens and 215 km south of Thessaloniki...
and N of Lamia
Lamia (city)
Lamia is a city in central Greece. The city has a continuous history since antiquity, and is today the capital of the regional unit of Phthiotis and of the Central Greece region .-Name:...
.
The area is an economic and agricultural centre of the province. The population are mainly rural especially with cotton
Cotton
Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective capsule, around the seeds of cotton plants of the genus Gossypium. The fiber is almost pure cellulose. The botanical purpose of cotton fiber is to aid in seed dispersal....
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
Halva
Halva refers to many types of dense, sweet confections, served across the Middle East, South Asia, Central Asia, West Asia, North Africa, the Horn of Africa, the Balkans, Eastern Europe, Malta and the Jewish world.The term halva ,...
.
Ancient Pharsalos
The Homeric PhthiaPhthia
Phthia , Phthíē ) in ancient Greece was the southernmost region of ancient Thessaly, on both sides of Othrys Mountain. It was the homeland of the Myrmidones tribe, who took part in the Trojan War under Achilles....
of the Mycenaean
Mycenaean Greece
Mycenaean Greece was a cultural period of Bronze Age Greece taking its name from the archaeological site of Mycenae in northeastern Argolis, in the Peloponnese of southern Greece. Athens, Pylos, Thebes, and Tiryns are also important Mycenaean sites...
period, capital of the Kingdom of the Myrmidons
Myrmidons
The Myrmidons or Myrmidones were legendary people of Greek history. They were very brave and skilled warriors commanded by Achilles, as described in Homer's Iliad. Their eponymous ancestor was Myrmidon, a king of Thessalian Phthia, who was the son of Zeus and "wide-ruling" Eurymedousa, a...
and of Peleus
Peleus
In Greek mythology, Pēleus was a hero whose myth was already known to the hearers of Homer in the late 8th century BCE. Peleus was the son of Aeacus, king of the island of Aegina, and Endeïs, the oread of Mount Pelion in Thessaly; he was the father of Achilles...
, father of Achilles
Achilles
In Greek mythology, Achilles was a Greek hero of the Trojan War, the central character and the greatest warrior of Homer's Iliad.Plato named Achilles the handsomest of the heroes assembled against Troy....
, has sometimes been identified with the later city of Farsalos (Greek: Φάρσαλος), now Pharsala. A Cyclopean Wall
Cyclopean masonry
Cyclopean masonry is a type of stonework found in Mycenaean architecture, built with huge limestone boulders, roughly fitted together with minimal clearance between adjacent stones and no use of mortar...
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
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
. 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
Macedon
Macedonia or Macedon was an ancient kingdom, centered in the northeastern part of the Greek peninsula, bordered by Epirus to the west, Paeonia to the north, the region of Thrace to the east and Thessaly to the south....
under Philip II
Philip II of Macedon
Philip II of Macedon "friend" + ἵππος "horse" — transliterated ; 382 – 336 BC), was a king of Macedon from 359 BC until his assassination in 336 BC. He was the father of Alexander the Great and Philip III.-Biography:...
. The area became a theatre of war where the Aetolians and the Thessalians clashed with the Macedonians, especially during the Second
Second Macedonian War
The Second Macedonian War was fought between Macedon, led by Philip V of Macedon, and Rome, allied with Pergamon and Rhodes. The result was the defeat of Philip who was forced to abandon all his possessions in Greece...
and the Third Macedonian War
Third Macedonian War
The Third Macedonian War was a war fought between Rome and King Perseus of Macedon. In 179 BC King Philip V of Macedon died and his talented and ambitious son, Perseus, took his throne. Perseus married Laodike, daughter of King Seleucus IV Keraunos of Asia, and increased the size of his army...
s. After the defeat of the Macedonian Kingdom, Pharsalos and the whole area became a part of the Roman Republic
Roman Republic
The Roman Republic was the period of the ancient Roman civilization where the government operated as a republic. It began with the overthrow of the Roman monarchy, traditionally dated around 508 BC, and its replacement by a government headed by two consuls, elected annually by the citizens and...
