chapter vii8x11nowatermark

8/6/2019 Chapter VII8x11nowatermark

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Chapter VII

Pyrrhus of Epirus and Defensive Imperialism

Enter Pyrrhus, Stage Right

With the death of Alexander the Great, and the subsequent 40-year war of succession,

Rome was granted the breathing room needed to emerge with a vengeance from the sacking of

390 BC. Fear of attack from neighboring city-states on every border drove Romes expansion

ever outward, in a form ofwhat historians call defensive imperialism. In other words, better

to attack those now, who would only attack you later. To echo the later Roman historian

Vegetius, si vis pacem, parare bellum, if you want peace, then prepare for war. Rome became

an almost accidental empire, driven by

the fear instilled by the Gallic

destruction of the city. Rome,

however, usually practiced tolerance

and assimilation of her defeated

subjects, preferring to make them into

new and useful allies from whom she

could draw troops and supplies to

further fuel her legions. Unlike her

imperial history to follow, Rome did

not levy tribute on Italian cities that

were conquered.1

A system of

founding colonies in conquered

territory, populated by Roman citizens

and her soldiery, helped to spread

Roman influence further and further

south in the Italian peninsula.

1A tribute is a tax on conquered peoples.


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Meanwhile, Etruscan power was waning north of the Tiber River, as their territory was

squeezed on both their northern and southern borders. In the south they were being

conquered and absorbed by Rome, while in the north the Gauls descended out of the Alps and

south of the Po Valley to raid their city-states.

The Apennine Mountains divide Rome from Italys eastern coast, which meant she

naturally expanded up and down the west coast into the heavily Geek influenced part of

Southern Italy, and into the Etruscan north. Conflicts with the Samnites of central Italy during

the 4th

century brought Roman influence further and further south, eventually bringing their

expansion to the Bay of Naples and other neighboring Greek city-states.By the time the Samnite Wars (343-290 BC) were over for Rome, Alexanders empire was

already broken into the three major divisions: the Ptolemaic pharaohs in Egypt, the Antigonid

Empire in Greece, and the Seleucid Empire in Persia. To the west of Egypt, Carthage controlled

the North African coast, and was waging war with the troublesome Greek city of Syracuse in

Sicily, which refused to submit to Carthaginian rule of the island. Spain and northern Europe


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were filled with small but powerful tribes of Celtic2

and Germanic peoples, which often

mistrusted each other and were in a constant state of war. Such was the state of the

Mediterranean world at the start of the 3rd

century BC. It was at this time that Romes influence

came in contact with the powerful southern Greek city of Tarentum.

Located on the inner heel of Italy along the northern shore of the Bay of Tarentum, this

Greek city-state was a powerful merchant and naval power in Southern Italy. In 282 BC, the

conflict with Tarentum started when Rome came to the aid of another Greek city-state, Thurii,

which was being attacked by a neighboring city.

The Romans sent troops and a handful of ships to the Bay of Tarentum in response. However,

they were never to sail into those waters, which were the exclusive domain of Tarentum. The

Roman ships were quickly sunk by the superior Greek warships, and this escalated to a state of

war with the Tarentines. Feeling threatened by the proximity of Romes power, Tarentum called

upon those Greeks back home across the Ionian Sea to aid her against this upstart Italian hill

tribe which now threatened Greek independence.

2Celts and Gauls are the same people, and the names are often interchanged. It was Julius Caesar who

stated that the word Celts is of Greek origin, while the Romans called the same people Gauls.


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The general who answered Tarentums call for help

was Pyrrhus of Epirus, a competent and skillful general who

saw an opportunity to expand his kingdom into Italy, while

veiling it in the role of a protector of Greek independence.

There was no Greek power in Italy itself that could stand up

to the Roman expansion, so all hope was put in Pyrrhus and

his army. While some cities like Thurii were friendly to

Rome, there were very few Greeks in Southern Italy who saw

Pyrrhus as a greater threat than Rome.

Questions and Reflection1. When has the Kingdom of Epirus been discussed before?2. Looking back at the map on page ***, why did the Etruscans, Romans and Greeks not spread east

in Italy?

3. What is the name of the Greek city-state that asked Pyrrhus for help?Reflection Essay

1. Is there a time in American history that weve acted with defensive imperialism, and if so, is itjustified? Why?

The Roman army of the Middle Republic

In 280 BC Pyrrhus arrived in Italy at the head of an

army that Rome had never before encountered; a force of

highly trained Greek phalangites and a host of war elephants.

However, the Roman army that Pyrrhus faced no longer

resembled the Greek style hoplites that it started as back

during the 8th century. In all the years that Rome had waged

war, her army had evolved. Starting out as a characteristically

Greek phalanx of soldiers equipped with a round shield,

spear, helmet, and sword, the Roman army had evolved over

the three centuries since the creation of the Roman Republic.


