The Battle of Nicopolis was fought in December 48 BC between the army of Pharnaces II of Pontus, the son of Mithdridates VI Eupator, and a Roman army led by Gnaeus Domitius Calvinus. After defeating Pompey the Great and the optimates at Pharsalus, Julius Caesar went to Asia Minor and then to Egypt. In Asia province he left Calvinus in command with an army including the XXXVI Legion, made up mainly of veterans from Pompey's disbanded legions. With Caesar preoccupied in Egypt and the Roman republic in the midst of civil strife, Pharnaces saw an opportunity to expand his Kingdom of the Bosphorus into his father's old Pontic empire. In 48 BC he invaded Cappadocia, Bithynia and Armenia Parva.