Pyrrhus was a Greek general and statesman of the Hellenistic period. He
was king of the Greek tribe of Molossians, of the royal Aeacid house,
and later he became king of Epirus and Macedon. He was one of the strongest
opponents of early Rome. Some of his battles, though successful, caused him
heavy losses, from which the term Pyrrhic victory was coined. He is the
subject of one of Plutarch's Parallel Lives.
Early life Pyrrhus was the son of Aeacides and
Phthia, a Thessalian woman, and a second cousin of Alexander the Great. He had
two sisters: Deidamia and Troias. In 317 BC, when Pyrrhus was only two, his
father was dethroned. Pyrrhus' family took refuge with Glaukias of the
Taulantians, one of the largest Illyrian tribes. Pyrrhus was raised by Beroea,
Glaukias's wife and a Molossian of the Aeacidae dynasty.
Glaukias restored Pyrrhus to the throne in 306 BC until the latter was banished
again, four years later, by his enemy, Cassander. Thus, he went on to serve as
an officer, in the wars of the Diadochi, under his brother-in-law Demetrius
Poliorcetes who married Deidamia. In 298 BC, Pyrrhus was taken hostage to
Alexandria, under the terms of a peace treaty made between Demetrius and
Ptolemy I Soter. There, he married Ptolemy I's stepdaughter Antigone and
restored his kingdom in Epirus in 297 BC with financial and military aid from
Ptolemy I. Pyrrhus had his co-ruler Neoptolemus II of Epirus murdered. In
295 BC, Pyrrhus transferred the capital of his kingdom to Ambrakia. Next, he
went to war against his former ally and brother-in-law Demetrius and in 292 BC
he invaded Thessaly while Demetrius was besieging Thebes but was repulsed. By
286 BC, Pyrrhus had taken control over the kingdom of Macedon, but was driven
out of Macedon by Lysimachus in 284 BC. Struggle with Rome
The Greek city of Tarentum, in southern Italy, fell out with Rome due to a
violation of an old treaty that specified Rome was not to send warships
into the Tarentine Gulf. In 282 BC, the Romans installed garrisons in the Greek
cities of Thurii, Locri, and Rhegium, and Rome sent warships to Thurii.
Although this was designed as a measure against the Italian peoples of Lucania,
the Tarentines grew nervous and attacked the Romans in Thurii, driving the Roman
garrison from the city and sinking several Roman warships. Tarentum was now
faced with a Roman attack and certain defeat, unless they could enlist the aid
of greater powers. Rome had already made itself into a major power, and was
poised to subdue all the Greek cities in Magna Graecia. The Tarentines asked
Pyrrhus to lead their war against the Romans. Pyrrhus was encouraged to aid
the Tarentines by the oracle of Delphi. His goals were not, however, selfless.
He recognized the possibility of carving out an empire for himself in Italy. He
made an alliance with Ptolemy Ceraunus, King of Macedon and his most powerful
neighbor, and arrived in Italy in 280 BC.
Pyrrhus entered Italy with an army consisting of 3,000 cavalry, 2,000
archers, 500 slingers, 20,000 infantry and 20 war elephants in a bid to subdue
the Romans. The elephants had been loaned to him by Ptolemy II, who had
also promised 9,000 soldiers and a further 50 elephants to defend Epirus
while Pyrrhus and his army were away. Due to his superior cavalry, his
elephants and his deadly phalanx infantry, he defeated the Romans, led by
Consul Publius Valerius Laevinus, in the Battle of Heraclea in 280 BC. There are
conflicting sources about casualties. Hieronymus of Cardia reports the Romans
lost about 7,000 while Pyrrhus lost 3,000 soldiers, including many of his
best. Dionysius gives a bloodier view of 15,000 Roman dead and 13,000 Epirot.
Several tribes, including the Lucani, Bruttii, Messapians, and the Greek
cities of Croton and Locri, joined Pyrrhus. He then offered the Romans a
peace treaty which was eventually rejected. Pyrrhus spent the winter in
Campania. When Pyrrhus invaded Apulia, the two
armies met in the Battle of Asculum where Pyrrhus won a very costly victory.
