Pharsalia

From Latin Pharsālia (“the region of Pharsalus”), borrowed as a title for Lucan's poem from a line in the work itself: “Pharsālia nostra / vīvet” (“Our Pharsalia / will live”, book 9, lines 985–6). The original Latin title was Dē Bellō Cīvīlī (“On the Civil War”).

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌfɑːˈseɪli.ə/
• Rhymes: -eɪliə

Pharsalia

1. An epic poem by the Roman poet Lucan describing Caesar's Civil War.
2. (historical) The Battle of Pharsalus of 48 B.C.E.
   • 1931, Ernst Kantorowicz, translated by Emily Lorimer, Frederick the Second, page 202:

     […] much as Caesar's tale of portents on the day of Pharsalia, showed Caesar in harmony with the Roman Pantheon.

3. (historical) The region around Pharsalus (modern Farsala), a Greek town.

• Pharsalian

Borrowed from Ancient Greek Φᾰρσᾱλῐ́ᾱ (Pharsālíā).

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /pʰarˈsaː.li.a/, [pʰärˈs̠äːlʲiä]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /farˈsa.li.a/, [färˈsäːliä]

Pharsālia f sg (genitive Pharsāliae); first declension

1. The region around Pharsalus.
2. The Battle of Pharsalus of 48 B.C.E.
3. Lucan's poem, the Pharsalia.

First-declension noun, singular only.

• Pharsalia in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “Pharsalia”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers