Conquest of Southern Italy (280-264 BC)
In 285/4 BC the people of the Greek colony of Thurii on the Gulf of Taranto appealed to Rome for protection against the attacks of Lucanians and Bruttians. In 282 BC the consul 01Fabricius Luscinus (fl.284-275 BC) defeated the Lucanians and Bruttians in battle, and left a garrison at Thurii.
Fabricius’ military operations on land were apparently backed up by a small fleet of warships, which by sailing them east of the Lacinian Promontory (=Capo Colonne) the Romans had broken an old treaty with Tarentum. The Tarentines responded by attacking the Roman ships: sinking four, capturing another and scattering the rest; then marched to Thurii, captured the town and drove out the Roman garrison.
Rome sent Lucius 05Postumius Megellus to Tarentum to demand the release of all Roman captives and the handing over of all those who had committed these aggressive acts against Rome, but his demands were rejected. The following year the consul Lucius 05Aemilius Barbula was sent with an army to confront the Tarentines and their allies. Tarentum was wealthy but had no real army, so the Tarentines sent ambassadors across the Adriatic to seek military assistance from King Pyrrhus of Epirus (47; r.306-302, 297-272 BC).
• Pyrrhic War (280-275 BC)
| Battle: Heraclea | Pyrrhus/Valerius (7) | 07.280 |
| Battle: Asculum (1) | Pyrrhus/Decius (3) Mus | 279 |
| Siege: Lilybaeum | v. Pyrrhus (f) | 277 |
| Battle: Cranita Hills | Samnites/Cornelius (7) | 277 |
| Battle: Messina Strait | Carthage/Pyrrhus | 276 |
| Battle: Beneventum | Curius (1)/Pyrrhus | 275 |
In 280 BC Pyrrhus, perhaps dreaming of uniting the Italiotes (=Greeks of Southern Italy and Sicily) and building an empire for himself in the west, landed at Tarentum with 20,000 infantry, 3000 cavalry 2000 archers, 500 slingers and 20 war elephants. Learning of Pyrrhus’ arrival in Southern Italy the Romans mobilised eight legions with auxiliaries, totalling about eighty thousand soldiers, which they divided into four armies: one to defend Rome, a second under 05Aemilius Barbula to contain the Samnites and Lucanians, a third under the consul Coruncanius to contain the Etruscans, and a fourth under his colleague 07Valerius Laevinus to deal with Pyrrhus.
The two armies met near the town of Heraclea. Pyrrhus’ plan was to hold down the Roman infantry with his phalanx, while his elephants and cavalry protected his flanks but also forced the enemy’s wings and turned their flanks instead. The Romans were terrified by their first encounter with elephants, which untrained horses will not face. Their cavalry was driven back, and leaving seven thousand men on the field they fled to Venusia where Aemilius (5) was stationed. But Pyrrhus, whose resources were far more limited than those of his foe, had lost four thousand men in this ‘Pyrrhic’ victory.
He marched northwards but he found few allies. Capua and Naples shut their gates to him; Valerius (7) and Aemilius (5) hung on to his heels; the Latins remained loyal; and the army in Etruria, having finished its task, returned to block his advance. Eighty kilometres from Rome he turned back to Tarentum, while his army retired to winter quarters in Campania.
Following his ‘success’ against a Roman army, all the Greek cities in the south welcomed their deliverer. Rhegium was lost for the Romans when its Campanian garrison seized the town and made an alliance with their kinsmen and neighbours, the Mamertines (‘sons of Mamers’, the Oscan war-god), Campanian mercenaries who had seized Messana across the strait.
In the autumn Pyrrhus received a Roman embassy under 01Fabricius. Pyrrhus sent his friend Cineas back to Rome with Fabricius to offer to restore all prisoners and end the war if the Romans guaranteed Greek autonomy and withdrew from the territory of the Samnites, Lucanians and Bruttians. His terms were rejected, evidently after the censor 03Claudius Caecus had rebuked the Senate for discussing terms while a victorious enemy was still on Roman soil.
In 279 BC Pyrrhus was threatening the Roman strongholds of Luceria and Venusia in Apulia. His forces, now strengthened by contingents of Samnites and Lucanians, were about equal to the combined armies of the two consuls, 02Sulpicius Saverrio and 03Decius Mus, concentrated near Venusia in order to check Pyrrhus’ advance. The opposing armies met in Apulia near the town of Ausculum at the Aufidus River. On the flanks of their army the Romans had included anti-elephant devices – chariots fitted with long spikes meant to wound the elephants’ vulnerable legs, pots filled with flammable materials meant to frighten the elephants into retreat, and support troops who were trained to hurl pila (javelins).