The consul Publius Decius Mus was the Roman commander, and while his able
force was ultimately defeated, they managed to break the back of Pyrrhus'
Epirot army, which guaranteed the security of the city itself. In the end,
the Romans had lost 6,000 men and Pyrrhus 3,500 including many officers.
Pyrrhus later famously commented on his victory at Asculum, stating, "If we are
victorious in one more battle with the Romans, we shall be utterly ruined". It
is from reports of this semi-legendary event that the term Pyrrhic victory
originates. Ruler of Sicily
In 278 BC, Pyrrhus received two offers simultaneously. The Greek cities in
Sicily asked him to come and drive out Carthage, which along with Rome was one
of the two great powers of the Western Mediterranean. At the same time, the
Macedonians, whose King Ptolemy Keraunos had been killed by invading Gauls, asked
Pyrrhus to ascend the throne of Macedon. Pyrrhus decided that Sicily offered him
a greater opportunity, and transferred his army there.
Soon after landing in Sicily, he lifted the Carthaginian siege of Syracuse in
the same year. Pyrrhus was proclaimed king of Sicily. He was already making
plans for his son Helenus to inherit the kingdom of Sicily and his other son
Alexander to be given Italy. In 277 BC, Pyrrhus captured Eryx, the strongest
Carthaginian fortress in Sicily. This prompted the rest of the
Carthaginian-controlled cities to defect to Pyrrhus.
In 276 BC, Pyrrhus negotiated with the Carthaginians. Although they were
inclined to come to terms with Pyrrhus, supply him money and send him ships once
friendly relations were established, he demanded that Carthage abandon all of
Sicily and make the Libyan Sea a boundary between themselves and the
Greeks. The Greek cities of Sicily opposed making peace with Carthage
because the Carthaginians still controlled the powerful fortress of
Lilybaeum, on the western end of the island. Pyrrhus eventually gave in to
their proposals and broke off the peace negotiations. Pyrrhus' army then began
besieging Lilybaeum. For two months he launched unsuccessful assaults on the
city, until finally he realized he could not mount an effective siege without
blockading it from the sea as well. Pyrrhus then requested manpower and
money from the Sicilians in order to construct a powerful fleet. When the
Sicilians became unhappy about these contributions he had to resort to
compulsory contributions and force to keep them in line. These measures
culminated in him proclaiming a military dictatorship of Sicily and installing
military garrisons in Sicilian cities. These actions were deeply unpopular and
soon Sicilian opinion became inflamed against him. Pyrrhus had so alienated
the Sicilian Greeks that they were willing to make common cause with the
Carthaginians. The Carthaginians took heart from this and sent another army
against him. This army was promptly defeated. In spite of this victory
Sicily continued to grow increasingly hostile to Pyrrhus, who began to
consider abandoning Sicily. At this point, Samnite and Tarentine envoys
reached Pyrrhus and informed him that of all the Greek cities in Italy only
Tarentum had not been conquered by Rome. Pyrrhus made his decision and departed
from Sicily. As his ship left the island, he turned and, foreshadowing the
Punic Wars, said to his companions: "What a wrestling ground we are leaving,
my friends, for the Carthaginians and the Romans."
Retreat from Italy While Pyrrhus had been campaigning
against the Carthaginians, the Romans rebuilt their army by calling up
thousands of fresh recruits. When Pyrrhus returned from Sicily, he found
himself vastly outnumbered against a superior Roman army. After the
inconclusive Battle of Beneventum in 275 BC, Pyrrhus decided to end his campaign
in Italy and return to Epirus which resulted in the loss of essentially all
the gains he had made in Italy, however the city of Tarentum remained under the
dominion of the Epirotes. Last wars and death
Though his western campaign had taken a heavy toll on his army as well as his
treasury, Pyrrhus went to war yet again. Attacking King Antigonus II Gonatas, he
won an easy victory at the Battle of the Aous and seized the Macedonian throne.
