page_title: Pyrrhic War
section_title: Sicilian campaign (278-75 BC)
hierarchical_section_title: Pyrrhic War / Sicilian campaign (278-75 BC)
caption_attribution_description: English: Pyrrhos, King of Epirus, 278 276, minted at Syracuse, Bronze. ΦΘIAΣ Veiled head of Phtia with oak wreath / BAΣIΛEΩΣ ΠΥΡΡOΥ
context_page_description: The Pyrrhic War was a war fought by Pyrrhus, the king of Epirus. Pyrrhus was asked by the people of the Greek city of Tarentum in southern Italy to help them in their war with the Roman Republic.
  A skilled commander, with a strong army fortified by war elephants, Pyrrhus enjoyed initial success against the Roman legions, but suffered heavy losses even in these victories. Plutarch wrote that Pyrrhus said after the second battle of the war, "If we are victorious in one more battle with the Romans, we shall be utterly ruined." He could not call up more men from home and his allies in Italy were becoming indifferent. The Romans, by contrast, had a very large pool of military manpower and could replenish their legions even if their forces were depleted in many battles. This has led to the expression Pyrrhic victory, a term for a victory that inflicts losses the victor cannot afford in the long term.
  Worn down by the battles against Rome, Pyrrhus moved his army to Sicily to war against the Carthaginians instead. After several years of campaigning there, he returned to Italy in 275 BC, where the last battle of the war was fought, ending in Roman victory.
context_section_description: Pyrrhus went to Sicily and took the leadership of the Greek cities of eastern and southern Sicily in a war against the Carthaginians in western Sicily. There had been a history of conflict between the Greeks and the Carthaginians in Sicily (see Sicilian Wars). We have details about Pyrrhus' campaign against the Carthaginians from two fragments from the work of Diodorus Siculus. Plutarch gave only a very brief account, most of which was about the relationship between Pyrrhus and the Greek cities in Sicily. The fragments from the text of Dionysius of Halicarnassus are also about Pyrrhus and the Sicilian Greeks. The fragments from Appian deal mostly with events which occurred when Pyrrhus was leaving Sicily. We have minimal information from the fragments from the text of Cassius Dio.
  In Plutarch's account, Pyrrhus received two requests for help. Men from the Greek cities of Sicily "offered to put into his hands the cities of Agrigentum, Syracuse, and Leontini, and begged him to help them to drive out the Carthaginians and rid the island of its tyrants." The Macedonians asked him to accede to the throne of Macedon when their king, Ptolemy Keraunos, whose army was defeated in the Gallic invasion of Greece, was captured and beheaded by the Gauls.  Pyrrhus decided that Sicily provided better opportunities for glory since Africa "was felt to be nearer" - Plutarch thought that Pyrrhus coveted the conquest of Carthage, which was in Africa. He sent Cineas to hold talks with the Greek cities in Sicily while he garrisoned Tarentum. The Tarentines were unhappy and demanded that he either continue the war with Rome or go away and leave Tarentum as he had found it. In other words, they wanted the end of his tyrannical rule of the city if he left. Pyrrhus left without giving a reply.
  Appian wrote that Pyrrhus begun to be more concerned about Sicily than Italy because Agathocles, the tyrant of Syracuse and self-proclaimed king of Sicily, had just died and Pyrrhus had married his daughter Lanassa. However, Appian must have been confused. Agathocles died in 289 BC, nine years before Pyrrhus’ venture in Italy and eleven years before he went to Sicily. Moreover, Lanassa had left Pyrrhus in 291 BC. It's possible Appian was referring to Pyrrhus' hereditary claims following Agathocles' death, and this relatively recent event, Pyrrhus' claims, as well as Pyrrhus' proximity prompted the inhabitants of Syracuse in 279 BC to ask him for assistance against Carthage. According to Appian, Pyrrhus was reluctant to leave those in Italy who had asked for his help without a peace settlement. He sent Cineas to Rome to negotiate a peace once more. He received the same answer. The Romans returned the Tarentines and the Italic allies they held as prisoners. In Appian's account there was an armistice. Pyrrhus then set off for Sicily with 8,000 cavalry and his elephants. He promised his allies that he would return to Italy. Pyrrhus left Milo in Tarentum to garrison the city. According to Justin, he also left his son Alexander to garrison Locris.
  Plutarch wrote that Thoenon and Sosistratus, the leading men in Syracuse, were the first to persuade Pyrrhus to go to Sicily. Diodorus Siculus wrote that "Thoenon controlled the island [of Syracuse], while Sosistratus ruled Syracuse. They had ten thousand soldiers [in Syracuse], and carried on war with each other. But both, becoming exhausted in the war, sent ambassadors to Pyrrhus." While Pyrrhus was preparing to set sail, the Carthaginians were besieging Syracuse. They blockaded her port with a fleet. They conducted operations near the city walls and pillaged the countryside with 50,000 men. The Syracusans pinned their hopes on Pyrrhus because he had married Lanassa. When Pyrrhus set sail from Tarentum, he stopped over at Locris.
  The Mamertine mercenaries who had seized the city of Messana (Messina) made an alliance with the Carthaginians and joined them in trying to prevent Pyrrhus from crossing the Strait of Messina. Therefore, Pyrrhus could not land at Messana or Syracuse. However, Tyndarion, the tyrant of Tauromeni
caption: Coin of Pyrrhus minted at Syracuse, 278 BC. Obverse: Veiled head of Phtia with oak wreath, ΦΘΙΑΣ (of Phthia). Reverse: Thunderbolt, ΒΑΣΙΛΕΟΣ ΠΥΡΡΟΥ (of King Pyrrhus).
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