Battle of Pharsalus
The dethroned Queen soon organized her own army by recruiting mercenaries in Palestine. Ptolemy XIII and his advisers were forced to move with their army into position near the Egyptian border fortress Pelusium, not far from the troops of Cleopatra. At that time (end of July 48 BC) the Roman triumvir Pompey – who had lost the decisive Battle of Pharsalus against Julius Caesar – appeared at the Egyptian coast near Pelusium and asked the allied Pharaoh for asylum and assistance.