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Ancient Armies

Pyrrhic - DBA 43
(300-275 BC)

This is the army of Pyrrhus of Epirus, a champion of Greek civilization whose skills as a general were compared favorably to those of Alexander the Great by the likes of Hannibal, but who is known primarily for his costly "pyrrhic" victories.

The kingdom of Epirus was located in the northwest of Greece, with Thessaly to the east and Macedonia to the north. Epirus was comprised of a confederation of three Greek-speaking tribes, the Thesproti, the Chaones and the dominant Molossi (or Aeacidae), with a line of descent traced from Achilles of Trojan War fame, and who provided the royal bloodlines of Epirus. Epirus found itself closely tied to Macedonia through the marriage of Philip II of Macedon to the Molossian princess, Olympias, the mother of Alexander the Great.

Pyrrhus I, son of King Aeacides, was born in 319 or 318 BC, and named for Pyrrhus, the son of Achilles. His father was quickly deposed by an uprising of the Epirots, and the two year old Pyrrhus was spirited away to Illyria, where he was raised by Glaucia, the king of the Taulantians as his own son. When his charge had reached the age of twelve, Glaucias sent an army south into Epirus and placed Pyrrhus on the restored throne under the care of guardians. Only five years later, Cassander of Macedonia prompted another uprising of the Epirots resulting in the explusion of Pyrrhus.

A king without a kingdom, Pyrrhus joined the Macedonian Diadochi Demetrius, the husband of his sister Diedamia, in Asia, where he gained renown for his valor at the battle of Ipsus in 301 BC. He then agreed to go to Egypt as a hostage to Ptolemy, where he made a considerable impression and was married to Antigone, the daughter of Berenice. Ptolemy then supplied Pyrrhus with an army and a fleet, which he used to secure a shared throne with Neoptolemus (297 BC). Later he was able to depose Neoptolemus (295 BC) and rule as sole king of Epirus.

Pyrrhus then began a campaign against Demetrius (291­286 AD) in alliance with Lysimachus, resulting in the conquest of large portions of Macedonia and Thessaly until Lysimachus interposed his army. For seven short months, Pyrrhus and Lysimachus shared the throne of Macedonia, until Lysimachus was able to depose him and secure new borders for himself.

After a peaceful respite in Eprius, Pyrrhus answered a deputation from the greek Tarentines of southern Italy, who were threatened by Roman expansion. In early 280 BC, preceded by his general Milo with a 3,000 man detachment, Pyrrhus embarked an army of 20,000 foot, 3,000 horse, 2,000 archers, 500 slingers and 20 elephants, which was widely scattered by a storm. Piecing together his army and joined by Tarentine greeks and Oscan allies from Samnia, Lucania, and Bruttium, he set forth to give battle to the Romans, defeating the consular army of M. Valerius Laevinus near Heraclea along the banks of the Siris river. The battle went poorly for Pyrrhus, until the Roman cavalry took fright from his elephants, allowing his own Thessalian cavalry to fall upon the rear of the Roman infantry. He dictated terms of peace, which were rejected by the Roman Senate, prompting Pyrrhus to march on the city of Rome, approaching to within 24 miles before its fortifications and the approach of winter prompted him to retire to Tarentum.

The next spring (279 BC), he launched his second campaign and defeated a combined Roman army under the command of consuls P. Decius Mus and P. Sulpicius Saverrio at Asculum in Apulia. Deployed on rough and wooded ground that hampered his phalangites and elephants, Pyrrhus fought for two days without decisive results until the Romans retreated into their camp. A javelin wound received while urging on his men coupled with heavy casualties among his Greeks, however, discouraged Pyrrhus from pressing his advantage, resulting in an indecisive campaign. Dismayed by his losses, Pyrrhus is reputed to have exclaimed "one more such victory and I am lost," giving rise to the expression "Pyrrhic victory."

In his third year abroad, Pyrrhus accepted an invitation by the Greeks in Sicily, who were hard-pressed by Carthaginian expansion across that island and the depredations of the italic Mamertine mercenaries who were unemployed and had turned to banditry. Leaving a small garrison to aid Tarentum, he landed as army of 30,000 foot and 25,000 horse in Sicily in mid 278 BC, driving back the Carthaginians and seizing Eryx by storm. Pyrrhus himself is reputed to have been the first man to climb the scaling ladder and mount the battlements to engage in hand to hand combat. However, he failed to reduce the Carthaginian stronghold at Lilybaeum. That coupled with his heavy-handed attempts to suppress the Mamertines, his impressment of the local greeks into military service, and his stern rule alienated the Sicilian Greeks, who soon began to plot against him. Finding his position politically untenable, he returned to Tarentum in autumn 276 BC to find his Samnite allies disaffected by his lack of attention and the city and his garrison just hanging on against the Romans.