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The old-style phalanx was not effective when the Romans expanded into the mountainous

terrain of central Italy against the Samnites in the 4th

century. It was a simple fact: a phalanx

had extreme difficulty when it moved over anything but flat terrain. As it has been noted,

Alexander and his phalanx had difficulty just getting over a riverbank and maintaining a solid line

of soldiers at the Battle of Issus in 333 BC. The old, solid line of soldiers locked shield-to-shield

cannot by its very nature maintain cohesion when fighting uphill. Therefore, in what would

become a hallmark of Roman warfare, the Romans adapted their army to be more mobile. They

formed their army, called a legion, into three lines of infantry, with each line broken down into

sub-units of men called maniples. In Latin, the word manus means hand, so in essence these

were handfuls of men, usually 120 strong each, while a legion at full strength numbered

around 4,800 men.

In the very front of the army the Romans would have velites, short-range skirmishersequipped with various light weapons. These could be dislodged against an enemy, and the

velites could retreat behind the army for safety. A couple hundred cavalry held the flanks, with

the main infantry in the center. Each maniple had enough space between another maniple to

allow the lines to move through each other, giving the Roman army the look of a checkerboard

formation. This was done to allow a battle line, if needed, to retire in good order back behind

the safety of fresh troops. This gave the legions something that the phalanx did not have:

flexibility.

The first line of Roman heavy infantry was called the hastati, and represented the newer

units, who had seen some battle, but were the most raw and least experienced battle line. If

the fight was beyond the hastati, they fell back through the gaps in the line, letting the second

line take over the fight. In fact, the Romans typically used the hastatito exhaust an enemys

strength, so they could hit them with their second line, which would be fresh for the fight. This

second line was called theprincipes, and was comprised of soldiers who had seen some

experience in battle. Theywere the core of the Roman army, and represented the seasoned

soldier, who was usually in his mid-twenties. However, even they might break in the face of a

tough opponent. If the Roman army needed to retreat from the battlefield, they relied on the

third line to step forward and protect the army from a rout and potential disaster. An army that

could not maintain order could easily turn a retreat into a rout. Then, in full flight, the fleeing

troops could be hunted down by an enemys cavalry and suffer terrible losses, since soldiers

tend to throw away their weapons in the panic of flight. For that reason, the Roman third line,


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called the triarii, was equipped differently than that of the first two lines. The hastatiand

principes had both spear and sword, with the spear (pilum) roughly 6-8 feet in length and meant

to be thrown en masse at the enemy. Instead, the triariihad longer spears, which were used in

a manner similar to the Macedonian phalanx. Composed of the most experienced veterans of

the Roman army, the soldiers of the triariiwere expected to save a legion if it faced potential

defeat. Calm and cool under pressure, the older soldiers of the triariiwould protect the rear of

a retreating legion. The Roman expression ad triarios redisse (it has come to the triarii)

became synonymous with a desperate situation. This was the Roman army that Pyrrhus of

Epirus faced in 280 BC.

Questions and Reflection

4. What are the names of the three Roman lines of an army?5. Which line was expected to win a normal Roman engagement?6. What is a maniple?Reflection Essay

2. Why did the Roman army look different when they faced Pyrrhus, when in the beginning theylooked the same as a Greek army?


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First Engagement: Heraclea

Pyrrhus and his army landed on Italian soil

with the public message that he was coming to the

aid of his Greek cousins in Southern Italy, however,

he saw the chance to expand his power westward

from Epirus. His army consisted of about 20,000

phalangites, 3,000 cavalry and even 20 war

elephants. Pyrrhus brought with him knowledge of

phalanx warfare perfected generations before by

Alexander the Great. It is commonly mistaken that the first time the Romans encountered

elephants was during the Second Punic War against Hannibal in 218 BC, but it was actually sixty-

six years before when Pyrrhus brought his Hellenistic army to Italy. The Tarentines had invited

Pyrrhus to come to their aid, but soon found out, to their dismay, that Pyrrhus was more

interested in securing a position of power in Southern Italy than crusading Greek independence

from Rome. Nonetheless, Rome presented the more immediate and barbaric invader to the

Italic Greeks, and they threw their support to Pyrrhus.

The two armies first met at the Battle of Heraclea which was along the western shore of

the Bay of Tarentum. This was the first time that the Romans faced off against three things:

elephants, a Greek phalanx, and most importantlya Greek general. This was not some local

Latin or Samnite hill tribe, nor some invading mass of Gauls, but a true professional army the

Romans faced.

