Pyrrhus of Epirus

Name and mythological ancestry

The name Pyrrhus represents the Latinized form of the Greek Pyrrhos, meaning flame-like, fiery, or red-colored.^[2][3][10] Philological analyses trace the root to the Greek noun pyr, meaning fire, combined with the adjectival suffix -ros, denoting quality or pertaining to.^[10][11] In antiquity the name was applied to individuals with flame-colored or red hair.^[12] Mythologically, Pyrrhos was an alternate designation for Neoptolemus, the son of Achilles and the princess Deidamia, who according to Homeric and post-Homeric tradition founded the ruling house of the Molossians in Epirus following the sack of Troy.^[10][11][13]

The royal dynasty of the Aeacidae claimed direct patrilineal descent from Achilles through Neoptolemus and Helenus of Troy.^[13][14][15] Plutarch records that the earliest kings of this lineage had declined into barbarism before classical-era reforms reintroduced Hellenic institutions and laws to the region.^[13] King Aeacides reinforced these heroic affinities by naming his daughters Deidamia and Troias and his son Pyrrhus.^[13][16] On his maternal side, Pyrrhus was the son of Phthia, a noblewoman of Pharsalus in Thessaly, whose father Menon had distinguished himself as a cavalry general during the Lamian War against Macedonian hegemony.^[2][5][13] Aeacides was a cousin of Olympias, the mother of Alexander the Great, making Pyrrhus a second cousin to the Macedonian conqueror.^[5][13]

Early life and first reign

In 319 or 318 BC, Arrybas, the regent and king of Epirus, died, leaving the kingdom under the joint rule of Aeacides and Neoptolemus II.^[5] Aeacides aligned himself with Olympias in the dynastic conflicts that followed the death of Alexander the Great.^[13] In 317 BC, when Pyrrhus was two years old, Aeacides marched on Macedon a second time to support Olympias in her fight against Cassander..^[17] Many of his soldiers disliked the service and mutinied, and Aeacides released them from his army..^[17] These discharged troops returned to Epirus and instigated a rebellion against the absent sovereign, deposing Aeacides and murdering his remaining supporters in the capital, Passaron.^[18]

During the uprising, loyal retainers Androclides and Angelus smuggled the infant prince out of the palace under cover of darkness.^[18][19][20] Pursued toward the northern border, the fleeing party reached a swollen river whose roar prevented their shouts from reaching inhabitants on the opposite bank.^[19] A servant peeled a strip of bark, scratched a message pleading for rescue, wrapped it around a stone, and hurled it across the current.^[19] The local villagers felled trees to construct a makeshift raft and ferry the refugees across.^[19] The first man to lift the child onto the safe bank was named Achilles, which onlookers interpreted as an auspicious omen.^[19]

The party sought refuge at the court of Glaucias, king of the Illyrian Taulantians.^[17][19][21] According to ancient accounts, Glaucias hesitated, weighing the diplomatic danger of harboring an enemy of Cassander, until the infant crawled to the king's knees, clutched his mantle, and stood up while weeping.^[21][22] In an alternative version, the child clung to a domestic altar.^[22] Glaucias entrusted Pyrrhus to his wife Beroea, herself a Molossian of the royal Aeacid house, who raised him alongside their own children.^[21][22][23] When Cassander marched against Glaucias, took Apollonia, and offered a bribe of two hundred talents for the boy, Glaucias refused to surrender him.^{[21][22][24][25]} In 313 BC, Aeacides attempted to reclaim his throne but was defeated in two battles by Cassander's brother Philip, dying of wounds sustained in the second engagement.^[24]

In 307 BC, following the assassination of King Alcetas II, Glaucias invaded Epirus and restored the twelve-year-old Pyrrhus to his ancestral throne.^[22][26][27] Because of his youth, appointed regents administered the kingdom.^[26] In 303 BC, the Epirote court formed an alliance with the Antigonids by giving Pyrrhus's sister Deidamia in marriage to Demetrius Poliorcetes, then campaigning in southern Greece.^[28][29] In 302 BC, when Pyrrhus was seventeen, he journeyed to Illyria to attend the wedding of one of Glaucias's sons.^[30][31][32] While he was away, political opponents in Epirus seized the royal treasury, expelled his partisans, and restored Neoptolemus II to the throne.^[30][31][32]

Exile and the Wars of the Diadochi

Deprived of his kingdom and unable to secure aid from Glaucias, Pyrrhus joined his brother-in-law Demetrius Poliorcetes in the Peloponnese.^[30][32][33] He accompanied Demetrius to north-western Asia Minor during the winter of 302/301 BC to reinforce Antigonus I Monophthalmus against the hostile coalition of Cassander, Lysimachus, Seleucus I Nicator, and Ptolemy I Soter.^[31][32][34] At the Battle of Ipsus in Phrygia in 301 BC, Pyrrhus fought on the right wing under Demetrius's command.^[32][35][36] Plutarch records that the young prince distinguished himself for personal bravery, routing the opposing cavalry force facing his sector.^[35][36] However, Seleucus used a corps of four hundred war elephants to cut off Demetrius's returning cavalry, allowing the coalition to defeat Antigonus, who was slain.^[35][36][37] Demetrius escaped to Ephesus with 9,000 men, and Pyrrhus remained in his service.^[35][36][37]

Following Ipsus, Demetrius entrusted Pyrrhus with the governorship of his remaining garrisons in southern Greece, including posts in Argolis, Arcadia, and Achaea.^[25][31] In approximately 299 or 298 BC, Demetrius negotiated a temporary rapprochement with Ptolemy I Soter of Egypt, which was sealed by the dispatch of Pyrrhus to Alexandria as a high-ranking diplomatic hostage.^[31][32][38] In Egypt, Pyrrhus made a favorable impression on the court through athletic prowess in the gymnasium and skill during royal hunts.^[25][32][39] Recognizing the royal couple's dynamics, he cultivated the patronage of Queen Berenice I.^[32] In 299 or 298 BC, Berenice chose Pyrrhus from among several foreign princes to marry Antigone, her daughter from a previous union with the Macedonian nobleman Philip.^[31][32][38]

