"Pyrrhic victory A Pyrrhic victory ( ) is a victory that inflicts such a devastating toll on the victor that it is tantamount to defeat. Someone who wins a Pyrrhic victory has also taken a heavy toll that negates any true sense of achievement. ""Pyrrhic victory"" is named after King Pyrrhus of Epirus, whose army suffered irreplaceable casualties in defeating the Romans at the Battle of Heraclea in 280 BC and the Battle of Asculum in 279 BC, during the Pyrrhic War. After the latter battle, Plutarch relates in a report by Dionysius: In both Epirote victories, the Romans suffered"
"to be stronger than expected. Furthermore, Rome was able to raise a large number of legions, while Pyrrhus was far from home and had only a handful of veterans with him. Pyrrhus moved towards Rome with the intention of rallying the peoples ruled by the Romans and conquering the city, but he had no success in this and was forced to return to Apulia. In 279 BC, Pyrrhus defeated another Roman army in the Battle of Asculum (modern Ascoli Satriano, Foggia), again with many casualties. Most of the men Pyrrhus had brought over from Epirus were disabled or dead, including"
"Their choice fell on Pyrrhus, king of Epirus and a famous general. Pyrrhus crossed the sea to Italy with his army in 280 BC and that same year defeated the Romans at the battle of Heraclea and again the next year at the battle of Ausculum. These victories however proved to be strategically indecisive when they failed to convince Rome to accept peace on Pyrrhus' terms. With no end in sight Pyrrhus in 278 BC departed for Sicily to aid the Greek cities there against Carthage. He returned to Italy in 275 BC, but this time was defeated by the"
"279, Pyrrhus met the consuls Publius Decius Mus and Publius Sulpicius Saverrio at the Battle of Asculum, which remained undecided for two days, as the Romans had prepared some special chariots to counter his elephants. Finally, Pyrrhus personally charged into the melee and won the battle, but at the cost of an important part of his troops; he allegedly said ""If we are victorious in one more battle with the Romans, we shall be utterly ruined."" He escaped the Italian deadlock by answering a call for help from Syracuse, which tyrant Thoenon was desperately fighting an invasion from Carthage. Pyrrhus"
"the winter in Campania. When Pyrrhus invaded Apulia (279 BC), the two armies met in the Battle of Asculum, where Pyrrhus won a costly victory. The consul Publius Decius Mus was the Roman commander, and while his able force was ultimately defeated, they managed to almost 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"
"the next battle. In the spring of 279 BC, Pyrrhus invaded Apulia. Many places were captured or capitulated. The Romans came upon him near Asculum and encamped opposite him. In Plutarch's account, instead, after resting his army, Pyrrhus marched to Asculum to confront the Romans. According to Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Pyrrhus had 70,000 infantry, of whom 16,000 were Greeks. The Romans had more than 70,000 infantry, of whom about 20,000 were Romans (four legions which at the time had 4,000 men), the rest being troops from allies. The Romans had about 8,000 cavalry and Pyrrhus had slightly more, plus nineteen"
"Asculum where the Epirotes won the original Pyrrhic victory, at a high cost. In 277 BC, Pyrrhus captured the Carthaginian fortress in Eryx, Sicily. This prompted the rest of the Carthaginian-controlled cities to defect to Pyrrhus. Meanwhile, he had begun to display despotic behavior towards the Sicilian Greeks and soon Sicilian opinion became inflamed against him. Though he defeated the Carthaginians in battle, he was forced to abandon Sicily. Pyrrhus's Italian campaign came to an end following the inconclusive Battle of Beneventum (275 BC). Having lost the vast majority of his army, he decided to return to Epirus, which finally"
"he continued on the via Appia he could be trapped in the marsh. Wary of such entrapment on the Via Latina also, he withdrew without fighting after encountering opposition at Anagni. Wintering in Campania, he withdrew to Apulia in 279 BC, where, pursued by the Romans, he won a second costly victory at the Battle of Asculum. Withdrawing from Apulia for a Sicilian interlude, he returned to Apulia in 275 BC and started for Campania up the Roman road. Supplied by that same road, the Romans successfully defended the region against Pyrrhus, crushing his army in a two-day fight at"
"Pyrrhus of Epirus Pyrrhus (; , ""Pyrrhos""; 319/318–272 BC) was a Greek general and statesman of the Hellenistic period. He was king of the Greek tribe of Molossians, of the royal Aeacid house (from c. 297 BC), and later he became king of Epirus (r. 306–302, 297–272 BC). He was one of the strongest opponents of early Rome. His battles, though victories, caused him heavy losses, from which the term ""Pyrrhic victory"" was coined. He is the subject of one of Plutarch's ""Parallel Lives"". Pyrrhus was the son of Aeacides and Phthia, a Thessalian woman, and a second cousin of"
"of native groups such as the Samnites and the Lucanians, who were also fearful of Roman expansionism to join Pyrrhus. Subsequently, Pyrrhus advanced towards Rome and at the Battle of Asculum he vanquished another Roman army. Despite having bested the Romans in their battles, Pyrrhus had sustained heavy casualties. With his Italian allies wavering, Pyrrhus decided to abandon his campaign against Rome. At this point in time, Pyrrhus had two options available. Firstly, he could return to Greece where the throne of Macedon had been left vacant by the death of King Ptolemy Keraunos at the hands of the Gallic"
"invaded southern Italy to aid the city state of Tarentum. Pyrrhus defeated the Romans in the Battle of Heraclea and at the Battle of Asculum. Though victorious, he was forced to retreat due to heavy losses, hence the term ""Pyrrhic victory"". Pyrrhus then turned south and invaded Sicily but was unsuccessful and returned to Italy. After the Battle of Beneventum (275 BC) Pyrrhus lost all his Italian holdings and left for Epirus. Pyrrhus then went to war with Macedonia in 275, deposing Antigonus II Gonatas and briefly ruling over Macedonia and Thessaly until 285. Afterwards he invaded southern Greece, and"
"The war against Rome revamped, but this time Pyrrhus was matched by the Romans in the Battle of Beneventum (275 BC) and elected to give up his Italian campaign as Antigonus II of Macedon would not send him reinforcements. After six years, Pyrrhus returned to Epirus, with only 8,500 men: a garrison was left in Taranto, under the command of Pyrrhus' vice-commander Milon. The Romans conquered the city in 272 BC, by treachery of the Greek soldiers, and demolished the defensive walls of the city. Thirty thousand of the Greek inhabitants were sold as slaves and many works of art"
"burned himself in a temple in the town. When the Romans Legions won the battle and entered the city, they destroyed all, burning houses and temples and killing the majority of the population. Their actions were meant to punish the city for its rebellion. Publius Ventidius, a child when the city was destroyed, was captured by Pompeius Strabo and conducted to Rome as a prisoner. He was educated like a Roman soldier and became a consul, fighting against the Parthian Empire and winning. He also met and became a trusted friend of Julius Caesar. Battle of Asculum (89 BC) The"
"dethroned in 313 BC. Aeacides's son Pyrrhus came to the throne in 295 BC. Pyrrhus, being a skillful general, was encouraged to aid the Greeks of Tarentum and decided to initiate a major offensive in the Italian peninsula and Sicily. Due to its superior martial abilities, the Epirote army defeated the Romans in the Battle of Heraclea (280 BC). Subsequently, Pyrrhus's forces nearly reached the outskirts of Rome, but had to retreat to avoid an unequal conflict with a more numerous Roman army. The following year, Pyrrhus invaded Apulia (279 BC) and the two armies met in the Battle of"
"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, in the Roman province of Lucania. 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 Lucanians, 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"
"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"
"both sides prepared for the next battle. In the spring, Pyrrhus invaded Apulia. Many places were captured or capitulated. The Romans came upon him near Asculum and encamped opposite him. The two sides avoided each other for several days. There were rumours that Publius Decius Mus (one of the two consuls for 279 BC) was getting ready to devote himself like his father and grandfather. In a devotio a Roman commander sacrificed his life by suicidally launching himself into the enemy ranks as a vow to the gods in exchange for a victory when the Roman troops were overwhelmed. This"
