Siege of Gomphi

After unsuccessfully besieging Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus ("Pompey the Great") at Dyrrhachium, Julius Caesar retreated south and east to Apollonia.

At Apollonia Caesar briefly stopped to tend to his wounded, pay his army, encourage his allies, and leave garrisons, before setting off east again.

During this time he was able to regroup with some of his displaced men but in the meantime, Pompey had been spreading news which exaggerated his recent defeat at Dyrrhachium and many local communities saw cooperation with Caesar as a poor investment.

[2] The praetor of Thessaly, a man named Androsthenes, had commanded all citizens, freedmen and slaves to retreat inside Gomphi as he intended to oppose Caesar.

Caesar's men broke camp the following day and some sources claim that the soldiers were more of a drunken mob than a disciplined army when they left Gomphi.

[6][7] They soon arrived outside of Metropolis where the magistrates within initially reacted by manning the walls and preparing for a siege, however, once Caesar presented to them prisoners from Gomphi they resolved to open their gates to him.