May 21, 47 BC · Pontus (northern Turkey) Theater
May 21, 47 BC
Returning from Egypt via Syria, Caesar was confronted by an unexpected crisis: Pharnaces II, son of Mithridates the Great, had taken advantage of the Roman civil war to reconquer his father's old kingdom of Pontus in northern Anatolia, defeating a Roman army at Nicopolis and capturing Roman allies. Caesar marched to Pontus with three legions, established a camp near Zela (modern Zile, Turkey) — the site of a previous Roman victory over Mithridates — and prepared for a siege. Pharnaces attacked immediately and uphill, apparently believing the terrain would negate Caesar's tactical superiority. The battle was furious and briefly dangerous — Pharnaces's scythed chariots caused some confusion — but Caesar's veterans broke the Pontic army in about four hours. Pharnaces fled, abandoned his kingdom, and was later murdered by a former subordinate. Caesar reported the victory to Rome in a letter that became one of the most famous dispatches in history.
Commanders