Pyrrhus was the son of Aeacides and a second cousin of Alexander the Great. His father lost his throne when Pyrrhus was two years old and he took refuge with the Illyrians. He served as an officer, in the wars of the Diadochi, under his brother-in-law Demetrius Poliorcetes. In 298 BC, Pyrrhus was taken hostage to Alexandria, under the terms of a peace treaty made between Demetrius and Ptolemy. There, he married Ptolemy's stepdaughter and with his help restored his kingdom in Epirus in 297 BC. He took control over the kingdom of Macedon but was driven out by Lysimachus in 284 BC. Rome was his next target.
In 281 BC, the Greek city of Tarentum, in southern Italy, fell out with Rome and they asked Pyrrhus to lead their war against the Romans. He entered Italy with an army consisting of 3,000 cavalry, 2,000 archers, 500 slingers, 20,000 infantry and 20 war elephants. He defeated the Romans at the Battle of Heraclea in 280 BC. As a result several tribes two Greek cities joined Pyrrhus. The Romans rejected a peace treaty so the following year he invaded Apulia. He met the Romans at the Battle of Asculum where Pyrrhus won a very costly victory inspiring the term "Pyrrhic victory". However, he remained the only commander to have defeated the Romans twice.
Pyrrhus was probably the greatest military commander of his time, although perhaps not the greatest King. In modern management parlance a good starter but a poor finisher. Plutarch records that Hannibal ranked Pyrrhus as the greatest commander the world had ever seen.
The core of the army would have been the phalanx.
Supplemented by Hoplites
He usually had a strong cavalry element
all supported by light troops
and peltasts
Further reading:
Pyrrhus of Epiros
Jeff Champion Pen and Sword ISBN 978 1 844159 390
His claim to fame is
that he defeated the Romans in two major battles and was rated by Hannibal as
the second greatest general after Alexander. His name lives on with the phrase
'Pyrrhic victory'.
The author starts with an overview of the
Eastern Mediterranean in the 3rd Century BC and of Epirus itself. At this time
the state was a loose combination of tribes with the King's role primarily that
of war leader. Epirus covered large parts of modern North Western Greece and
Southern Albania. Pyrrhus spent much of his youth in exile. This was the period
of the Successors and war between them was the norm, dragging in other states.
He developed into an brave and capable commander before returning to Epirus as
King. He probably inherited a modern Macedonian style of army based on the pike
armed phalanx supported by cavalry and elephants.
The rest of the book takes us through his main
campaigns. Firstly his conflicts with neighbouring Macedonia and then, at the
invitation of the Southern Italian states, with Rome. His famous 'Pyrrhic
victories' at Heraclea and Asculum are covered in detail. He then campaigned in
Sicily against Carthage before returning to Italy, this time to lose against the
Romans at Beneventum. His final campaigns were in Greece, culminating in his
death in battle against Argos and the Spartans. A fitting end for a King who was
almost continually at war. Whilst he was undoubtedly a great battlefield
commander his strategic outcomes were poor. Too many campaigns were not seen
through to the end and his diplomatic skills in maintaining allies were weak,
even allowing for the shifting alliances of the period.
This is a book I would highly recommend. The
author has a good writing style and effectively deals with the limited sources
in way that retains readability for the general reader. I have spent some time
in the
Epirus region and it is well worth a visit with plenty of sites of interest
for the historian.