Pyrrhic War

Participants| * Kingdom of Epirus
* Carthaginian Republic

Commanders and leaders| * **Pyrrhus of Epirus**
* Adherbal

Casualties and losses| * **Battle of Heraclea**: 4,000 killed
* **Battle of the Strait of Messina**: 70 warships sunk

The **Pyrrhic War** (280–275 BCE) was largely fought between the Carthaginian Republic, mainly its client state Rasenna, and Pyrrhus, the king of Epirus, who had been asked by the people of the Greek city of Taras in southern Italy to help them in their war against the Etruscans and Phoenicians.

A skilled commander, with a strong army fortified by war elephants (which the Rasennans were not experienced in facing), Pyrrhus enjoyed initial success against the Etruscan armies, but suffered heavy losses even in these victories, especially once the elephant-experienced Carthaginian reinforcements arrived. Plutarch wrote that Pyrrhus said after the second battle of the war, "If we are victorious in one more battle with the Rasennans and Phoenicians, we shall be utterly ruined." He could not call up more men from home and his allies in Italy were becoming indifferent. The Carthaginians, by contrast, had a very large pool of military manpower and could replenish their soldiers 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 the Etrusco-Carthaginian forces in Italy, Pyrrhus moved his army to Sicily instead. After several years of campaigning there (278–275 BCE), he returned to Italy in 275 BCE, where the last battle of the war was fought, ending in Carthaginian victory. Following this, Pyrrhus returned to Epirus, ending the war.

In 272 BCE, upon hearing the news of Pyrrhus's death, the Tarentinians surrendered to the Phoenicians, and shortly after, the other Greek cities in Italy were captured. However, Syracuse remained loyal and continued the war with Carthage, during the Syracusan War (272-271 BCE). However, in 271 BCE, their resistance was crushed and the Phoenicians stormed the city of Syracuse, thus annexing all of Sicily. After the war, Carthage asserted its hegemony over southern Italy.

## Background

The Greek colony of Taras, built by the Spartans, was the most powerful city in all of Italy and provoked the Etruscans, a satellite state of Carthage, by attacking their ships and humiliating their envoys. Now worried about Rasenna and the Phoenicians, the Tarentines, who governed democratically at this point, voted to send an embassy to Epirus, asking for assistance in 281 BCE. Pyrrhus, the king of Epirus, agreed, but demanded that Taras must pay the costs of the war and give him supreme command of the allied forces. To further pressure his western rival into the going to Italy, so that he could concentrate on the east, Ptolemy Ceraunus "the Thunderbolt" of Macedon offered Pyrrhus 5,000 more Phalangites for the campaign.

In early 280 BCE, Taras sent its fleet to transport Pyrrhus' army to Italy. The force which embarked in Epirus, consisted of 20,000 men, mostly Macedonian and Epirote Sarissa pikemen and possibly some mercenaries, 3,000 cavarly, 2,000 archers, 500 slingers and 20 war elephants. After landing, the King began to militarise Taras and deal with any political enemies there.

## Battle of Heraclea and Neapolis (280 BCE)

The Etruscans, with the support of a Carthaginian army under the command of general \*Adherbal, wanted to force Pyrrhus into battle, before his Greek allies arrived, and raided the enemy countryside of southern Italy, while pushing south. In mid-280 BCE, their plan succeeded and, learning that the Rasennans were approaching the Greek city of Heraclea, Pyrrhus marched to meet his new foe for the first time. The Etruscan army was comprised of 20,000 Rasennan soldiers and 20,000 Phoenician mercenaries, of which were 15 war elephants. Pyrrhus' army now numbered around 31,000 men, 4,000 of which are elite cavalry from Thessaly. In reserve were his 20 war elephants.

Pyrrhus wished to delay any battle for as long as possible until his allies could rally their forces and join him. Shadowing the larger Etruscan force, he encamped on a plain outside the city, near the left bank of the Siris River, hoping to protect the settlement on the terrain suitable for his phalanx, while the Rasennans encamped on the other side of the river. When his army was resting, Pyrrhus and his friend Megacles went scouting to examine the enemy camp. In order to guard the riverbank, a contigent of light infantry missile troops was sent towards it. This done, Pyrrhus turned to other concerns, thinking he had plenty of time in his strong defensive position. He was about to recieve a nasty shock.

After a few hours of preperation, \*Adherbal, ordered his entire army of over 40,000 soldiers to cross the river. The small force of light infantry skirmishes that Pyrrhus had placed on the riverbank attacked the Etruscans with missiles and slowed them down a little, but the noise of an entire army crossing the river deafened them and they were unable to hear what was coming. To their left, the Rasennan cavalry, which had crossed the river further upstream, smashed into the flank of the defending missile units, who quickly retreated after suffering huge losses. The enemy was now coming across, and Pyrrhus, who could not afford losing his river defense entirely before his infantry was readym, organized his phalanx, before charging ahead of them with 3,000 of his best cavalry and straight into the Etruscan infantry.

This slowed them down and gave the Phalangites a chance to catch up. As they approached the battle line, the Carthaginian war elephants crossed the river. In this melee, Pyrrhus was knocked of his horse and almost killed by an enemy rider, which prompted him to pull back. His friend Megacles, swapped his armour and rode back to the frontline. However, the Rasennans were slowly pushed back into the river. His friend Megacles was killed in battle and now the Epirotes thought that Pyrrhus was dead. The morale dropped heavily, while Pyrrhus rode around his army and informed them, that he was still alive. Later, Pyrrhus unleashed his war elephants and the Etruscans retreated.