In 275 BC, Pyrrhus launched his final campaign against the Romans in Italy, engaging the army of consul Curius Dentatus near Beneventum. Pyrrhus found the Romans unaware of his presence and attempted a night movement to take them by surprise. The confusion of moving an army through wooded country in the dark, however, lead to bad dispositions, with the wings of his army isolated from his van, which was deployed on an open plain. The next morning, the Romans overcame their initial alarm and marched forth to take advantage of the weaknesses in Pyrrhus' dispositions. The Greek elephants were frightened (possibly by a mother elephant concerned for her baby) and stampeded back through their own lines. Heavily defeated, Pyrrhus was forced to flee the field with his army. Unwilling to stand a seige in Tarentum, Pyrrhus then disembarked what remained of his Epiriots, 8000 foot and 500 horse, and set sail for home. Tarentum held out for three more years, but was forced to sue for peace and accept Roman rule in 272 BC.

His treasury exhausted by constant wars, the only way that Pyrrhus could maintain his throne and army was through spoils obtained by new wars. Recruiting widely, including contingents of Galatians, he launched a second invasion of Macedonia (273 BC) against the unpopular Antigonus Gonatas (son of Demetrius), who was quickly deserted by his own troops. Again, Pyrrhus crowned himself king of Macedonia, but found himself alientated from his Macedonian subjects when his unpaid Gallic allies looted Macedonian royal tombs for treasure.

With ambitions of ruling the Peloponese, and prompted by the invitation of Cleonymus, Pyrrhus then marched on Sparta (272 BC), but was repulsed. As he contemplated a seige, he learned that the Argives were attempting to overthrow King Aristeas of Argos, and rushed to assist his fellow monarch (and potential ally against Sparta). As his advance forces skirmished with the mob in the streets, Pyrrhus was felled next to the sanctuary of Demetra, supposedly by a well-aimed tile thrown by a women from the roof of a nearby house. Thus he died at age 46, having ruled Epirus for approximately 23 years. A building of white marble was raised in the marketplace to mark the spot where his body was burned, and a monument placed there with engravings of his war elephants and various instruments of war. His bones were laid to rest in the sanctuary of Demetra, which still stands, with his bronze shield hanging over the door.

Composition

The term Oscan is a generic reference to Samnites, Lucanians, and Bruttians who fought with Pyrrhus and the Tarantines against Roman expansion into southern Italy.

Not reflected in the DBA army lists, but present in Pyrrhus' armies at various points were Galatians (warband) and heavy bolt-shooters (artillery).

Enemies

The Pyrrhic enemies list includes: Illyrian (#26), Early Carthaginian (#31a), Syracusan (#34), Lysimachid (#39), Macedonian Early Successor (#40), Camillan Rome (#46a), and Polybian Rome (#46b). Missing from the list are Later Hoplite Greeks (32), representing Pyrrhus' unsuccessful campaign against Sparta.

Tactics

Similar to the army of Alexander and his successors, a Pyrrhic army requires a steady hand and experience with combined arms. The Agema knight option gives the army a killer element, while the elephant element is proof against enemy cavalry. Cavalry and light horse add mobility to the ponderous, but irresistable pike phalanx and can support the impetuous charge of the Knights. Spear, auxilia and psiloi serve to protect the flanks of the phalanx and/or to extend the line where needed.

Miniatures

To field a Pyrrhic army, you will need to select appropriate figures from Later Hoplite Greek, Macedonian and Successor, Early Italian, and/or Gallic ranges, which are available from a wide variety of manufacturers. The Essex 15mm Pyrrhic army pack, for example consists of figures from their Macedonian and Punic Wars range: 1x MPA1b (Gen.), 3x MPA14 (Kn.), 3x MPA11 (Cv.), 2x MPA15 (Lh.), 1x MEPA23 (El), 16x MPA18 (Pk), 8x MPA25 (Sp), 4x MPA29 (Ax), and 2x MPA30 (Ps).

There are two flavors of Pyrrhic army which may affect your figure selection: the Italian flavor which includes Oscan/Tarentine/Sicilian allies and the Greek flavor, which included hoplites and peltasts from allied city-states (as well as Gauls if you wish to add that option).

Other Resources

The primary historical source is Plutarch's Life of Pyrrhus.

John Warry's Warfare in the Classical World : An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Weapons, Warriors and Warfare in the Ancient Civilisations of Greece and Rome, (Univ. of Oklahoma Press, Oct. 1995), devotes a chapter to the campaigns of Pyrrhus.

Bob Beattie has published a gallery on-line of his refight of Benevenetum, using expanded DBA armies.

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Comments, questions or suggested additions to this page can be sent to Chris Brantley, brant@erols.com.

Last Updated: Sept. 27, 1999