Following the death of Cassander in 297 BC, Ptolemy sought to establish a reliable counterbalance to Antigonid influence in mainland Greece.^[38][40] Furnished with financial subsidies, ships, and mercenary soldiers by the Egyptian monarch, Pyrrhus sailed to Epirus in 297 or 296 BC to reclaim his realm.^[38][41][42]

Second reign in Epirus and domestic reforms

Upon his return, Pyrrhus encountered broad public support from Epirotes dissatisfied with Neoptolemus II's governance.^[42] Seeking to avoid an immediate civil war, Pyrrhus entered into an agreement to share the royal power with Neoptolemus.^[42][43][44] Both sovereigns participated together in traditional sacrifices to Zeus at Passaron, yet factional maneuvering persisted.^[42] According to the account preserved by Plutarch, derived from the contemporary court historian Proxenos, an Epirote nobleman named Gelon attempted to suborn Pyrrhus's cupbearer Myrtilus into poisoning him.^[42] Myrtilus disclosed the plot to Pyrrhus, who arranged for his associate Alexicrates to observe further conspiratorial overtures.^[42] Neoptolemus later talked about the plot at the house of his sister Cadmea, where a servant woman named Phaenarete overheard him and passed what she had heard to Pyrrhus's wife Antigone..^[42][44] Having secured the backing of the leading Epirote aristocrats, Pyrrhus invited Neoptolemus to a ceremonial feast and had him killed, ending the dual monarchy in 297, 296, or 295 BC.^[42][43][45]

Antigone bore Pyrrhus a son named Ptolemy and a daughter named Olympias before dying in 295 BC, possibly from complications of childbirth.^{[46][47][48][49]} In honor of his Egyptian benefactors, Pyrrhus named his son after Ptolemy and founded a city named Berenicis on the Epirote coast.^[49][50] In 295 BC, he transferred the royal capital from Passaron to Ambracia, a fortified port city on the Ambracian Gulf.^[50][51][52] Ambracia was transformed into an urban administrative center, adorned with palaces, theaters, and defensive works.^[52][53][54] Archaeological evidence indicates extensive construction of roadways, stone bridges, and civic fortifications throughout Epirus during his tenure.^[53]

When Pyrrhus came to power, the Epirote kingdom was not an absolute monarchy but a union of Epirote tribes, in which the Molossians held the central role and which also included other tribes such as the Thesprotians and Chaonians..^[50][55] He established the institution of royal friends (philoi), which integrated trusted military officers and intellectual advisors into administrative councils.^[56] His inner circle included the Thessalian orator Cineas, the historian Proxenos, and the poet Leonidas.^[56] He reformed the agrarian and pastoral economy, introducing Athenian legal codes, regulating animal husbandry by prohibiting the mating of livestock under four years of age, and establishing state overseers for royal herds, cellars, and storehouses.^[57] According to Pliny the Elder, these agricultural regulations contributed to the size of Epirote cattle.^[57]

Military reforms were enacted concurrently. Pyrrhus reorganized the tribal levy into a drilled, professional standing force.^[58] Retaining the Macedonian combined-arms doctrine, he formed heavy infantry phalanxes armed with the long sarissa, supported by agile formations of light-armed skirmishers and missile troops carrying javelins.^[58][59] He emphasized systematic military camp construction (castrametation) and tactical field maneuvers.^[58][60] To instruct his officer corps, Pyrrhus authored treatises on military theory and tactical art, using a checkered board and markers that later influenced the Roman board game latrunculi.^[61][62] He cultivated a warrior aura among his troops, attributing healing powers to his right great toe, which Pliny the Elder reported was reputed to cure spleen ailments through touch and was preserved in a temple coffer after his body was cremated.^[63][64]

Wars in Macedon and Greece

In 294 BC, the death of Cassander's successor Philip IV precipitated a dynastic war between his brothers, Alexander V and Antipater I.^[49][65][66] Facing defeat by his brother, Alexander V appealed to both Pyrrhus and Demetrius Poliorcetes for military assistance.^[49][65][66] Arriving first, Pyrrhus demanded and received substantial territorial concessions in exchange for his intervention, annexing the border regions of Tymphaea and Parauaea, along with Ambracia, Acarnania, and Amphilochia.^[49][65][66] French historian Pierre Lévêque calculated that these acquisitions expanded Epirote territory from approximately 8,000 to 30,000 square kilometers, providing valuable timber and access to coastal trade.^[67][68] Pyrrhus restored Alexander V and forced Antipater to seek refuge in Thrace with his father-in-law Lysimachus.^[49][65][69] Lysimachus forged a letter in Ptolemy's name advising Pyrrhus to withdraw for a cash payment, but Pyrrhus recognized the forgery and concluded an armistice before withdrawing.^[49] Demetrius arrived shortly afterward and was asked to leave because his services were no longer needed; Alexander V planned to murder him, but Demetrius learned of the plan, killed Alexander first, and became master of Macedonia..^[70][71]

The death of Deidamia dissolved the familial link between Pyrrhus and Demetrius, and territorial disputes emerged.^[71] In 295 BC, Pyrrhus married Lanassa, daughter of Agathocles of Syracuse, acquiring Corcyra and Leucas as her dowry, which opened naval routes toward Italy.^[72][73][74] He subsequently contracted diplomatic marriages with an Illyrian princess, Bircenna, daughter of King Bardylis II, and an unnamed daughter of Audoleon, king of Paeonia.^[73][74][75] Lanassa, resentful of sharing royal status with non-Greek wives, abandoned Pyrrhus in 291 or 290 BC.^[76][77] She retired to Corcyra and invited Demetrius to marry her and occupy the island, which he did.^[76][77]

