Epirus: Pyrrhus, the great general

The Molossians were a Greek tribe of ancient Epirus. They claimed to be ancestors of Neoptolemus, son of Achilles and Hector’s wife Andromache. According to Greek mythology, following the sack of Troy, Neoptolemus and his armies settled in Epirus where they joined the local Dorian Greek population and displaced the barbarian tribes to the North. Molossians take their name after one of the sons of Neoptolemus and Ancromache that was called Molossus. He inherited the kingdom of Epirus after the death of Helenus. Olympias, the mother of Alexander the Great, was a Molossian princess. The most famous Molossian was Pyrrhus, a cousin of Alexander.

The shrine of Dodona was the oldest Hellenic oracle, perhaps as early as the second millennium BC. Priests and priestesses in the sacred grove interpreted the rustling of the oak (or beech) leaves to determine the correct actions to be taken. In the third century BC, King Pyrrhus grandly rebuilt the Temple of Zeus, and added many other buildings and a festival featuring athletic games, musical contests, and drama enacted in a big theatre. A wall was built around the oracle itself and the holy tree, as well as temples to Heracles and Dione.

After 14 years in Italy Pyrrhus embarked at Locri and returned to Greece, defeated. Before departing he stole the treasures of Proserpina, the Goddess, and in revenge against him she stirred up a storm that brought the ship and its cargo to the shore near the Cape of Bruzzano.

The Greek name Epirus signifies “mainland” or “continent”, and was originally applied to the whole coast south to the Corinthian Gulf. Epirus was settled by Greeks early in the first millennium BC but remained a frontier area contested with the Illyrian peoples of the Adriatic coast.
Epirus was ruled from the 6th century by a dynasty, the Molossians.The main importance of Epirus to the Greek cities (polis) was that it was the location of the shrine and the oracle at Dodona, second in importance only to the oracle at Delphi. Arymbas II was a respected figure in the ancient world, and his niece, Olympias, married Philip II of Macedon and was the mother of Alexander the Great. On the death of Arymbas, Alexander succeeded the throne and the title King of Epirus. Aeacides, 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.Pyrrhus childhood and youth went past in unquiet conditions. He was only two years old when his father was dethroned and the family had to repair with Glaukias, king of Illyria. Later the Epirotes called him back, but he was dethroned again at the age of 17 when he left his kingdom to attend a wedding. In wars of the diadochi Pyrrhus fought beside his brother-in-law Demetrius I of Macedon in battle of Ipsus (301 BC). Later, he become hostage of Ptolemy I of Egypt in treaty between Ptolemy I and Demetrius. Pyrrhus married Ptolemy’s I stepdaughter Antigone and in 297 BC restored his kingdom of Epirus. Next, he went to war against his former ally, Demetrius. By 286 BC he had deposed his former brother-in-law and took control over the Kingdom of Macedonia. Pyrrhus was driven out of Macedonia by Lysimachus, his former ally, in 284 BC.In 281 the Greek city of Tarentum, in southern Italy, fell out with Rome, and was faced with a Roman attack and certain defeat. Rome had already made itself into a major power, and poised to subdue all the Greek cities in Magna Graecia or Southern Italy. The Tarentines begged Pyrrhus to intervene and save them from Roman conquest. Pyrrhus was encouraged to aid the Tarentines by an oracle from Delphi. He made an alliance with Ptolemy Ceraunus, King of Macedon and his most powerful neighbor, and arrived in Italy in 280 BC. He defeated in battle of Heraclea the Romans. Several tribes (the Lucanians, Bruttians, and Messapians) and the Greek cities of Croton and Locri joined Pyrrhus. He then offered Romans a peace treaty, which was rejected. When Pyrrhus invaded Apulia (279 BC), the two armies met in the Battle of Asculum where Pyrrhus won a very costly victory. The Romans had lost 6,000 men and Pyrrhus 3,500.
In 278, Pyrrhus received two offers simultaneously. The Greek cities in Sicily asked him to come and drive out Carthage. At the same time, the Macedonians, whose King Ceraunus had been killed by invading Gauls, asked Pyrrhus to ascend the throne of Macedon. Pyrrhus decided that Sicily offered him a greater opportunity, and transferred his army there.
Pyrrhus was proclaimed king of Sicily. In 276, Pyrrhus negotiated with the Carthaginians. Although they were inclined to come to terms with Pyrrhus, supply him money and send him ships once friendly relations were established, he demanded that Carthage abandon all Sicily and make the Libyan Sea a boundary between themselves and the Greeks. 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 another battle, he was forced to abandon Sicily and return to Italy.When he returned, he fought a last inconclusive battle at Beneventum (275 BC) in southern Italy. This time there was not even a “pyrrhic” victory. Pyrrhus abandoned the campaign in Italy and returned to Epirus. Though his western campaign had taken a heavy toll on his army as well as his treasury, Pyrrhus yet again went to war. Attacking King Antigonus II Gonatas he won an easy victory and seized the Macedonian throne. In 272 he was immediately offered an opportunity to intervene in a civic dispute in Argos. Entering the city with his army by stealth, he found himself caught in a confused battle in the narrow city streets. During the confusion, an old woman watching from a rooftop threw a roofing tile which stunned him, allowing an Argive soldier to kill him .While he was a mercurial and often restless leader, and not always a wise king, he was considered one of the greatest military commanders of his time, ranked by Hannibal himself to be the second greatest commander the world had seen after Alexander the Great. Pyrrhus was also known to be very benevolent. As a general, Pyrrhus’ greatest political weaknesses were the failure to maintain focus and the failure to maintain a strong treasury at home (many of his soldiers were costly mercenaries).His name is famous for the phrase “Pyrrhic victory” which refers to an exchange after the Battle of Asculum. In response to congratulations for winning a costly victory over the Romans, he is reported to have said: “One more such victory and I shall be lost!”