Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/606

 590 PHARPAR.

shelves, which remain unchanged, and, though its sur- face has been heightened, its superficial area has not been materially enlarged since the country was peopled. Pharos was inhabited by fishermen under the Pharaohs of Aegypt; but it first became a place of importance under the Macedonian kings. During his survey of the coast, B. c. 332, Alexander the Great perceived that the island would form, with the help of art, an excellent breakwater to the har- bour of his projected capital. He accordingly caused its southern extremity to be connected with the main- land by a stone mole seven stadia, or about an English mile, in length, which from this circum- stance was called the Heptastadium or Seven- furlong Bridge. At either end the mole was left open for the passage of ships, and the apertures were covered by suspension bridges. In Jater times a street of houses, erected on the mole itself, con- verted the island of Pharos into a suburb of Alex- andreia, and a considerable portion of the modern city stands on the foundations of the old Hepta- stadium.

Yet, long after its junction with the Delta, Pharos was spoken of as an island (7 taAai vijos, Aelian, JE, An. ix. 21; tompdrepov vijoos, Zonar. iv. 10). The southern portion of this rocky ledge (xorpds) was the more densely populated; but the celebrated lighthouse, or the Tower of the Pharos, stood at the NE. point, directly in a line with point Pharilion, on the eastern horn of the New Port. The lighthouse was erected, at a cost of 800 talents, in the reign of Ptolemy I., but was not completed until that of his successor Philadelphus. Its architect was Sostratus of Cnidus, who, aceording to Pliny (xxxvi. 12.s. 18), was permitted by his royal patron to inscribe his own name upon its base. There is indeed another story, in which it is related that Sostratus, being forbidden to engrave his name on his work, secretly cut it in deep letters on a stone of the building, which he then adroitly covered with some softer and perishable material, on which were inscribed the style and titles of Ptolemy. Thus a few genera- tions would read the name of the king, but posterity would behold the authentic impress of the archi- tect. (Strab. xvii. p. 791; Suidas, s. v. édpos; Steph. B. s.v.; Lucian, de Conscrib. Hist. c. 62.) Pharos was the seat of several temples, the most conspi- cuous of which was one dedicated to Hephaestos, standing near the northern extremity of the Hepta- stadium.

That Pharos, in common with many of the Deltaic cities, contained a considerable population of Jews, is rendered probable by the fact that here the trans- lators of the Hebrew Scriptures resided during the progress of their work. (Joseph. Antig. xii. 2. § 13.) Julius Caesar established a colony at Pharos, less perhaps to recruit a declining population than with a view to garrison a post so important as regarded the turbulent Alexandrians. (Caesar, B. Civ.ili. 112.) Subsequently the island seems to have been com- paratively deserted, and inhabited by fishermen alone. (Montfaucon, Sur le Phare dAlexandrie, Mém. de U Acad. des Inscript. ix. p. 285.) [W. B.D.]

PHARPAR. [Damascus.]

PHARRA‘SU. [Prasit.]

PITARSA'LUS (@dpoados: Eth, apodAios: the territory is bapoaAla, Strab. ix. p. 430), one of the most important cities of Thessaly, situated in the district ‘Thessaliotis near the confines of Phthiotis, upon the left bank of the Enipeus, and at the foot of Mt. Narthacium. The town is first mentioned after

PHARSALUS.

the Persian wars; but it is probable that it existed much earlier, since there is no other locality in this part of Thessaly to be compared to it for a com- bination of strength, resources, and convenience, Hence it has been supposed that the city was pro- bably named Phthia at a remote period, and was the capital of Phthivtis. (See Leake, Northern Greece, vol. iv. p. 484.) Among its ruins there are some remains which belong apparently to the most ancient times. On one side of the northern gateway of the acropolis are the remnants of Cyclopian walls; and in the middle of the acropolis is a subterraneous con- struction, built in the same manner as the treasury of Atreus at Mycenae. Leake observes that Phar~ salus “‘is one of the most important military positions in Greece, as standing at the entrance of the most direct and central of the passes which lead from the plains of Thessaly to the vale of the Spercheius and Thermopylae. With a view to ancient wartare, the place had all the best attributes of a Hellenic polis or fortified town: a hill rising gradually to the height of 600 or 700 feet above the adjacent plain, defended on three sides by precipices, crowned with 2 small level for an acropolis, watered in every part of the declivity by subterraneous springs, and still more abundantly at the foot by sources so copious as to form a perennial stream. With these local advantages, and one of the most fertile plains in Greece for its territory, Pharsalus inevitably attained to the highest rank among the states of Thessaly, and became one of the largest cities of Greece, as its ruined walls still attest.” The citv was nearly 4 miles in circuit, and of the form o1 an irregular triangle. The acropolis consisted of two rocky tubular summits, united by a lower ridge. It was about 500 yards long, and from 100 to 50 bread, but still narrower in the connecting ridge. Livy speaks of Palaepharsalus (xliv. 1), and Strabo dis- tinguishes between Old and New Pharsalus. (Strab. ix. p.431.) It is probable that at the time of these writers the acropolis and the upper part of the town were known by the name of Pulaepharsalus, and that it was only the lower part of the town which was then inhabited.

Pharsalus is mentioned by Scylax (p. 25) among the towns of Thessaly. In B.c. 455 it was besieged by the Athenian commander Myronides, after his victory in Boeotia, but without success. (Thue. i. 111.) At the commencement of the Peloponnesian War, Pharsalus was one of the Thessalian towns that sent succour to the Athenians. (Thuc. ii. 22. Medius, tyrant of Larissa, took Pharsalus by force, about B. c. 395. (Diod. xiv. 82.) Pharsalus, under the conduct of Polydamas, resisted Jason for a time, but subsequently formed an alliance with him. (Xen. Hell. vi. 1. § 2, seq.) In the war between Antiochus and the Romans, Pharsalus was for a time in the possession of the Syrian monarch; but on the retreat of the latter, it surrendered tothe consul Acilius Glabrio, B. c. 191. (Liv. xxxvi. 14.)

Pharsalus, however, is chiefly celebrated for the memorable battle fought in its neighbourhood be- tween Caesar and Pompey, B.c. 48. It is a curious fact. that Caesar has not mentioned the place where he gained his great victory; and we are indebted for the name to other authorities. The exact site of the battle has been pointed out by Leake with his usual clearness. (Vorthern Creece, vol. iv. p- 475, seq.) Merivale, in his narrative of the battle (/istory of the Romans under the Empire, vol. i. p. 286, seq.), has raised some difficulties in the in-

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