Poor Pyrrhus and the Pot

I came across a hilarious story in Romans For Dummies today, and I thought I'd share it.  This is one you should read, even if you're not that interested in the history of it.  It just goes to show how history can be turned around by remarkably trivial events.

After the Third Samnite War, the Romans were just realizing how much they could accomplish and set out on a campaign to snatch up the rest of Italy.  The wealthiest and most powerful Greek colony of the time was Tarentum (modern Taranto) located in Magna Graecia ("Great Greece"), or southern Italy.  The Romans were already dealing with the ongoing fights against Gauls and Etruscans and asked for some compensation, rather than pursue an all-out fight agains the colony.  The Tarentines threw that out!

They were actually a little overconfident, because they had hired King Pyrrhus of Epirus (below), considered by many the greatest Greek soldier of the day.  He showed up with a force of 25,000, which was a very bad day at the office for Romans.  This little show of intimidation was meant to scare off Rome's allies, and thus greaten their odds.  The Romans, too, were a little arrogant and still thought they could overcome Pyrrhus and Tarentum.

Pyrrhus, at the time it appears, was duly confident.  He defeated the Romans in 280 BC at Heraclea first, after which he gained the loyalty of the ex-Roman allies, the Lucanians and the Samnites, who, as it were, just finished losing three consecutive wars to Rome (they had been forced to contribute to the Roman army after their final defeat) and were just edging for a chance to get their revenge, and this chance showed up under the crest of Pyrrhus.

In 279 BC, Pyrrhus beat the Romans at Asculum, but it was a hard-won victory.  Pyrrhus, who had been a rising sun to the enslaved tribes of Rome, decided that completely destroying Rome would take far too long and cost too many lives.  It was such a difficult success he is quoted for saying, “another victory like that, and we’re done for!”  Nowadays the term “Pyrrhic victory” means any success wom at such a high cost it wasn’t worth it.  He offered peace!

Now, you would think it would be wise for the Senate to accept peace after such humiliating losses to a Greek colony!  Well they had done a little advertising themselves and had increased their numbers by a few generous gifts of ship and money from Carthage, who they’d later try to take over (returning the favor I guess? (it’s the Roman way!)) in the Punic Wars.

So Pyrrhus set off to attack the Carthaginians, but while he was gone Rome began to crush his Samnite and Lucanian allies (it was a series of battles sometimes known as the Fourth Samnite War).  In 276, it was looking too good for Pyrrhus and friends, so he retreated back to Italy only to be roundly defeated by the Romans dangerously close to Rome!

Pyrrhus fled home and was killed two years later when a pot chucked out an upper-floor window fell on his head and killed him.  Ouch.  So, with Pyrrhus out of the picture the way to Tarentum was open to the Romans and they finally captured it in 272 BC.

Had Pyrrhus lived he would have certainly been a gathering point for the enemies of Rome, and undoubtedly would have raised another army.  Possibly defeating Rome completely this time.  None of us would ever have heard of Julius Caesar, and the fall of Rome would’ve been the fall of Greece in Italy.  All of that because someone chose a bad time to do their pot-chucking.

Tags: Life, History, Hubris, Trivialities