Duane W. Roller

armies met at Pharsalos on 9 August 48 b.c. Defeat for the Pompeians
could not have been more overwhelming: Caesar’s report lists 15,000
dead and 24,000 captured against merely 200 killed on his side. When
Pompeius’s headquarters was about to be overrun, he escaped to Larisa
and then Mytilene, and eventually to Tyre. 30 Aft er some consideration
of North Africa as a refuge, he decided that his best option was to go to
Egypt, where he could invoke his historic relationship with the Ptolemies
and replenish his forces.
In Egypt, Ptolemy XIII had spent the past several months consolidating
his position. He used the left over Gabinian troops as a personal
bodyguard, and mobilized some of them under the command of Achillas
when Cleopatra returned from Syria, sending them to Pelousion to bar
her way to Alexandria. But the boy was hardly in control of events.
His advisors, led by Potheinos, had no intention of letting Pompeius
use Egypt as a base; as holdovers from the times of Ptolemy XII they
well knew what would happen when Romans controlled Egypt and its
resources. Perhaps naively, they wanted to keep Egypt out of the Roman
civil war. Th us—it was said to be the idea of Th eodotos—they laid a
trap for Pompeius. When he arrived off Pelousion, he sent messages
requesting safe-conduct. Th ese were accepted, but as he attempted
to land he was killed by a force led by Achillas. Caesar, who eventually
determined where Pompeius had gone, arrived in Egypt shortly
thereaft er. 31
Presumably, Ptolemy XIII’s advisors believed that proving to Caesar
that Pompeius was dead—Caesar was sent his head—would neutralize
the situation. But all the parties were unaware of how complex things
had become. Cleopatra, it was thought, had been successfully marginalized
and was blocked at the eastern edge of Egypt or possibly in Syria. 32
At any rate, no one took her seriously. Ptolemy XIII, although the pawn
of his advisors, felt that he was in control, demonstrating his authority
by standing on the beach in the midst of his army, wearing a purple
robe, as Pompeius was eliminated. 33 Th e two other children, Ptolemy
XIV and Arsinoë, were too young to be considered politically. Caesar
believed that aff airs in Egypt were indeed Rome’s concern, as they had
been for some time. He established himself in a suite in the royal palace
at Alexandria—not without some diffi culty—and sent messages to
Cleopatra and Ptolemy XIII strongly suggesting that they disband their
armies and reconcile with one another. Nevertheless he also enjoyed
the cultural delights of Alexandria and seemed to have the situation
60 Cleopatra