Open war broke out in 289 BC.^[71][78] While Demetrius was suppressing a revolt in Thebes, Pyrrhus raided Thessaly, though he retreated when Demetrius brought superior forces.^[51][79] Demetrius invaded Aetolia in the spring of 289 BC to neutralize Pyrrhus's allies.^[71][78] Leaving a division of 11,000 men under his general Pantauchus in central Aetolia, Demetrius marched directly into Epirus.^[71][78][80] Pyrrhus led 20,000 to 25,000 men to relieve the Aetolians; the two armies missed each other on different routes, so Demetrius ravaged Epirus while Pyrrhus encountered Pantauchus.^[71][78][80] During the battle, Pantauchus challenged Pyrrhus to personal combat.^[71][78][80] The monarchs traded spear casts before closing with swords; Pyrrhus sustained a wound, but struck Pantauchus in the thigh and neck, forcing the Macedonian bodyguards to rescue their commander.^[71][78][80] Emboldened, the Epirotes shattered the Macedonian lines, took 5,000 prisoners, and acclaimed Pyrrhus with the title of 'Eagle'.^{[71][77][78][80]} Demetrius withdrew to Macedon, while Pyrrhus released his captives.^[80]

Later in 289 BC, learning that Demetrius was incapacitated by severe illness, Pyrrhus invaded Macedonia.^[77][81][82] Expecting to conduct a brief plundering expedition, he encountered negligible resistance and advanced as far as the old royal capital of Aegae and the city of Edessa.^[77][81][82] Demetrius recovered sufficiently to assemble a superior army, compelling Pyrrhus to withdraw to Epirus.^[81][82] Preparing a campaign in Asia, Demetrius could not risk leaving Pyrrhus to threaten his lands while he was away, and in the winter of 288 BC the two made peace.^[77][82] Demetrius ceded to Pyrrhus his possessions in Macedonia except Corcyra and Leucas, and gathered an army that ancient historians put at 110,000 men and 12,000 cavalry, with a fleet of 500 ships..^{[82][83][84][85][86]}

Threatened by Demetrius's armaments, an alliance was formed in 288 BC by Ptolemy, Lysimachus, and Seleucus, who invited Pyrrhus to join.^{[86][87][88][89]} In the spring of 287 BC, Ptolemy dispatched a fleet to incite rebellion among Greek coastal cities, while Lysimachus invaded Upper Macedonia from Thrace and captured Amphipolis.^{[88][89][90][91]} When Demetrius marched against Lysimachus, Pyrrhus invaded Lower Macedonia, taking Beroea without opposition.^{[89][90][91][92]} The Macedonian soldiers in Demetrius's camp, alienated by his autocratic rule and admiring Pyrrhus's battlefield reputation, mutinied and defected.^[89][90][91] Demetrius fled in disguise to Cassandreia, where his wife Phila committed suicide.^[91][93] The Macedonian army assembly proclaimed Pyrrhus king of Macedon in May 287 BC.^[92][94]

Lysimachus arrived shortly afterward and demanded a partition of the kingdom, forcing Pyrrhus to cede eastern Macedonia up to the Axios River.^[89][92][95] When Demetrius gathered fresh forces in southern Greece and besieged Athens, the Athenians appealed to Pyrrhus for relief.^[96] Pyrrhus marched south, compelling Demetrius to raise the siege.^[96] The Athenians welcomed Pyrrhus onto the Acropolis, where he offered sacrifices to Athena and was honored with a public statue, though they kept his army outside the gates; Pyrrhus advised them never again to allow a king to enter their city.^[95][96][97] He then concluded peace with Demetrius, but after Demetrius crossed into Asia in 286 BC, Pyrrhus supported Lysimachus by invading Thessaly and expelling the Antigonid garrisons commanded by Antigonus Gonatas.^[95][97][98]

Pyrrhus's realm then reached its greatest territorial extent, encompassing Epirus, half of Macedonia, and Thessaly.^[95][97][98] However, in 285 BC Seleucus defeated Demetrius, which freed Lysimachus to move against Pyrrhus, his co-ruler in Macedonia..^{[95][99][100][101]} Lysimachus isolated Pyrrhus diplomatically by marrying Arsinoe II, sister of Ptolemy II Philadelphus, and sending substantial subsidies to the Aetolians.^[99][100] In 284 BC, Lysimachus invaded Pyrrhus's Macedonian territory with superior numbers.^{[95][99][101]} He intercepted Pyrrhus's supply lines, inducing famine, and launched a propaganda campaign urging Macedonian troops not to serve a foreign Epirote king.^{[95][99][100][101]} Pyrrhus's Macedonian troops abandoned his cause, forcing him to withdraw to Epirus.^{[95][99][101]} Ancient accounts disagree on the duration of Pyrrhus's reign in Macedonia: Dexippus and Porphyry record a reign of seven months in 287 BC, while other sources indicate he ruled for three years, until 285 or 284 BC.^{[102][103][104]} In 284 BC, Lysimachus raided Epirus while Pyrrhus was campaigning in Illyria, plundering the land as far as the royal tombs at Passaron.^{[105][106][107]}

The Pyrrhic War in Italy

In 282 BC, diplomatic tensions erupted between the Roman Republic and the Greek city-state of Tarentum in Magna Graecia.^[108][109] A long-standing treaty barred Roman warships from entering the Gulf of Taranto.^[108] When Roman vessels entered the harbor of Thurii to assist against local Lucanian incursions, the Tarentines attacked, driving out the Roman garrison and sinking several ships.^[108][110] Confronting Roman retaliation, Tarentine envoys, supported by delegates from Lucania, Messapia, and Samnium, traveled to Epirus in the summer of 281 BC to offer Pyrrhus supreme command of an anti-Roman coalition, promising local reinforcements of 20,000 cavalry and 350,000 infantry.^{[17][111][112][113]} Pyrrhus saw an opportunity to establish a western Hellenistic empire.^[114][115] The Oracle of Delphi reportedly provided an encouraging though ambiguous prophecy, and major Hellenistic monarchs offered support to remove an ambitious rival from Greece: Ptolemy Keraunos of Macedon promised 5,000 infantry, 4,000 cavalry, and 50 elephants on condition that they return after two years, but in practice handed over 20 elephants and some cavalry, while Antigonus Gonatas furnished ships for the crossing, and Antiochus and Ptolemy II provided funds..^{[114][116][117]}

