The Civil War of the Roman Empire PHARSALIA 60 B.C.

Originally written in Latin, approximately A.D. 61-65, by the Roman poet Lucan, and probably left unfinished upon his death in A.D. 65. Although the work has been generally known through most of history as the "Pharsalia", modern scholarship tends to agree that this was not Lucan's choice for a title. Lucan's "Pharsalia" (or, "Civil War", as many scholars now prefer to call it) was written approximately a century after the events it chronicles took place. Lucan was born into a prominent Roman family (Seneca the Elder was his grandfather, and Seneca the Younger his uncle), and seems to have befriended the young Emperor Nero at an early age.