Phase 6

The Pyrrhic War

  In Italy to the north of the Roman controlled region of Latium lay the Etruscan cities, and to the south was the Roman controlled Samnium. South of there lay the Greek city-states of Greater Greece (Magna Grecia) : politically independent cities in southern Italy and Sicily, settled by Greek colonists in the 8th and 7th centuries BCE. Both in Sicily and on the mainland, conflict between all of these groups was ongoing. The Second Latin War (340–338 BCE) had placed the Latium region under Roman dominance, if not outright control, and the resistance of the Samnites against Roman control was coming to an end with a few minor conflicts being the only remnants of the Samnite Wars (343–290 BCE).

Samnite Soldiers

  The patchwork of Italian and Sicilian cultures and nations had resulted in continuing conflicts and territory changes, which in recent decades had seen an expansion of Roman influence over Italy. Rome was, however, a "local Italian concern", never having tried its hand in the larger international affairs of the Mediterranean, nor pitted its military strength against any of the dominant Greek cultures. The Pyrrhic war would change both of these facts.

   Between 280-275 BCE, Pyrrhus of Epirus waged two major campaigns in an effort to protect and spread the influence of the Macedonians in the western Mediterranean, one against the emerging power of the Roman Republic in Italy, the other against Carthage in Sicily.

  The Pyrrhic War was a complex series of battles and shifting political alliances among the Greeks (specifically Epirus, Macedonia, and the city states of Greater Greece), the Italian peoples (primarily the Roman Republic, Samnites and the Etruscans), and the Carthaginians. Most historical treatments of the conflict concentrate on the conflicts between Pyrrhus of Epirus and Rome. Carthage and Rome were allies in this conflict. While Carthage did, in fact, pledge aid to Rome in 280 BCE, it is unclear what this aid consisted of, or how influential it was in the war. Later in the conflict, Carthage was involved in its own war with Pyrrhus in Sicily. There seems to have been no coordinated military efforts between Carthage and Rome.

Pyrrhus

  Pyrrhus was the son of Aeacides and Phthia, a Thessalian woman, and a second cousin of Alexander the Great (via Alexander's mother, Olympias). He had two sisters: Deidamia and Troias. Pyrrhus was only two years old when his father lost the throne, in 317 BCE, his family taking refuge with Glaukias, king of the Taulantians, one of the largest Illyrian tribes. Beroea,  Glaukias’s wife and a Molossian of the Aeacidae dynasty (cf. Plutarch Parallel Lives), raised Pyrrhus.  Glaukias restored Pyrrhus to the throne in 306 BCE until his enemy, Cassander, had him banished four years later.   In 298 BCE, Pyrrhus became a hostage and was taken to Alexandria, under the terms of a peace treaty made between  Demetrius and Ptolemy I Soter. There, he married Ptolemy I's stepdaughter Antigone (a daughter of Berenice I of Egypt from her first husband Philip, Ptolemy I's wife and a Macedonian noble). They restored him to his kingdom with a co-ruler in Epirus in 297 BCE with financial and military aid from Ptolemy I. Pyrrhus had his co-ruler Neoptolemus II of Epirus murdered. 

 The Greek city of Tarentum had attacked and sacked the city of Thurii and expelled the newly installed Roman garrison there in 282 BCE.

Ruins of Thurii

  That same year, the city of Thurii petitioned Rome for military assistance because of this.  In response, Rome sent out a fleet of ships that entered the Bay of Tarentum. This act violated a longstanding treaty between it and the city of Tarentum, which forbade Rome from entering Tarentine waters. Enraged by what it considered a hostile aggression, the city attacked the fleet, sinking several ships and sending the rest away. Rome was shocked and angered by this incident and sent out diplomats to defuse the situation. However, negotiations turned sour, leading to a declaration of war against Tarentum.  Rome had already made itself into a major power, and was poised to subdue all the Greek cities of Greater Greece. Committed to war, Tarentum appealed to Pyrrhus of Epirus.  The Tarentines asked Pyrrhus to lead them in 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 his most powerful neighbor, and arrived in Italy in late 282 BCE.