Before embarking, Pyrrhus's chief advisor Cineas engaged the king in a celebrated dialogue, preserved by Plutarch, questioning the purpose of conquering Rome, Sicily, and Carthage if the ultimate goal was leisure and banquet, which they already possessed.^[118][119] Pyrrhus nevertheless persisted.^[118] He left his fifteen-year-old son Ptolemy as regent in Epirus and took his younger sons Alexander and Helenus with him.^[113][120] In the autumn of 281 BC, the first Epirote detachments under Cineas and Milo arrived in Tarentum, and Milo, together with the Tarentines, drove the Roman army of consul Lucius Aemilius Barbula out of Apulia.^[121][122] Another account dates the dispatch of this advance force of 3,000 men under Cineas to 280 BC..^[123] In the spring of 280 BC, Pyrrhus crossed the Ionian Sea with 20,000 heavy infantry, 3,000 cavalry (primarily Thessalian), 2,000 archers, 500 slingers, and 20 war elephants carrying archer towers.^{[17][123][124]} A severe storm scattered the fleet, destroying several vessels and forcing Pyrrhus ashore with only a fraction of his forces before the remainder rejoined him in Tarentum.^[123] Upon arrival, he closed the city's theaters, public walks, and gymnasia, suspended civil banquets, and instituted compulsory military conscription, placing recalcitrant citizens under military discipline.^[125][126]

Battle of Heraclea and march on Rome

In the summer of 280 BC, Roman consul Publius Valerius Laevinus led an army of four legions through Lucania toward Tarentum.^{[126][127][128]} Without waiting for his Italian allies, Pyrrhus deployed his army on the plain between Pandosia and Heraclea on the north bank of the Siris River.^[126][128] He dispatched heralds proposing to arbitrate between Rome and the Italiote cities, but Laevinus replied that Rome neither sought Pyrrhus as a mediator nor feared him as an enemy.^{[126][128][129]} Observing the disciplined Roman camp layout from across the river, Pyrrhus reportedly remarked: 'The order of these barbarians is not barbarian; we shall see how they act'.^[128]

Modern estimates place Roman numbers between 30,000 and 50,000 men, while Pyrrhus commanded 25,000 to 35,000 troops.^[130] The Romans crossed the Siris at several crossing points, forcing Pyrrhus's advance guards back.^[126][131] Pyrrhus led 3,000 cavalry forward to contest the crossing, engaging directly in the combat.^[126] When an Italian officer named Oblacus targeted him, Pyrrhus exchanged armor and cloak with his companion Megacles to avoid identification.^[132] Megacles was later killed in the fighting, causing panic among the Greek lines until Pyrrhus rode bareheaded through the ranks to demonstrate he was alive.^[132] After seven successive charges and counter-charges between the Macedonian phalanx and Roman maniples, Pyrrhus deployed his war elephants against the Roman cavalry on the flanks.^[131] The sight of the elephants, which the Romans had never faced before, put them to flight: the Roman cavalry fled, the infantry was routed, and Pyrrhus's cavalry pursued them..^{[131][133][134]}

Ancient accounts diverge concerning the casualties at Heraclea.^{[133][135][136]} Hieronymus of Cardia reported 7,000 Roman fatalities and fewer than 4,000 Greek dead, whereas Dionysius of Halicarnassus recorded 15,000 Roman and 13,000 Epirote casualties.^{[133][135][136]} Pyrrhus captured the Roman camp and roughly 1,800 prisoners, whom he treated with honor.^{[133][134][136]} Following the battle, the Lucanians, Bruttians, and Messapians joined his standard, while Greek cities including Croton and Locri Epizephyrii defected from Rome.^{[113][135][137]}

Exploiting his victory, Pyrrhus advanced north along the Via Latina through Lucania and Campania, failing to reduce the fortified colonies of Capua and Neapolis.^[137][138] He advanced to Anagnia and took Praeneste..^[139] However, Roman consul Tiberius Coruncanius concluded a settlement with the Etruscans and returned to Rome with his army, while Laevinus reinforced his legions and shadowed Pyrrhus's rear.^[137][140] Faced with three converging armies and realizing that Rome's Latin allies remained steadfast, Pyrrhus withdrew to winter quarters in Tarentum and Campania.^{[137][140][141]}

During the winter of 280–279 BC, the Roman Senate dispatched an embassy led by Gaius Fabricius Luscinus, Quintus Aemilius Papus, and Publius Cornelius Dolabella to negotiate the ransom of prisoners.^{[142][143][144]} Pyrrhus hosted Fabricius with distinction, offering gold and high positions in his administration, which Fabricius refused.^[142][144] When Pyrrhus ordered an elephant abruptly revealed from behind a curtain to trumpet over Fabricius's head, the Roman remained unmoved, observing that neither gold nor beasts could shake his resolve.^[142] Impressed, Pyrrhus permitted the Roman prisoners to return home to celebrate the Saturnalia on their parole to return if the Senate rejected peace.^{[142][145][146]}

Pyrrhus sent Cineas to Rome to present peace proposals before the Senate.^{[140][147][148]} Cineas, known for his memory, reportedly learned the names of all senators and equites within two days of arrival.^[149] The terms offered the unconditional release of prisoners, guarantees of independence for Greek cities, and the restitution of territories seized from the Samnites, Lucanians, Daunians, and Bruttians.^{[148][150][151][152]} The Senate was on the verge of accepting when the aged, blind former censor Appius Claudius Caecus was carried into the curia.^{[152][153][154]} In the first recorded speech in Latin, Appius Claudius asserted that Rome should never negotiate with an enemy while foreign troops occupied Italian soil, demanding that Pyrrhus depart before diplomatic relations could begin.^{[152][153][154]} The Romans rejected the proposals, and Cineas was sent out of Rome that same day..^[152][154] Upon his return, Cineas reported to Pyrrhus that the Roman Senate appeared to him like an assembly of kings.