"called them Lucanian bulls ). In 279 BC, a second great battle, the Battle of Asculum, at Ascoli Satriano, was seen as a victory by Pyrrhus over the forces of the consuls Publius Sulpicius Saverrio and Publius Decius Mus. This battle, however, exacted heavy losses on the victor, so great that it inspired the term ""Pyrrhic victory"". Pyrrhus subsequently returned to Taranto. Syracuse remained at war with Carthage and, after the death of Agathocles, was further embroiled in a civil war. The former, trying to change its lot and taking advantage of the fact that Pyrrhus had married Agathocles' daughter,"
"Battle of Asculum (89 BC) The Battle of Asculum was fought in 89 BC during the Social War between Rome and its former Italian allies. The Romans were led by C. Pompeius Strabo, and were victorious over the rebels. The future Consul Publius Ventidius was said to have been captured as a youth at this battle and displayed in a Triumph at Rome. After two years of siege by the Romans, the people of Asculum, tired of the situation, decided to surrender against the wish of their leader Gaius Vidacilius, who, preferring to die with honour and with his freedom,"
"forced to recall Hamilcar and most of his army from Sicily to face the new and unexpected threat. Although Agathocles's army was eventually defeated in 307 BC, Agathocles himself escaped back to Sicily and was able to negotiate a peace which maintained Syracuse as a stronghold of Greek power in Sicily. Between 280 and 275 BC, Pyrrhus of Epirus waged two major campaigns in the western Mediterranean: one against the emerging power of the Roman Republic in southern Italy, the other against Carthage in Sicily. Pyrrhus sent an advance guard to Tarentum under the command of Cineaus with 3,000 infantry."
"had lost the tents, pack-animals and baggage which were kept in the camp, encamped on a hill and spent the night outdoors and without food. Many of the wounded died as a result of the conditions. Plutarch noted that according to Hieronymus of Cardia the Romans lost 6,000 men and that, according to Pyrrhus' own commentaries, he lost 3,505 men. He wrote that Dionysius of Halicarnassus made ""no mention of two battles at Asculum, nor of an admitted defeat of the Romans"" and that (in a passage which is now lost) Dionysius wrote that over 15,000 men on both sides"
"polis of Tarentum in 281 BC, Pyrrhus, the king of Epirus in northern Greece, invaded Italy with an army of 25,500 and 20 war elephants. The aim of the expedition was to combat the aggression of the Roman Republic, which was increasingly annexing the Greek cities of Magna Graecia. Upon arriving in Italy in 280 BC, Pyrrhus assumed command of an army consisting of the Greeks of Magna Graecia. Adding these forces to his own from Epirus, he engaged and defeated the Roman army at the Battle of Heraclea, near Tarentum in 280 BC. The Epiriote victory caused a number"
"or Dyrta. After dealing with those tribes, Alexander crossed the River Indus and waged a war against King Paurava (or Porus). Arrian estimates the army of Porus at ""30,000 foot, 4,000 horses, 300 chariots, and 200 elephants"". At the battle of the Hydaspes river, Alexander defeated Porus and made him a satrap of the latter kingdom. A fierce contest ensued with the Aspasioi, in the course of which Alexander himself was wounded in the shoulder by a dart, but eventually the Aspasioi lost the fight; 40,000 of them were enslaved. The Assakenoi faced Alexander with an army of 30,000 cavalry,"
"20 elephants to Italy to help fight the Romans. The Romans had succeeded in conquering most of Italy and were now moving in to take the Greek cities in Magna Graecia. After arriving in Italy in 280 BC, Pyrrhus defeated a Roman army at the Battle of Heraclea, near Tarentum. Pyrrhus repeated his success against Romans by defeating another army at the Battle of Asculum. These victories proved to be very costly to Pyrrhus and he diverted his attention to Sicily, where the Greek states on the island were appealing for his help against Carthage. Despite defeating the Carthaginians and"
"Pyrrhic War The Pyrrhic War (280–275 BC) 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 (which the Romans were not experienced in facing), 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,"