  He 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 was away.  Pyrrhus defeated the Romans in the Battle of Heraclea.

War Elephants

  A war elephant was an elephant trained and guided by humans for combat. Their main use was to charge the enemy, breaking their ranks and instilling terror. Elephantry was military units with elephant-mounted troops. Elephants were used first in India, the practice spreading out across Southeast Asia and westwards into the Mediterranean. Their most famous use in the West was by the Greek general Pyrrhus of Epirus and in significant numbers by the armies of Carthage, including briefly by Hannibal.  The first elephant species that was tamed was the Asian Elephant, for use in agriculture. Elephant taming - not full domestication, as they were captured in the wild, rather than bred in captivity - may have begun in any of three different places. The oldest evidence comes from the Indus Valley Civilization, around roughly 4500 BCE. Archaeological evidence for the presence of wild elephants in the Yellow River valley during the Shang Dynasty (1600–1100 BCE) of China may suggest that they also used elephants in warfare (  William Dwight Whitney;  Benjamin Eli Smith  "Elephantry“  1911 ed.).  The Ptolemies and the Carthaginians began acquiring African elephants for the same purpose, as did the Numidians and the Kushites. The animal used was the North African forest elephant, which would become extinct from over-exploitation. ( Elephas maximus asurus) . These animals were smaller than the Asian elephants used by the Seleucids on the east of the Mediterranean region, particularly those from Syria, which stood 2.5-3.5 meters (8–10 ft) at the shoulder. It is likely that at least some Syrian elephants were traded abroad. The favorite, and perhaps last surviving elephant of Hannibal's 218 BCE crossing of the Alps was an impressive animal named Surus ("the Syrian"), and may have been of Syrian stock,  (  Wilford, John Noble September 18, 1984- "The Mystery  Of Hannibal’s Elephants) though the evidence remains ambiguous.

  Pyrrhus' involvement in the regional conflicts of Sicily reduced the Carthaginian influence there drastically. In Italy, his involvement seems to have been mostly ineffectual but had long-term implications. The Pyrrhic War proved both that the states of ancient Greece had essentially become incapable of defending the independent colonies of Greater Greece, and that the Roman legions were capable of competing with the armies of the Hellenistic kingdoms — the dominant Mediterranean powers of the time. This opened the way for Roman dominance over the city-states of Greater Greece and advanced the Roman consolidation of power in Italy greatly. Rome's proven record in international military conflicts would also aid its resolve in its rivalry with Carthage. Linguistically, the Pyrrhic War is the source of the expression "Pyrrhic victory," a term for a victory won at too high a cost. Its origin is seen in Plutarch’s description of Pyrrhus’ reaction to the report of a victorious battle:

“The two armies separated; and we are told that Pyrrhus said to the one who was congratulating him on his victory: “If we are victorious in one more battle with the Romans, we shall be utterly ruined”( Plutarch. ”Pyrrhus 21.9". Plutarch's Lives. Bernadotte Perrin (translator). Cambridge, MA.).

  In 279 BCE, Pyrrhus fought his second major battle of the war at Asculum, this one on a much greater scale in the hills of Apulia.  The Roman Consul (general) Publius Mus managed to use the terrain against the Greek cavalry and elephants.  The battle took two days and Pyrrhus had to attack the Romans twice.  The second time he attacked with infantry and elephants, which overwhelmed Mus’ position.  The Romans lost 6,000 men while Pyrrhus’ army lost 3,500 men.

The Hills of Apulia

  Pyrrhus’ next move to was to seek a treaty with Rome, but Rome would not talk as long as Pyrrhus remained on Roman soil.   Appius Claudius, who had built the Appian Way, exhorted the Roman leaders to enter into negotiations with Pyrrhus, who at this point was only asking for the freedom of Tarentum and her allies.  Next Pyrrhus tried to enter into an alliance with Carthage against Rome, but the Carthaginians seeing Pyrrhus as the greater threat refused to send a squadron of ships up the mouth of the Tiber River and help him.  Carthage then made its third treaty with Rome and it became an effectual alliance between them against Pyrrhus.