Battle of Asculum and 'Pyrrhic victory'

In the spring of 279 BC, Pyrrhus marched into Apulia with an army of Greeks, Molossians, Samnites, Lucanians, and Bruttians to seize the Roman supply bases at Venusia and Luceria.^{[155][156][157]} The new Roman consuls, Publius Sulpicius Saverrio and Publius Decius Mus, deployed four legions alongside allied contingents, totaling roughly 40,000 men, and met the king near Asculum along the Aufidus River.^{[155][156][157]} Roman reports circulated that Decius Mus intended to perform the devotio ritual, sacrificing his life to the underworld gods to guarantee victory; Pyrrhus instructed his men to take the consul alive and warned Decius that he would be executed as an enchanter if captured.^[158][159]

According to Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Pyrrhus arranged his centre from right to left as follows: the Macedonian phalanx, Italiote mercenaries from Tarentum, Bruttians, Lucanians, Thesprotians, Chaonians, Aetolians, Acarnanians, Athamanians, and Samnites..^[160][161] Cavalry was posted on both flanks.^[161] The light troops and elephants were split into two groups behind the two flanks, while Pyrrhus himself stayed outside the main line as a reserve with an agema of 2,000 picked cavalry..^[162] The Romans opposed them with legionary infantry arranged in maniples alternating with Latin allies, deploying three hundred anti-elephant wagons equipped with projecting scythes, grapples, and fire-pots.^[163][164]

Accounts differ as to whether the battle lasted one or two days.^{[164][165][166]} Plutarch records that the first day took place along wooded, broken riverbanks where cavalry and elephants were neutralized, ending in a stalemate.^[165] On the second day, Pyrrhus seized the high ground and forced the engagement onto open plains, where the phalanx pressed the Roman center while the elephants routed the anti-elephant wagons and shattered the Roman legions.^[165] During the combat, an allied Daunian force from Arpi raided and burned the Epirote baggage camp.^[167] Pyrrhus was wounded in the arm by a javelin, but his forces held the field while the surviving Romans retreated to their fortified camp.^[157][165]

Hieronymus of Cardia, citing royal memoirs, recorded that the Romans lost 6,000 men, while Pyrrhus suffered 3,505 dead, including a large proportion of his officers and veteran Epirote troops.^{[17][157][165][166]} Dionysius of Halicarnassus reported more than 15,000 dead on each side, whereas Frontinus, Eutropius, and Orosius put Pyrrhus's losses at half his army, or 20,000 men..^[165][168] When congratulated on his success, Pyrrhus reportedly replied: 'If we are victorious in one more battle with the Romans, we shall be utterly ruined'.^{[6][157][165][166]} The phrase Pyrrhic victory derives from this episode, denoting an achievement gained at a cost so devastating that it equates to practical ruin.^[6][7][166]

Sicilian expedition

In the winter of 279–278 BC, Pyrrhus received two simultaneous appeals.^{[17][169][170]} A Macedonian delegation offered him the Macedonian throne following the death of King Ptolemy Keraunos in battle against invading Gauls.^[17][170] Concurrently, envoys from Syracuse, Agrigentum, and Leontini urged him to cross to Sicily to lead the Greek cities against Carthage, which was besieging Syracuse by land and sea.^{[17][169][170]} Seeing Sicily as a base for expansion toward North Africa, Pyrrhus opted for the western expedition.^[17][169] Before departing, he concluded a temporary truce with Rome.^[171] The rapprochement was facilitated when Fabricius and Aemilius warned Pyrrhus of a plot by his personal physician, Nicias, who had offered to poison the king for a bounty; Pyrrhus executed the traitor and reciprocated by releasing Roman prisoners without ransom.^{[166][171][172]}

To prevent an Epirote-Roman peace, Carthage dispatched an armada of 120 ships under Mago to Ostia, concluding a defensive alliance with the Roman Senate that prohibited either power from signing a separate peace with Pyrrhus.^[173][174] The Carthaginians and the Mamertines of Messana attempted to block the Strait of Messina, but in the summer of 278 BC, Pyrrhus embarked from Locri and landed at Tauromenium with 8,000 infantry, cavalry, and elephants, leaving a garrison under Milo in Tarentum and his son Alexander at Locri.^{[175][176][177]} Tyndarion, tyrant of Tauromenium, joined him, followed by Heraclides of Leontini and Sosistratus of Agrigentum.^{[176][178][179]} Upon Pyrrhus's advance to Syracuse, the Carthaginian fleet withdrew without engaging, enabling him to enter the city and reconcile the rival factions of Thoinon and Sosistratus.^{[176][179][180]} The Sicilian cities acclaimed him king of Sicily, placing an army of 30,000 infantry, 2,500 cavalry, and a fleet of 200 ships at his command.^{[170][178][181]}

In 277 BC, Pyrrhus conducted an offensive against Carthaginian possessions.^{[17][182][183]} He took Heraclea Minoa, Selinus, Halicyae, and Segesta, and then assaulted Mount Eryx, the strongest Punic mountain stronghold in Sicily.^{[182][183][184]} Pyrrhus led the storming party himself, being the first to mount the siege ladders and killing several defenders on the battlements.^[183][184] He offered sacrifices and held games in honor of Heracles to celebrate the capture.^[170] Turning eastward, he defeated the Mamertines in battle, reducing their strongholds and executing their tax collectors.^[185] Panormus was captured, leaving the fortified port of Lilybaeum as the sole remaining Carthaginian fortress on the island.^[182][186]