The two armies met and joined battle on the banks of the River Siris near the town of

Heraclea. Pyrrhus drew up his army, seeing the Romans open the battle with their velites. He

charged the Roman cavalry with his Macedonian and Thessalian contingents, and drove them

off the battlefield. In the center of the battle, Pyrrhus Epriote phalanx tried to push its way

through the massed Roman infantry, but could not break through its ranks. For the Romans,

things were worse and already getting desperate. Seven times the Roman lines charged the

phalanx, but every time they were hurtled back. Fear or folly drove the Roman legionaries to try

and roll under the phalangite spears, vainly trying to grab the Greek sarissae. Once the Romans

threw their spears, they only had their short swords to use against the much longer Greek

spears. It proved lethally useless and the Roman maniples buckled.


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In a manner similar to Alexander and other Greek generals, Pyrrhus wore armor that

made him easily recognizable on the battlefield. Curiously, he took off that armor and gave it to

a bodyguard to wear, who was unfortunately cut down by the Romans soon thereafter. The

Romans cheered, and rallied, thinking Pyrrhus had fallen in battle. Seeing his men beginning to

panic, Pyrrhus rode down the Greek line, cheering his men on and reassuring them he was alive

after all.3

At this point in the battle the Roman cavalry had rallied and returned to the battlefield,

and was pressing in on Pyrrhus flanks. Seeing the decisive moment, Pyrrhus played his trump

card: his elephants, which he had kept in reserve until this key moment. The Roman horses

panicked at the sight and smell of the elephants, which threw the whole of the Roman army into

confusion, routing them from the battlefield. Pyrrhus ordered his cavalry to pursue and cut

down the retreating Romans, further exacerbating their defeat. The Romans left an estimated10,000 dead on the battlefield, while Pyrrhus had only slightly less. It was a victory for Pyrrhus

and his army, but in that victory was sown the seeds for his ultimate defeat.

The Battle of Ausculum

The term Pyrrhic Victory means that, while you might be victorious against an enemy,

the enemy did such damage to your own army that you are unable to exploit it and ultimately

will lose the war. This was going to be the case for Pyrrhus, who after the Battle of Heraclea,

continued further north into Apulia, and in 279 BC met the Romans again at the Battle of

Ausculum.

Led by both consuls, Publius Decius Mus (the Mouse) and Publius Sulpicius Saverrio,

the Romans fought a hard, two-day battle against Pyrrhus. Both sides had roughly 40,000

infantry and cavalry, while Pyrrhus also now had Tarentines and Samnites, who saw in this

foreign invader a chance to overthrown their recent Roman oppressors. Having had time to

prepare for this battle, the Romans had anti-elephant countermeasures ready: ox-led chariots

with long spears, skirmishers with spears to throw at the elephants, and pots filled with burning

pitch to hopefully scare them. As the battle progressed that first day, both sides suffered losses.

3We do not know the motivation for this move by Pyrrhus. The Romans would site cowardice, but that

seems unlikely.


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The Romans had one of their four legions routed along with their Latin allies, while for Pyrrhus

the Tarentines and Epriotes in the center had to fall back. Retreating to a nearby hill, the

Romans broke off their attack, while Pyrrhus himself retreated to deal with an attack on his own

camp, which was promptly crushed. Both sides spent a wary night encamped on nearby hills for

protection.

At dawn on the second day, both sides renewed the battle on an open plain between

the two hills. The battles outcome was in doubt until Pyrrhus, as he had done at Heraclea,

seized the opportunity to use his elephants, which once again broke through the Roman line.

The Roman anti-elephant countermeasures worked briefly, until Epriote skirmishers destroyed

the ox-led chariots. The elephants charged once again and broke completely through the

Roman line. At the same time Pyrrhus ordered his Royal Cavalry Guard to charge the Roman

line. Overrun, the Romans fled the field, and the consul Publius Mus lay dead.

4

Whilevictorious, Pyrrhus lost about 4,000 menmany of them his officers, while the Romans lost

nearly 6,500. It was at this time that Pyrrhus famously said, One more such victory and we

shall be undone. This was the origin of the phrase Pyrrhic Victory, since Pyrrhus decided to

seek a new opportunity than the conquest of Italy. That opportunity would be Sicily.

4The Publius Decius Mus family had a record of dying on the battlefield; his grandfather (same name and

also a consul), pledged his life to the gods if his army would be victorious against the Latins in 340 BC. His

father (also a consul and also the same name) made an identical devotio and also died in battle against the

Samnites in 312 BC.