. The whole area suffered great destruction during the Roman Civil War. The Battle of Pharsalus
Battle of Pharsalus
The Battle of Pharsalus was a decisive battle of Caesar's Civil War. On 9 August 48 BC at Pharsalus in central Greece, Gaius Julius Caesar and his allies formed up opposite the army of the republic under the command of Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus...
took place in 48 BC in the fields of the Pharsalian Plain, where Julius Caesar
Julius Caesar
Gaius Julius Caesar was a Roman general and statesman and a distinguished writer of Latin prose. He played a critical role in the gradual transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire....
defeated Pompey
Pompey
Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus, also known as Pompey or Pompey the Great , was a military and political leader of the late Roman Republic...
.
The geographer Strabo
Strabo
Strabo, also written Strabon was a Greek historian, geographer and philosopher.-Life:Strabo was born to an affluent family from Amaseia in Pontus , a city which he said was situated the approximate equivalent of 75 km from the Black Sea...
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
Thetis
Silver-footed Thetis , disposer or "placer" , is encountered in Greek mythology mostly as a sea nymph or known as the goddess of water, one of the fifty Nereids, daughters of the ancient one of the seas with shape-shifting abilities who survives in the historical vestiges of most later Greek myths...
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
Eutropius
Flavius Eutropius was an Ancient Roman historian who flourished in the latter half of the 4th century. He held the office of secretary at Constantinople, accompanied the Emperor Julian on his expedition against the Persians , and was alive during the reign of Valens , to whom he dedicates his...
(20), and Orosius
Orosius
Paulus Orosius , less often Paul Orosius in English, was a Christian historian, theologian and student of Augustine of Hippo from Gallaecia...
(6.15.27) - place it specifically at Palaepharsalos. In 198 B.C. Philip V
Philip V of Macedon
Philip V was King of Macedon from 221 BC to 179 BC. Philip's reign was principally marked by an unsuccessful struggle with the emerging power of Rome. Philip was attractive and charismatic as a young man...
had sacked Palaepharsalos (Livy
Livy
Titus Livius — known as Livy in English — was a Roman historian who wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people. Ab Urbe Condita Libri, "Chapters from the Foundation of the City," covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome well before the traditional foundation in 753 BC...
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
F. L. Lucas
Frank Laurence Lucas was an English classical scholar, literary critic, poet, novelist, playwright, political polemicist, and Fellow of King's College, Cambridge....
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.
Modern Farsala
Farsala was known as "Çatalca" during Ottoman rule. Farsala was liberated from the Ottoman Empire in 1881 and together with the rest of ThessalyThessaly
Thessaly is a traditional geographical region and an administrative region of Greece, comprising most of the ancient region of the same name. Before the Greek Dark Ages, Thessaly was known as Aeolia, and appears thus in Homer's Odyssey....
became part of the Hellenic Kingdom. During the first Greco-Turkish War
Greco-Turkish War (1897)
The Greco-Turkish War of 1897, also called the Thirty Days' War and known as the Black '97 in Greece, was a war fought between the Kingdom of Greece and Ottoman Empire. Its immediate cause was the question over the status of the Ottoman province of Crete, whose Greek majority long desired union...
(1897), a major battle took place in the vicinity of Farsala.
Municipality
The municipality Farsala was formed at the 2011 local government reform by the merger of the following 4 former municipalities, that became municipal units:- EnippeasEnippeasEnippeas is a former municipality in the Larissa regional unit, Thessaly, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Farsala, of which it is a municipal unit. Population 4,526 . The seat of the municipality was in Megalo Evydrio....
- Farsala
- NarthakiNarthakiNarthaki is a village and a former municipality in the Larissa regiona unit, Thessaly, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Farsala, of which it is a municipal unit. Population 1,781 ....
- PolydamantasPolydamantasPolydamantas is a former municipality in the Larissa regional unit, Thessaly, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Farsala, of which it is a municipal unit. Population 6,412 . The seat of the municipality was in Vamvakou....
Historical population
| Year | Town population | Municipality population |
|---|---|---|
| 1981 | 7,211 | - |
| 1991 | 8,457 | 9,464 |
| 2001 | 9,801 | 10,812 |
External links
- The official site of Farsala.
- Livius.org: Pharsalus (in antiquity)