Carthage then opened peace talks, offering Pyrrhus large sums of money, recognition of his conquests in Sicily and a fleet to carry him to Italy..^{[183][186][187][188]} Pyrrhus was at first inclined to accept, but the Sicilian Greeks opposed peace while Carthage still held Lilybaeum, and at their urging he refused any agreement unless the Carthaginians left the island entirely..^{[183][186][187][188]} Yielding to their pressure, Pyrrhus broke off negotiations and besieged Lilybaeum.^[186][188] The Punic garrison, supplied by sea, repulsed assaults for two months.^{[186][188][189]} Realizing that the city could not be captured without a naval blockade, Pyrrhus resolved to construct a large fleet and invade North Africa, emulating Agathocles.^{[183][186][190][191]}

When the Sicilian poleis refused to supply the funds, rowers, and provisions needed for the African expedition, Pyrrhus instituted forced requisitions, established military governors, and garrisoned the cities.^{[185][186][190][192]} He accused Thoinon and Sosistratus of treason, executing Thoinon while Sosistratus fled into exile.^{[185][190][192]} These authoritarian measures caused unrest across Sicily, with several cities defecting to the Carthaginians and Mamertines.^{[185][186][190][192]} Carthage dispatched a fresh army to the island, and although Pyrrhus defeated it, his political position remained untenable.^[185] In late 276 BC, receiving appeals from the Samnites and Tarentines stating that Rome had subdued nearly all of southern Italy, Pyrrhus evacuated Sicily.^{[185][190][191]} As his vessel sailed away, he looked back and remarked: 'What a wrestling ground we are leaving, my friends, for the Carthaginians and the Romans'.^[193][194] During the crossing, the Carthaginian navy ambushed his fleet in the Strait of Messina, sinking or disabling 98 of his 110 warships.^{[194][195][196][197]}

Second Italian campaign and retreat

Upon landing in Italy in late 276 BC, Pyrrhus was ambushed in the mountain passes by 10,000 Mamertines who had crossed the strait.^[194][198] Pyrrhus sustained a severe sword wound to the head, but when a Mamertine champion challenged him, the king rode forward and cleaved the challenger in two from head to waist with a single blow, routing the remaining force.^[199] Arriving at Tarentum with 20,000 infantry and 3,000 cavalry, Pyrrhus recovered Locri, which had gone over to the Romans.^[194][198] Facing financial distress, he plundered the sacred treasury of Persephone in Locri on the advice of Epicurean associates.^{[200][201][202]} When the transport ships carrying the loot were wrecked by a storm and cast back upon the shore, Pyrrhus returned the remaining treasure to the temple and executed the advisors who had recommended the act, remaining convinced that the goddess pursued him with divine wrath.^[202]

In the spring of 275 BC, Roman consuls Manius Curius Dentatus and Lucius Cornelius Lentulus took the field.^[203][204] Lentulus operated in Lucania, while Curius fortified a camp on high ground near Beneventum (then called Maleventum).^{[203][204][205]} Pyrrhus divided his forces, sending a detachment to occupy Lentulus while leading his primary corps against Curius.^{[204][206][207]} Attempting a night march through dense forests to surprise the Roman camp from the heights, Pyrrhus's forces lost their way in the dark; torches burned out, and the troops arrived exhausted at dawn, exposing their approach.^{[204][205][206][208]}

Curius deployed his legions on the plain to meet the attack.^[205][209] The Romans pushed back Pyrrhus's right wing, while on the left, commanded by Pyrrhus himself, the Romans were driven back to their camp..^[205][209] To complete the victory, Pyrrhus then sent his elephants into the battle..^[209] The Roman camp defenders countered with a barrage of arrows, burning projectiles, and barbed javelins from the palisades, panicking the elephants.^{[205][209][210]} Dionysius of Halicarnassus recorded that the panic intensified when a wounded young elephant began trumpeting, causing its mother to turn back into the Epirote ranks.^[211] The panicked animals trampled their own lines, and the Romans counterattacked, driving the Epirotes from the field.^{[205][209][210]} The Romans captured eight elephants, four of which were paraded through Rome in Curius's triumph.^[205][212]

Defeated at Beneventum and lacking the resources to sustain further campaigning in Italy, Pyrrhus sought monetary and military reinforcements from Antigonus Gonatas and Antiochus I, but both declined.^{[196][213][214]} In the autumn of 275 BC, Pyrrhus abandoned the Italian campaign and set sail for Epirus, leaving Milo with a garrison in the citadel of Tarentum.^{[213][214][215][216]} He returned with only 8,000 infantry and 500 cavalry, leaving Rome to conquer the remainder of Magna Graecia and force Tarentum's surrender in 272 BC.^[214][215]

Last wars in Macedonia and the Peloponnese

Returning to Epirus in late 275 BC with depleted finances, Pyrrhus required new military operations to support his remaining troops and mercenaries.^{[216][217][218]} In the spring of 274 BC, reinforced by Gallic mercenaries, he invaded Macedonia, then governed by Antigonus II Gonatas.^{[216][217][219]} Pyrrhus intercepted Antigonus's army in a narrow gorge at the Battle of the Aous River, routing his Gallic rearguard, capturing his war elephants, and inducing the Macedonian phalanx to defect.^{[214][215][216][219]} Antigonus escaped with a small escort to Thessalonica, while Pyrrhus secured Upper Macedonia and Thessaly and assumed the Macedonian crown for the second time.^{[214][215][216][220]} To celebrate the defeat of the Gauls, Pyrrhus dedicated their shields at the sanctuary of Athena Itonia in Thessaly with an inscribed elegiac poem.^[221][222] However, he caused resentment among the Macedonians by stationing Gallic mercenaries at the ancient royal capital of Aegae, where they plundered and desecrated the tombs of the Argead kings without receiving punishment.^{[216][222][223][224]}