"fell to pieces. The Scythians are presumed to have lost their dominant position in the Pontic steppe for two centuries, until the reign of Scilurus in the 2nd century BC. Ateas Ateas (ca. 429 BC – 339 BC) was described in Greek and Roman sources as the most powerful king of Scythia, who lost his life and empire in the conflict with Philip II of Macedon in 339 BC. His name also occurs as ""Atheas"", ""Ateia"", ""Ataias"", and ""Ateus"". It is not certain if Ateas was connected to the royal dynasty of Scythia; most historians view him as an usurper"
"would have been the outcome of a military showdown between Alexander the Great and the Roman Republic. He reports that as Alexander of Epirus lay mortally wounded on the battlefield at Pandosia he compared his fortunes to those of his famous nephew and said that the latter ""waged war against women"". Alexander I of Epirus Alexander I of Epirus (; c. 362 BC – 331 BC), also known as Alexander Molossus (), was a king of Epirus (343/2–331 BC) of the Aeacid dynasty. As the son of Neoptolemus I and brother of Olympias, Alexander I was an uncle of Alexander"
"II (r. c. 295–290 BC); and his fifth wife was the daughter of Ptolemy Keraunos, whom he married in 281/280 BC. Portraits of Pyrrhus as have come down to us do not necessarily reflect his likeness. Pyrrhus of Epirus Pyrrhus (; , ""Pyrrhos""; 319/318–272 BC) was a Greek general and statesman of the Hellenistic period. He was king of the Greek tribe of Molossians, of the royal Aeacid house (from c. 297 BC), and later he became king of Epirus (r. 306–302, 297–272 BC). He was one of the strongest opponents of early Rome. His battles, though victories, caused him"
"throne and the title King of Epirus in 334 BC. He invaded Italy, but was killed in battle by a Lucanian in the Battle of Pandosia against several Italic tribes 331 BC. Aeacides of Epirus, who succeeded Alexander, espoused the cause of Olympias against Cassander, but was dethroned in 313 BC. His son Pyrrhus came to throne in 295 BC, and for six years fought against the Romans and Carthaginians in southern Italy and Sicily. The high cost of his victories against the Romans gave Epirus a new, but brief, importance, as well as a lasting contribution to the Greek"
"began to abandon him. In light of these developments, Pyrrhus decided to return to mainland Italy to continue his war against Rome. The Epiriotes attacked the Roman army but after the inconclusive Battle of Beneventum, he returned to Epirus. Despite Pyrrhus leaving a garrison there, Tarentum succumbed to Rome in 272 BC. On his return to his homeland, Pyrrhus found himself in a difficult position. His Italian sojourn had emptied his coffers and crippled his army, leaving him reliant on Sicilian mercenaries who required payment. In order to secure funds to pay his troops, Pyrrhus planned a war against Antigonus"
"of Messina, with 98 warships sunk or disabled out of 110. While Pyrrhus had been campaigning against the Carthaginians, the Romans had 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 under Manius Curius Dentatus. 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. The city of Tarentum remained under the dominion of the Epirotes. Though his"
"recovered Antioch by 253 AD, and Emperor Valerian gathered an army and marched eastward to the Sassanid borders. In 260 AD at the Battle of Edessa the Sassanids defeated the Roman army and captured the Roman Emperor Valerian. By the late 3rd century, Roman fortunes on the eastern frontier improved dramatically. During a period of civil upheaval in Persia, emperor Carus led a successful campaign into Persia essentially uncontested, sacking Ctesiphon in 283 AD. During the reign of the Tetrarchy, emperors Diocletian and Galerius brought a decisive conclusion to the war, sacking Ctesiphon in 299 AD and expanding the Roman"
"soil in 280 BC, where his forces were joined by some Greek colonists and a portion of the Samnites who revolted against Roman control, taking up arms against Rome for the fourth time in seventy years. The Roman army had not yet seen elephants in battle, and their inexperience turned the tide in Pyrrhus' favour at the Battle of Heraclea in 280 BC, and again at the Battle of Ausculum in 279 BC. Despite these victories, Pyrrhus found his position in Italy untenable. Rome steadfastly refused to negotiate with Pyrrhus as long as his army remained in Italy. Furthermore, Rome"