
"Pompey at Pharsalus" Topic
12 Posts
All members in good standing are free to post here. Opinions expressed here are solely those of the posters, and have not been cleared with nor are they endorsed by The Miniatures Page.
Please don't make fun of others' membernames.
For more information, see the TMP FAQ.
Back to the Ancients Discussion Message Board
Action Log
13 Dec 2017 6:46 p.m. PST by Editor in Chief Bill
- Removed from TMP Poll Suggestions board
Areas of InterestAncients
Featured Hobby News Article
Featured Link
Featured Ruleset
Featured Showcase Article Remember back in 2005, when I promised pictures of those Sumerian chariot stands in 6mm?
Featured Workbench Article wodger begins his series on how to paint a 15mm DBA army well, in a reasonable time frame.
Featured Profile Article The Editor is invited to tour the factory of Simtac, a U.S. manufacturer of figures in nearly all periods, scales, and genres.
Current Poll
|
Please sign in to your membership account, or, if you are not yet a member, please sign up for your free membership account.
Editor in Chief Bill  | 18 May 2017 11:07 a.m. PST |
Though regarded as one of the great commanders of his age, Pompey did not shine at Pharsalus. Why? |
MichaelCollinsHimself | 18 May 2017 11:23 a.m. PST |
He probably did not expect his cavalry to be met with a line of spearmen. |
Hafen von Schlockenberg | 18 May 2017 11:51 a.m. PST |
Or a bunch of Naz-er, Germans! |
VVV reply | 18 May 2017 4:44 p.m. PST |
Apparently Caesars legions were better. |
Deuce03 | 18 May 2017 7:47 p.m. PST |
I think the defeat can be attributed in roughly equal proportions to Labienus's mistake and Caesar's ingenuity. As overall commander, Pompey must carry some of the responsibility but I also think it's unfair to blame him too heavily. Caesar was later sceptical of the instruction to halt the infantry rather than charge, but the quality of troops on both sides was very different: that Pompey's relatively raw recruits managed to hold their line against Caesar's veterans suggests the plan had some merit. The battle was won and lost on Pompey's left flank where the cavalry did the first half of their job but then were taken by surprise and the whole thing ended in disaster. He had no direct control over what happened there and as soon as that flank folded, he correctly recognised the jig was up. Whether he should have appointed a different commander for the cavalry is debatable. That other divisions were commanded by Ahenobarbus and Scipio suggests he wasn't swimming in quality. Perhaps Afranius or Petreius could have done a better job with that wing than Labienus did – but there's no particular reason to believe they would have, and it's entirely speculative. Of course he should never have engaged at Pharsalus at all. Pompey was always a better strategist than a tactician, and it was foolish to give Caesar that opportunity. But the reasons for that were political, and it seems the consensus is prepared absolve Pompey of much of the blame for battle being joined as it wasn't entirely his decision. |
Mars Ultor | 19 May 2017 11:01 a.m. PST |
Right on, Deuce. I especially agree with the last two paragraphs. Nothing more to add. |
CFeicht | 20 May 2017 4:55 p.m. PST |
"Pompey did not shine at Pharsalus. Why?" It's hard to shine as a commander when you have a bunch of know-it-all senators at your back telling you how to fight a campaign. |
Mars Ultor | 21 May 2017 10:10 a.m. PST |
NOt to deny Pompey something of his due, but also, as has been noted many times, Pompey's reputation was overblown. He had great success against the pirates, no doubt. But he was called a vulture even by politicians in his own generation for his tendency to have go into a theater AFTER much of the hard work had been done by other commanders whom he was replacing (e.g., Pontus and Spartacus and one other I'm sure that I'm forgetting). And then the Pompey PR machine would claim the glory and ask for the triumph. So his ability "to shine" was something of a gilded golden layer. This as opposed to Caesar, who was used to doing the work from ground up. Whatever his other faults, he usually was very active in all phases of a campaign. |
Crazyivanov | 25 May 2017 3:21 a.m. PST |
I mean, annexing the entire Selucid Empire might have something to do with it. |
Mars Ultor | 25 May 2017 9:57 a.m. PST |
"The entire Seleucid Empire" at that point was pretty small and was way in decline(consisting of Antioch and some surrounding cities). The rump of the empire was largely ignored by the major powers. Most of what Pompey did was just snuff out the dying embers and convert the area to the Roman province of Syria. Again, Pompey sounds better than he really is and his reputation is overblown. |
mbsparta | 30 May 2017 9:13 a.m. PST |
He rolled lots of ones that day. Mike B |
BigRedBat  | 30 May 2017 11:30 a.m. PST |
Aces. Drew too many Aces. ;-) |
|