In 272 BC, Cleonymus, a Spartan prince who had been passed over for the Agiad royal succession and whose wife Chilonis had engaged in an open affair with Acrotatus, son of King Areus I, requested Pyrrhus's intervention to place him in power.^[219][225] Pyrrhus agreed, planning to bring the Peloponnese under his influence and sever Antigonus's communications with Corinth.^{[219][225][226]} He assembled 25,000 infantry, 2,000 cavalry, and 24 war elephants, securing safe passage through Aetolia and gaining support from the Achaean League and Elis.^{[216][219][226]} When Pyrrhus reached Megalopolis, Spartan envoys came to him, and he told them that he intended only to take the cities that remained loyal to Antigonus II Gonatas..^[219][222]

Pyrrhus then crossed into Laconia and began plundering the countryside.^{[216][219][222]} When Spartan envoys protested that he was attacking without a declaration of war, Pyrrhus replied: 'We know that you Spartans never reveal your intentions to anyone'.^[219][222] Sparta lacked defensive walls, and King Areus I was away on an expedition to Crete with the army's core.^{[226][227][228]} Cleonymus urged an immediate night assault, but Pyrrhus deferred the attack until morning, fearing his Gallic mercenaries would pillage the city after dark.^{[226][227][228]} During the night, the Spartan population, directed by Queen Archidamia and the city's women, excavated a trench six cubits broad, four cubits deep, and eight hundred feet long across the approach, securing both flanks with wagons buried up to their axles.^{[227][228][229]}

The next morning, Pyrrhus assaulted the trench in person, attempting to bridge the ditch while his Gallic troops worked to dig out the buried wagons.^[230] Acrotatus led a force of three hundred Spartans around the rear through sunken terrain, assaulting the Gallic troops and driving them back into the trench with heavy casualties.^[230] Fighting resumed the following day, when the attackers tried to fill the ditch with whatever they could, including the bodies of the dead..^[231][232] A javelin mortally wounded his mount, throwing the king to the ground and causing confusion that allowed the Spartans to beat back the assault.^[231] Antigonus's general Aminias of Phocis soon arrived from Corinth with mercenary reinforcements, followed by King Areus I with 2,000 veteran troops from Crete.^{[226][231][232]} Facing reinforced defenses, Pyrrhus abandoned the siege and withdrew to ravage the Laconian countryside.^[232][233]

Street battle in Argos and death

While in Laconia, Pyrrhus received an invitation from Aristeas, a prominent citizen of Argos, requesting assistance against his rival Aristippus, who was supported by Antigonus Gonatas.^[233][234] Pyrrhus marched northward, but his rearguard was harassed in the mountain passes by Spartan forces under Areus.^[233][235] During one skirmish, Pyrrhus's eldest son Ptolemy was killed by a Cretan warrior named Oroissus.^[233] Enraged, Pyrrhus led the Molossian cavalry against the Spartan detachment, cutting down their commander Evalcus in personal combat and routing the force.^[233] After burying his son, he continued his advance on Argos.^[233]

Arriving at Argos, Pyrrhus found Antigonus camped on the heights overlooking the plain, with additional forces at Nauplia.^[236][237] The Argives dispatched embassies asking both monarchs to withdraw and preserve the city's neutrality.^[236][237] Antigonus agreed and handed over his son Alcyoneus as a hostage, whereas Pyrrhus gave verbal assent but sent no hostage.^[237] During the night, Aristeas left one of the city gates open, allowing Pyrrhus's Gauls to pour into the marketplace..^[238] However, the city gates were too low for the war elephants to pass with their towers intact; the towers had to be detached and reassembled in the dark, generating noise that alerted the Argives.^[238][239]

The Argives seized the fortified acropolis (Aspis) and summoned help from Antigonus and Areus.^[238] Antigonus dispatched Alcyoneus with reinforcements into the city, while Areus entered with 1,000 Spartans and Cretans.^[236][238] In the darkness, the opposing forces clashed in the narrow streets, watercourses, and alleys, producing confusion that prevented effective command.^[236][238] At dawn, in the marketplace of Argos, Pyrrhus saw a bronze monument of a wolf and a bull set against each other, which recalled a prophecy that he would die when he saw a wolf fighting a bull, and he resolved to retreat..^[239]

Pyrrhus sent orders to his son Helenus, who remained outside with the main army, to demolish a section of the city walls to facilitate the retreat.^{[240][241][242]} The messenger miscommunicated the command, and Helenus instead entered the city with the remaining elephants and fresh troops to support his father.^[240][241] As retreating Epirotes collided with incoming reinforcements in the narrow gateway, panic ensued.^[241][242] A fallen elephant blocked the gateway, while another beast named Nicon ran amok through the ranks seeking its wounded driver, trampling friends and foes alike.^[241][242]

Pyrrhus removed the royal crest from his helmet to conceal his identity and fought in the rear to cover the withdrawal.^[242][243] In the melee, an Argive soldier lightly wounded him in the chest with a javelin.^[242][243] Pyrrhus turned on his attacker, whose elderly mother was watching the street combat from a roof above.^[242][243] Seeing her son in danger, she lifted a heavy roof tile with both hands and cast it down on Pyrrhus; the tile struck him on the unarmored nape of his neck, fracturing his cervical vertebrae and unseating him from his horse.^{[8][240][242][243]} An Antigonid soldier named Zopyrus recognized the stunned king, dragged him into a doorway, and severed his head.^{[8][242][243]}

