Pyrrhic Victories and the Rise of Rome

Tarentum was a wealthy and colorful Greek city located in the "sole" of Italy. The people there spent their days watching plays, drinking wine, and debating philosophy. When they saw Roman ships in their waters, they saw it as an attack on their freedom. They wondered what these "barbarians" could teach them.

They sent a message to Greece for help. And the one who came to their aid was no ordinary king.

He was Pyrrhus of Epirus.

Pyrrhus was a relative of Alexander the Great and considered himself a "second Alexander." He brought more than just swords to defeat Rome; he brought something the land of Italy had never seen before.

He loaded his ships with 20 African war elephants.

280 BC.  The plains of Heraclea.

On one side was the Roman army, which had until then only fought Italian tribes. On the other side was the professional Greek army of Piraeus, adept at forming phalanxes (walls of long spears).

When the battle began, the Romans bravely faced the Greek phalanxes. Swords clashed with spears. The situation seemed evenly matched.

Then Piraeus played his trump card: he sent the elephants forward.

Just imagine the plight of the Roman soldiers, who had never seen elephants before. They saw these "walking mountains" approaching them, their long trunks moving like snakes and topped with howdahs, from which arrows rained down. When the Roman horses smelled the strange scent of these animals and heard their bellowing, they went mad. The cavalry scattered.  Foot soldiers were crushed under the feet of these "monsters." The Romans called them "Lucanian Cows" because they couldn't understand what they were.

Rome was defeated. utterly defeated. Pirus was victorious.

But when Pirus went to see the dead Roman soldiers on the battlefield, he was astonished. Every single Roman soldier had wounds on their chest, not on their back. This meant that no one had fled; everyone had died fighting. Pirus said, "If I had soldiers like these, I would have conquered the whole world."

Pirus thought Rome would be scared now. He sent his most cunning envoy, Cineas, to Rome. Cineas was a master of words. He went to the Roman Senate and said, "We don't want to fight you. Just spare our Greek cities, and we'll become friends."

The Senate was terrified. The fear of the elephants was still fresh. They were about to sign a treaty.

Just then, there was a commotion at the Senate door. A very old and blind man was carried in on the shoulders of his sons and sons-in-law. He was none other than Appius Claudius, the man who had built the Appian Way.

He was blind, but his mind was as sharp as a hawk. He thundered at the Senate:"Until today, I regretted being blind. But seeing your cowardice today, I wish I were deaf! Rome never talks to a foreign enemy as long as he stands with his army on Italian soil. Tell him to leave first, then we'll talk!"

The old man's voice awakened the sleeping lion. The Senate sent Cineas back empty-handed. Cineas went back and told Piraeus, "Your Majesty, Rome is no ordinary city. Their Senate seems to be the Assembly of Kings. They will not bow down."

The next year (279 BC), war broke out again.  The Battle of Asculum.

Pyrus won again. Rome lost again. But this time, a large portion of Pirus's army was killed. His best commanders and friends were killed.

When one of his soldiers congratulated him on his victory, Pirus said sadly:"If we win another such battle against the Romans, we will be utterly ruined."

This is where the famous phrase in history—"Pyrrhic Victory"—was coined. That is, a victory in which the losses are so severe that it is tantamount to defeat.

Piras understood that Rome was like a Hydra—if you cut off one head, two more would grow. Tired, he fled to Sicily. He returned a few years later, but by then the Romans had learned to fight elephants. They threw fireballs to scare them away.

In 275 BC, Rome defeated Piras at the Battle of Beneventum. The "second Alexander" packed up and fled back to Greece.

As he departed, Piras looked out over Italy and Sicily from his ship and made a prophecy. He said:"Ah! What a magnificent wrestling ground we are leaving behind for Rome and Carthage to fight."

Piras's prophecy was about to come true. Rome now owned all of Italy. From the mountains of the north to the seas of the south, only one law prevailed—Roman law.

But Rome's hunger was far from satiated. Look at the map of Italy. It resembles a shoe kicking a 'football'. That football is the island of Sicily.

Sicily was a very fertile and wealthy place. But another superpower had its eyes on it. This superpower was older than Rome, richer than Rome, and far more powerful than Rome. It was the queen of the sea.

Its name was Carthage.

Carthage was a city located in North Africa (present-day Tunisia). They had the world's largest navy. Rome had an army, but they didn't even have a decent fishing boat. The Romans couldn't even swim, while the people of Carthage were born in the sea.

Now the greatest clash in world history was about to take place. A battle between elephants and whales. A battle between land and sea.

Rome and Carthage

This war began with a very small matter. There were some mercenaries in Sicily who called themselves the Mamertines, or the "Sons of Mars." They captured a city and ran into trouble. They first sought help from Carthage, then from Rome.

Rome knew that if Carthage invaded Sicily, it would knock on Italy's door. Rome had two choices—either sit quietly, or fight the superpower that ruled the seas.

Rome did what it always did—it decided to fight. But there was a problem. Rome did not have warships. Carthage had huge ships called quinqueremes, which were rowed by oars in five rows. These were sea tanks.

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