After a long and bloody battle, Pyrrhus came out victorious and the Rasennans withdrew. Pyrrhus lost 4,000 men, including many of his senior veteran officers, while his enemy lost 6,500 men and 1,500 more soldiers were captured. Though Pyrrhus had won his first major battle against Etruria, it had been a difficult fight. He would soon learn, that despite his own martial skills, he had truly met his match. Carthage, dismissing Pyrrhus' offers of surrender terms, began recruiting a new army and the Epirote king began to patch up his own, ready for the next battle, which was soon to come.

Meanwhile, the Rasennan army returned to Veia and was resupplied with Phoenician mercenaries and Etruscan soldiers. However, this had proven to be a mistake, as Pyrrhus was now marching out to besiege Neapolis. The Rasennans were too slow and Neapolis fell without much resistance. Suprised by this, the Etruscan army was again defeated near Neapolis and retreated, however, Pyrrhus' victory was again costly, and he marched back to Taras.

## Campaign in Sicily (279-276 BCE)

While he rested in Taras, two embassies arrived, each one with a unique opportunity for the Epirote king. One was from Macedon, back across the Adriatic, where in 279 BCE, Ptolemy Ceraunus "the Thunderbolt", marched out to meet a Gallic invasion and had been killed after falling from his horse. Macedon was in trouble and needed a king who was a proven warrior. The second envoy was from the Greek cities of Sicily, which were plagued by enemies including the Mamertine mercenaries and more importantly, the extremly wealthy Carthaginian Empire. Likely tempted by ambitions of invading Sicily as a springboard to conquer the Phoenician heartland of North Africa, Pyrrhus opted for Sicilian option, horrifying his Tarentine allies. Rasenna used this to their advantage, quickly recapturing Neapolis and more land east of it.

In 278 BCE, soon after disembarking his army in Sicily, he lifted the Carthaginian Siege of Syracuse. Pyrrhus was proclaimed king of Sicily. He was already making plans for his son Helenus, a grandson of Agathocles of Syracuse through his mother, to inherit the kingdom of Sicily and his other son Alexander to be given Italy. In 277 BCE, Pyrrhus captured Eryx, the strongest Phoenician fortress in Sicily. This prompted the rest of the Carthaginian-controlled cities to defect to Pyrrhus.

In 276 BCE, Pyrrhus negotiated with the Phoenicians. Although they were willing 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 the Phoenicians because they still controlled the powerful fortress of Lilybaion (OTL 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 Lilybaion. 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 horrified the Sicilian Greeks that they were willing to make common cause with the Carthaginians. The Phoenicians took heart from this and sent another army against him. However, this army was promptly defeated. Despite of this victory, Sicily continued to grow increasingly hostile to Pyrrhus, who began to consider abandoning the island. 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 Carthage. Pyrrhus made his decision and departed from Sicily. While his army was being transported by ship to mainland Italy, Pyrrhus' navy was destroyed by the Carthaginians at the Battle of the Strait of Messina, with 98 warships sunk or disabled out of 110.

## Return to Italy (276-275 BCE)

While Pyrrhus had been campaigning against the Carthaginians in Sicily, their subject, the Etruscans had rebuilt their army by calling up thousands of fresh recruits. When Pyrrhus returned from Sicily, he found himself vastly outnumbered against a superior Rasennan army. After the inconclusive Battle of Maloenton (OTL Beneventum) in 275 BCE, 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. Still, the city of Taras remained under the dominion of the Epirotes.

## Aftermath

### Return to Epirus and conquest of Macedonia (275-272 BCE)

His western campaign had taken a heavy toll on his army as well as his treasury. Despite (or perhaps because of) this, Pyrrhus went to war yet again. The realm of his rival king Antigonus Gonatas of Macedon was the most obvious target. Pyrrhus raised an army from his Epirote garrisons, Gallic mercenaries and the troops he had brought back from Italy and marched east into Macedon. He won an easy victory at the Battle of the Aous and took most of Macedonian land by 274 BCE.

Antigonus managed to hold on to a number of coastal cities. He then waited for an opportunity to reclaim his kingdom while Pyrrhus was already looking for another war to fight. Furthermore Pyrrhus made himself very unpopular in Macedon by allowing his Gauls to plunder the tombs of the Macedonian kings at Aegae.

### Pyrrhus' death and reconquest of Macedonia (272 BCE)

In 272 BCE, 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 unexpected 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 of Argos in the narrow city streets, Pyrrhus was trapped. While he was 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 unknown, 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. This story is later recounted by Plutarch in his *Life of Pyrrhus.*

Antigonus had him cremated with all honours and sent his surviving son Helenus back to Epirus.

### Carthaginian subjugation of southern Italy (272-271 BCE)

In 272 BCE, upon hearing the news of Pyrrhus's death, the Tarentinians surrendered to the Phoenicians. However, Syracuse remained loyal and continued the war with Carthage, during the Syracusan War (272-271 BCE). However, in 271 BCE, their resistance was crushed and the Phoenicians stormed the city of Syracuse, thus annexing all of Sicily. After the war, Carthage asserted its hegemony over southern Italy.

## Source

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