   In Sicily, veterans of Agathocles settled now at Messana, offered their help, but Campania and most of southern Italy gave Pyrrhus no encouragement.   Only Etruria thought the tide had turned against Rome, quickly to discover its mistake.  In the midst of Pyrrhus' Italian campaigns, he had received envoys from the Sicilian cities of Agrigentum, Syracuse, and Leontini, asking for military aid to remove the Carthaginian dominance over that island (Plutarch, Life of Pyrrhus, 22:1–22:3).   After two campaigns in which, though he always won battles, Pyrrhus ended up losing more men than he could afford, He moved on to Sicily in 278 BCE to aid the Greeks there, who were under pressure of the Carthaginians. The Romans had little difficulty in dealing with his friends and rear guards on the Italian mainland.

  Carthage had attacked Syracuse and besieged the city after seizing Akragas. Mago, the Carthaginian admiral, had 100 ships blockading the city. Pyrrhus agreed to intervene, and sailed for Sicily. When Pyrrhus sailed for Sicily, the Carthaginians did not wait to for an attack, They were besieging Syracuse his necessary supply base, and looking for him with their fleet, However Pyrrhus managed to evade them and drove off the besieging army.   Mago lifted the siege and Pyrrhus fortified the Sicilian cities with an army of 20,000 infantry, 3,000 cavalry and 20 war elephants, supported by some 200 ships. Initially, Pyrrhus' Sicilian campaign against Carthage was a success, pushing back the Carthaginian forces, and capturing the city-fortress of Eryx, even though he was not able to capture Lilybaeum (Plutarch, Life of Pyrrhus, 22:4–22:6). After a two-month siege, Pyrrhus withdrew from Lilybaeum.   Pyrrhus refused the Carthaginian offer to surrender everything in Sicily except for Lilybaeum, which they direly needed if they sought to keep their hold on Sardinia. 

  All the while, Pyrrhus’ losses had been heavy and his reinforcements few. Back in Italy, the Romans at the Battle of the Cranita hills defeated his Samnite allies. In addition, the Romans were hard pressing Tarentum, and between the Romans and the Carthaginian fleet, he feared being trapped in Sicily. So in a desperate attempt he returned once more to Italy, to fight one more campaign.  En-route to his return to Italy his fleet was defeated by the Carthaginian fleet, Pyrrhus lost 70 ships in this battle.

Map of the Pyrrhic War

  Once in Italy Pyrrhus met the Romans at the town of Maleventum in southern Italy and suffered a severe defeat.   The Romans had learned that they could wound the elephants in the side using their pila, the short throwing spears that had come into use during the Samnite Wars. This would in turn panic the elephants, which ran out of control and trampled their own troops.  He then entered Tarentum for the duration of the war. Pyrrhus soon left Italy forever and returned to the Greek mainland, leaving a sufficient force to garrison Tarentum. He had lost two thirds of his army during the fighting and had little to show for his efforts. His parting words were memorable: "What a battlefield I am leaving for Carthage and Rome!"

   He had scarcely embarked before Tarentum surrendered to the Romans in 272 BCE.  Rome treated the Tarentines leniently, allowing them the same local self-rule it allowed other cities. Tarentum in turn recognized Rome's hegemony in Italy and became another of Rome's allies, while a Roman garrison remained in Tarentum to ensure its loyalty. Other Greek cities and the Bruttian tribes with their valuable forest-country surrendered likewise, undertaking to supply Rome with ships and crews in the future. Some Greek cities may still have seen themselves as allies, rather than subjects, of Rome.

   After its defeat of Pyrrhus, Rome was recognized as a major power in the Mediterranean, as evidenced by the opening of a permanent embassy of amity by the Macedonian king of Egypt in Rome.

  Rome made new colonies in the southern part of Italy all the way to the toe of the boot. In the north the last free Etruscan city, Volsinii, was destroyed after they revolted in 264 BCE. There, too, new colonies were established to cement Roman rule. Rome was now mistress of the entire peninsula from the Straits of Messina to the Apennine frontier with the Gauls along the Arnus and the Rubicon rivers.