In 272 BC, Cleonymus, a Spartan of royal blood who was hated among fellow
Spartans, asked Pyrrhus to attack Sparta and place him in power. Pyrrhus agreed
to the plan, intending to win control of the Peloponnese for himself, but
unexpectedly strong resistance thwarted his assault on Sparta. On the retreat he
lost his firstborn son Ptolemy, who had been in command of the rearguard.
Pyrrhus had little time to mourn, as he was immediately offered an opportunity
to intervene in a civic dispute in Argos. Since Antigonus Gonatas was
approaching too, he hastened to enter the city with his army by stealth, only
to find the place crowded with hostile troops. During the confused battle in
the narrow city streets, Pyrrhus was trapped. While fighting an Argive
soldier, the soldier's old mother who was watching from a rooftop threw a tile
which knocked him from his horse and broke part of his spine, paralyzing him.
Whether he was alive or not after the blow is dubious, but his death was
assured when a Macedonian soldier named Zopyrus, though frightened by the look
on the face of the unconscious king, hesitantly and ineptly beheaded his
motionless body. Antigonus had him cremated with all
honours and sent his surviving son Helenus back to Epirus. That same year,
upon hearing the news of Pyrrhus's death, the Tarentinians surrendered to
Rome. Legacy
While he was a mercurial and often restless leader, and not always a wise
king, he was considered one of the greatest military commanders of his
time. In his Life of Pyrrhus, Plutarch records that Hannibal ranked him as the
greatest commander the world had ever seen, though in the life of Titus
Quinctius Flamininus, Plutarch writes that Hannibal placed him second after
Alexander the Great. This latter account is also given by Appian.
Pyrrhus was also known to be very benevolent. As a general, Pyrrhus's
greatest political weaknesses were his failures to maintain focus and to
maintain a strong treasury at home. His name is famous for the term "Pyrrhic
victory" which refers to an exchange at the Battle of Asculum. In response to
congratulations for winning a costly victory over the Romans, he is reported
to have said: "If we are victorious in one more battle with the Romans, we
shall be utterly ruined". Pyrrhus and his campaign in Italy was
effectively the only chance for Greece to check the advance of Rome towards
domination of the Mediterranean world. Rather than banding together, the
various Hellenistic powers continued to quarrel among themselves, sapping the
financial and military strength of Greece and to a lesser extent, Macedon
and the greater Hellenistic world. By 197 BC, Macedonia and many southern
Greek city-states became Roman client states; in 188 BC, the Seleucid Empire
was forced to cede most of Asia Minor to Rome's ally Pergamon. Rome inherited
that state, and most of Asia Minor in 133 BC. Total Roman domination over
Greece proper was marked by the destruction of Corinth in 146 BC; Greece
would then form an integral part of the Roman world leading into the Byzantine
period. Pyrrhus wrote memoirs and several books
on the art of war. These have since been lost, although, according to Plutarch,
Hannibal was influenced by them, and they received praise from Cicero.
Pyrrhus was married five times: his first wife Antigone bore him a daughter
called Olympias and a son named Ptolemy in honour of her stepfather. She died in
295 BC, possibly in childbirth, since that was the same year her son was born.
His second wife was Lanassa, daughter of King Agathocles of Syracuse, whom he
married in about 295 BC and the couple had two sons Alexander and Helenus;
Lanassa left Pyrrhus. His third wife was the daughter of Audoleon, King of
Paeonia; his fourth wife was the Illyrian princess Bircenna, who was the
daughter of King Bardylis II; and his fifth wife was the daughter of Ptolemy
Keraunos, whom he married in 281/280 BC. Portraits of Pyrrhus as came down to us
do not necessarily reflect his likeness. References
= Citations= = Sources=
Further reading External links
Livius.org – Pyrrhus of Epirus "Pyrrhus". Encyclopædia Britannica.
1911.