The ground was rugged and unsuited to the phalanx, but Pyrrhus had created a flexible phalanx by placing the Samnites and Lucanians between the units of his phalanx. The two armies fought all day without a decision, but the next morning he seized favourable ground and gained the advantage. Near the end of the day a violent charge with the elephants in the centre scattered the Romans and Pyrrhus was once again victorious. But his losses had been terrible. When praised on his victory he said that one more such victory would undo him.
Losses among his infantrymen had been especially heavy and they were not going to be easy to replace; and although the Roman losses had been even heavier, their reserves of manpower were much deeper. Pyrrhus’ army was thus wasting away in a war of attrition he could not win.
Carthage had a huge navy; they also owned most of Sicily and feared that Pyrrhus would come to the defence of the Greek cities on the island. On learning that after two consecutive defeats the Romans were debating whether to reopen negotiations with Pyrrhus, the Carthaginians sent their admiral Mago (5) to the Romans with an offer to use its navy against Pyrrhus if Rome would continue the fight in Southern Italy.
The Romans accepted the offer but in the meantime Syracusan envoys had arrived in Tarentum offering Pyrrhus the command of the city’s war against Carthage. Pyrrhus’ wife, Larissa, was the daughter of Agathocles (72; r.317-289 BC), the former ruler of Syracuse, so their son Helenus could lay claim to his grandfather’s throne. Control of Syracuse could be a stepping stone to rule over all Sicily. The prospect of uniting the Greeks there under his leadership was too enticing and the challenges he faced in Southern Italy too daunting to deter Pyrrhus from accepting the Syracusans’ invitation.
In spring 278 BC Pyrrhus left his general Milo with a garrison at Tarentum and sailed for Sicily where the Carthaginians were besieging Syracuse. He landed at Catana and marched his army overland to the city. The Punic admiral hastily lifted the blockade because his fleet outside the harbour was in danger of being trapped between the Syracuse fleet inside the harbour and Pyrrhus’ fleet at sea. The Punic army also lifted the siege and retreated from the city. Syracuse was handed over to Pyrrhus and the other Greek cities on the island all sent envoys announcing their support.
In spring 277 BC Pyrrhus marched westwards at the head of thirty thousand infantry plus cavalry and took possession of Enna, Azonae, Selinus, Halicyae, Segesta and other towns of the interior. On the northwest coast the fortress of Mont Eryx was besieged and taken. When Panormus fell, the Carthaginians were confined to Lilybaeum on the northwest coast. A siege of the city was mounted but was broken off after three months – it was virtually impossible to take the city from the landside and Pyrrhus’ fleet was just not large enough to carry out a successful sea blockade. He now decided to attack the Carthaginians in their homeland in Africa.
Meanwhile on the mainland the Samnites having allied themselves with Pyrrhus now had to face the Romans on their own. The consuls 07Cornelius Rufinus and 02Junius Bubulcus invaded deep into Samnium territory. The Samnites retreated into the Cranita Hills, which were covered with thick shrubbery. The difficult terrain made the Romans easy prey for the Samnites, who killed and captured many Romans.
Junius went on to ravage Samnium; Rufinus punished the Lucanians and Bruttians for their insurrection; Heraclea obtained suitable terms; Rufinus captured Croton. When Tarentum was attacked she issued a desperate appeal to Pyrrhus.
In 276 BC Pyrrhus returned to Southern Italy. While crossing the Messina Strait he was caught by a Carthaginian fleet and suffered heavy losses. He landed at Locris, which still supported him; made an unsuccessful attempt to take Rhegium; fought his way through an army sent to Italy by the Mamertines; and returned to Tarentum for the winter.
In 275 BC he invaded Samnium with his main army and sent a second force to Lucania. He met the consul 01Curius Dentatus near Maleventum (later Beneventum), but failed in a night march on the Roman camp and was defeated in battle when Roman javelineers showered his elephants with missiles causing them to panic and trample their own troops. His second army, which included his Lucanian allies, was defeated by the other consul 09Cornelius Lentulus.
Pyrrhus abandoned his campaign soon thereafter and returned to Epirus leaving his son Helenus and his general Milo to hold Tarentum for him if he decided to return. Three years later Pyrrhus was killed during a streetfight in Argos by a tile thrown from a housetop.
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