Who is Pyrrhus, what is the victory of Pyrrhus of Epirus?

Epirus is a small Macedonian kingdom located on the shores of the Ionian Sea to the west of Greece, on the coastline overlooking the island of Corfu, and partly extending into present-day Albania. Epirus, which includes Ioannina, Parga, and Preveza, is a geography that hosted one of the many kingdoms that emerged in the years after Alexander's death.

A Pyrrhic victory is a victory that inflicts such a devastating toll on the victor that it is tantamount to defeat. Such a victory negates any true sense of achievement or damages long-term progress. The phrase originates from a quote from Pyrrhus of Epirus, whose triumph against the Romans in the Battle of Asculum in 279 BC destroyed much of his forces, forcing the end of his campaign.

After the death of Alexander, the greatest conqueror in this history, in 323 BC, the era of the kingdoms established by the generals, that is, the "diadocs", to whom he left depositories to the countries he conquered during his campaigns, begins. In this turbulent period following the emergence of the Ptolemy (Ptolemy) dynasty in Egypt, the Seleucid in Syria and Iraq, Attalid in Pergamum, and the Antigonid dynasty in Greece and Macedonia, ambitious local leaders also appeared on the scene, seeking the opportunity to transition from tribal organization to statehood by conquering new lands. We see. Pyrrhus is one of them.

Throne fights

The people of Epirus are a tribal community, as in Thessaly to the east and Macedonia to the northeast. Although the Macedonians had previously been a state and became an empire with Alexander, the Epirus region remained a loose tribal federation. Pyrrhus is the son of the eldest of these tribes, Aeacides, king of the Molos; His mother, Phthia, is Alexander the Great's distant cousin.

Aeacides, who took the throne of Epirus in 331 BC, took refuge in one of the large and powerful Illyrian tribes with his whole family when he lost his throne as a result of an intra-dynastic power struggle fifteen years later. A few years later, he lost his life on the battlefield, although he marched on Epirus with the new army he had gathered. Pyrrhus was only thirteen years old when he became king of Epirus in 306 BC at the initiative of Glafkias, the protector of the family. But four years later he too loses his throne. He was taken hostage by the Macedonian/Greek First Ptolemy, who was establishing his own dynasty (Ptolemy) in Egypt and was taken to the capital Alexandria. Proving his worth as a warrior during his years there, he wins the favor of the king and manages to marry his stepdaughter. With the support of the Ptolemies, he returned to Epirus in 297 BC and took his rightful throne again.

Like other rulers of the period, who rose above peasant societies, Pyrrhus had his eyes outside. Because the way to be strong lies in having more villagers and - thus - tax income, which is not very suitable for agriculture due to its mountainous structure and the population it can feed is limited, moreover, it is outside the trade routes. Pyrrhus' only way out is to conquer new lands.

Pyrrhus of Epirus attempted to capture Thessaly in 292 BC but was unable to do so. He then heads towards Macedonia; It was driven back from here by Lysimakhos in 284 BC. He, too, sets his sights further west, on the lands of Southern Italy on the other side of the Ionian Sea. But that place is also not unclaimed, the young Roman state that emerged in the last century and is getting stronger is trying to take all of Italy under its sovereignty.

On the other hand, the Italics are not the only tribes in Italy and Sicily, the south of Italy is full of colonies founded by the Phoenicians and later the Greeks. The city of Tarentum, on the shore of the wide Gulf of Taranto, between the toe and heel of the "boot," was founded, for example, as a Spartan colony in 706 BC.

The conflict between the Greek colonies and Rome, which is trying to extend its sovereignty to the southernmost part of the peninsula, is inevitable, and eventually, it will. Tarentum and the Romans engaged in a war that lasted for five years at intervals, beginning in 280 BC. As Rome begins to prevail, the people of Tarentum seek help from their distant kin, the Epiruses. This is the opportunity Pyrrhus sought to march west. He has already begun to dream of conquering all of Italy, Sicily, and even Carthage with the army he formed with the support of the Ptolemies. However, he is not aware that he did not recognize Rome's population power and military organization at all.

Southern Italy

In 280 BC, Pyrrhus of Epirus, had twenty thousand spear infantry, three thousand cavalry, two thousand archers, and five hundred slingers, and He enters the Italian peninsula with an army of twenty war elephants borrowed from Ptolemy II. In addition to the Tarentians, he also attracted Southern Italian tribes such as the Samnites, Lucans, and Bruttis. Two armies come face to face in Heraclea; The superiority of their cavalry defeats the Roman army, with elephants seen for the first time by the Romans and spear infantry fighting in the form of phalanxes. But the people of Epirus also lost great; According to Hieronymus of Cardia, Rome loses seven thousand, Epirus three thousand; According to Dionysius of Halicarnassus, the losses were fifteen thousand versus thirteen thousand, respectively.

The Romans rejected Pyrrhus' peace offer. The two sides fight again in Asculum in 279 BC. At the end of the protracted battle, Rome lost again, but Pyrrhus' army was equally battered. This time, Roman losses amounted to six thousand, and Epirus losses amounted to three thousand five hundred. These losses are extremely high for an army that sets out with a total of twenty-five thousand soldiers and fights in distant lands. Moreover, in these two wars, many valuable commanders of Pyrrhus, as well as the most distinguished troops, lost their lives.

This is the historical event that led to the coining of the phrase "victory of Pyrrhus" in the following centuries. According to Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Pyrrhus replied to one of his officers who congratulated him after the Battle of Asculum, saying, "If we win such a victory against the Romans, it will be our end." Because at this distance from Epirus, it is almost impossible to replace the losses and strengthen the army; Over time, the allied Italic tribes also became more and more afraid of the power and discipline of Rome, losing their will to fight. However, the situation is different for Rome, the losses can be replaced by reserves or soldiers of the allied cities in a short time; moreover, the newcomers are fighting with great enthusiasm and all their strength to avenge their lost friends.

[Pirus had a large share as a commander in Epirus defeating the larger Roman army twice. Pyrrhus will be remembered for centuries to come as the commander whose military strategy and tactical abilities came closest to Alexander.]

From that day on, the phrase “Pyrian victory” is used to describe victories that should almost be considered defeats because they cost so much.

Pyrrhus' "victories" do not stop here. The commander, who could not win the victory he sought in the Italian peninsula, this time rushes to the aid of the Greek colonies in Sicily against Carthage in 278 BC. Although he was successful against the Carthaginians, he was forced to leave the island as he increasingly confronted the Sicilians, on whom he tried to impose his rule. He returns to Tarentum again; however, the war in Beneventum in 275 BC with the Romans, who had gathered tens of thousands of soldiers and formed new legions in the course of time, ended in a way where the winner was uncertain, and Pyrrhus was eventually forced to return to Epirus.

Pyrrhus, who does not stay there comfortably, attacks Macedonia this time and takes the throne of King Second Antigonus. From here, he sets his sights on Sparta, but his enemy is very strong, and even if he is not defeated, he cannot achieve a decisive victory. This time he heads for Argos. The city fiercely resists, and Pyrrhus and his army are forced to advance by fighting street to street. In one of these streets, just as Pyrrhus was about to kill an Argosian soldier he knocked down, he fell from his horse with a brick that the soldier's mother -who lived in the same street- threw at his head from the window and was killed by beheading while he was lying unconscious on the ground.