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On to Sicily

At this point Pyrrhus tried to negotiate a truce with Rome, asking only for Tarentine

independence, but was offer was rebuffed by the Senate. Led by the aged and blind former

consul Appius Claudius Caecus, creator the first Roman highway and aqueduct (the Via Appia

and Aqua Appia), the Senate turned down any offer from Pyrrhus and vowed to continue the

war5. Pyrrhus, seeing a lack of any strong allies in southern Italy, decided to change opponents

and aid the Greek city of Syracuse in Sicily against the powerful city-state of Carthage, which had

been trying for centuries to subjugate the entire island. Carthage, located in North Africa, saw

Syracuse as the only real Greek threat left on the island of Sicily.

5Ironically, Rome formed a military alliance with Carthage. In an attempt to aid Rome, Carthaginian ships

sailed up the Tiber, only to be sent back to Carthage with the polite refusal for any direct help on Italian

soil. Never again would a Carthaginian ship come so close to Rome.


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Landing his forces successfully in Sicily in 278 BC, Pyrrhus drove off the Carthaginians

from their siege of Syracuse and forced them back to the western port city of Lilybaeum. He

then proclaimed himself king of Sicily and captured the Carthaginian stronghold of Mt. Eryx the

following year.6

The only city in Sicily left for Carthage was Lilybaeum, and Pyrrhus began peace

negotiations with the Carthaginians. Pyrrhus knew the siege of Lilybaeum would be costly, so he

thought a peace accord would be the wiser course of action. The Sicilian Greeks were not

pleased that Carthage still had a port city in Sicily, and the peace process broke down. The

Sicilian Greeks pushed Pyrrhus to lay siege to Lilybaeum. He then demanded manpower and

money from his Sicilian allies in order to throw Carthage out, but his measures became so

unpopular that he lost Greek support, which prompted the Sicilians to shockingly side with

Carthage against Pyrrhus. Another Carthaginian army was sent to exploit the situation, but

Pyrrhus promptly defeated it. The situation in Sicily became poisonous for Pyrrhus, and it was at

this time that he received word that the Tarentines were in desperate situation. They were

about to be defeated by the Romans, so Pyrrhus decided to go back to Italy with his army and

aid them in their conflict.

66Pyrrhus was also given the choice to become king of Macedonia, whose king was killed in 279 when the

Gauls invaded Greece and sacked Delphi. He thought the better opportunity lay in Sicily and Italy for he

and his sons.


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The Battle of Beneventum

Having given up on Sicily and returned to Italy, in 275 BC Pyrrhus met the Romans at the

town of Maleventum (literally evil wind) and was defeated. In the three years that Pyrrhus was

in Sicily, the Romans had called up thousands of recruits and had been training fresh legions. At

the Battle of Beneventum, Pyrrhus designs for the conquest of Italy were forever stopped by

the more numerous Roman forces.

For their good fortune, the Romans changed the name of the town from Maleventum to

Beneventum (good wind), which still retains its ancient name to this day: Benevento. Pyrrhus

had lost two-thirds of his army by this point in the campaign, and after retreating to Tarentum,

decided to go back to Greece.

Leaving Italy, he famously prophesized, Oh, what a battlefield I am leaving for Carthage

and Rome! That battlefield would be Sicily, the natural convergence point for these two great

expanding powers of the western Mediterranean. Pyrrhus knew that the Greeks in Southern

Italy would fall under Roman dominance, while the Carthaginian expansion in Sicily would now

continue. Sicily would be the future conflict of Rome and Carthage.

Pyrrhus returned to Greece and took the city of Argos, where he was killed. As he was

going through the defeated city, an old woman threw a roof tile down upon his head, knocking

him from his horse. Standing nearby was an enemy soldier, hidden in the crowd. The Argive

drew his sword and slew the great commander where he had fallen in the street. Pyrrhus was


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46 years old. With the death of Pyrrhus, there was no further aid that would be coming to the

Greek city-states of Southern Italythey were now on their own to face Rome. Within the next

few years, Roman forces dominated Italy from the northern regions all the way down to the tip

of the boot. There, across the narrow Straits of Messina lay the fertile plains of Sicily, the

powerful city of Syracuse and the expanding power of Carthage. As a sign of Roman pre-

eminence, the Ptolemaic pharaohs of Egypt officially recognized Rome as a power by opening an

embassy and dialogue between them. Rome had now thrust herself onto the world stage.

In this photo, from the Sicilian port of Messina, Sicilys tip of land (back left) extends to the Strait of

Messina towards Italy (back right). Less than two miles apart separate Italy from Sicily at this point.

Questions and Reflection

7. What is a Pyrrhic Victory?8. What prompted Pyrrhus to give up in Italy the first time?9. What was the only Carthaginian stronghold left in Sicily after Pyrrhus invasion?10. What made Greek support fall away from Pyrrhus in Sicily?11. What was the original name of the Roman town of Beneventum?Reflection Essay

3. Thinking back on Pyrrhus and his generalship, what would your opinion of him be? Would youclassify him as a successful general?

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