Alcyoneus carried the severed head to his father Antigonus, dropping it at his feet.^{[242][243][244]} Antigonus struck his son with his staff, rebuked him as a barbarian for the indignity, and wept, recalling the downfalls of his father Demetrius and grandfather Antigonus.^[243][244] Antigonus had Pyrrhus's body cremated with royal honors.^[243] Pausanias recorded that his remains were interred in the temple of Demeter in Argos, while other traditions state his ashes were returned to Ambracia for burial.^{[234][242][243]} Antigonus treated the surviving prince Helenus with courtesy, restored his garments, and sent him back to Epirus.^[243] Shortly after hearing of Pyrrhus's death, the Tarentines surrendered to Rome, which allowed the Epirote garrison under Milo to return home.^[245]

Military organization and writings

Pyrrhus's military establishment represented an evolution of the Macedonian system developed by Philip II and Alexander the Great, combined with indigenous Epirote warrior traditions and specialist Hellenistic mercenary contingents.^[58][246] His core heavy infantry deployed in deep phalanx formations carrying the sarissa, supported by Molossian royal guards (agema) and noble companion cavalry.^{[58][162][246]} At Asculum, according to Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Pyrrhus placed Thesprotian, Chaonian, and Aetolian contingents in his line alongside the Macedonian phalanx and Italiote mercenaries.^[160] His armaments incorporated specialists including Cretan archers, Tarentine light cavalry, and slingers.^[247]

Pyrrhus was the first commander to deploy war elephants on the Italian peninsula.^[248] He introduced defensive fighting towers mounted on the elephants' backs to accommodate missile troops.^[249] Unlike previous Hellenistic practice, which deployed elephants along the front line at the opening of an engagement, Pyrrhus held his beasts in reserve to deliver flanking attacks after the opposing infantry lines became locked in combat, a tactic demonstrated at Heraclea and Asculum.^[249][250]

Pyrrhus authored personal memoirs (hypomnemata) and military treatises that circulated widely in the Hellenistic and Roman worlds.^{[251][252][253]} While these works have not survived, their contents provided source material for Hellenistic historians such as Hieronymus of Cardia and Proxenos, and later for Plutarch and Dionysius of Halicarnassus.^{[251][252][253]} According to Plutarch, Hannibal studied Pyrrhus's tactical writings, and Cicero praised them for their technical sophistication.^[251][253] Pyrrhus also invented a tactical military board game known as latrunculi in Roman sources, which utilized a checkered surface, pawns, and dice to model army movements and fortified camps.^[61][62]

Coinage and iconography

Unlike many contemporary Diadochi, Pyrrhus did not place his personal portrait on royal coinage.^[254] Numismatists divide his issues into two main categories: those bearing the legend 'BASILEOS PYRROU' (Of King Pyrrhus) and those issued by regional mints bearing distinctive royal motifs.^[254] In Epirus, the mint at Ambracia produced silver tetradrachms depicting Zeus of Dodona wearing an oak wreath on the obverse and the goddess Dione enthroned on the reverse.^[254][255] Other Epirote issues featured symbols of the thunderbolt, the eagle, and a horned helmet associated with his mythological ancestry.^[254] At Locri Epizephyrii in southern Italy between 279 and 274 BC, Pyrrhus issued didrachms commemorating his lineage, featuring the head of Achilles on the obverse and Thetis riding a sea-creature (hippocampus) on the reverse.^[254]

The most elaborate gold and silver coinage was struck at Syracuse between 278 and 276 BC.^[254][256] The gold staters showed Promachos on the obverse and the half-staters, or decadrachms, showed Artemis, while on the reverse the victory goddess Nike held a trophy in her left hand and a wreath in her right, with the royal legend.^[254][256] Bronze issues struck in Sicily portrayed the head of his mother Phthia on the obverse and an armed Athena on the reverse.^[254][256] Iconographically, surviving marble portrait busts, notably the Roman copy discovered in the Villa of the Papyri at Herculaneum, depict the king wearing an oak-wreathed helmet adorned with cheek-pieces and an upturned visor, reflecting his connection to the oracle of Dodona.^[257]

Marriages and issue

Pyrrhus married five times for dynastic and political alliances.^{[46][73][258][259]} His first wife was Antigone, stepdaughter of Ptolemy I Soter, whom he married in Alexandria around 299 or 298 BC.^[31][32][46] She bore a son, Ptolemy (295–272 BC), and a daughter, Olympias II, dying in 295 BC.^{[46][47][258][260]} Around 295 BC, he married Lanassa, daughter of Agathocles of Syracuse, who brought Corcyra and Leucas as her dowry and bore him a son, Alexander II, who succeeded him as king of Epirus.^{[46][73][74][259]} Lanassa later left him and married Demetrius Poliorcetes.^[76][77]

His third wife was an unnamed daughter of King Audoleon of Paeonia, married around 294 BC as part of an alliance with Audoleon.^[46][73][74] His fourth wife was Bircenna, daughter of King Bardylis II of the Illyrians, who bore him a son named Helenus.^[73][74][75] According to Justin, he made a fifth marriage in 281 or 280 BC to a daughter of Ptolemy Keraunos of Macedon, though this may be a confusion with his marriage to Antigone.^[75][261] Beside his sons Ptolemy, Alexander, and Helenus, his daughters included Olympias II, who married her half-brother Alexander II, and Nereis, who married Gelon, son of Hiero II of Syracuse.^[259]

Historical assessment and legacy

Ancient authors evaluated Pyrrhus as one of antiquity's most accomplished battlefield tacticians while noting his inability to consolidate political gains.^{[23][262][263][264]} In his Life of Pyrrhus, Plutarch records that Hannibal ranked Pyrrhus as the greatest commander in history, whereas in his Life of Flamininus and in Appian's Syrian Wars, Hannibal is reported to have placed Pyrrhus second behind Alexander the Great and ahead of himself.^[23][265] Antigonus Gonatas likened Pyrrhus to a dice player who made excellent throws but did not know how to exploit his winning positions.^{[264][266][267]}

The historian Theodor Mommsen noted that while Pyrrhus demonstrated operational skill, his strategic objectives were disproportionate to the manpower and financial base of Epirus.^[268] He shifted between regional conflicts in Greece, Macedonia, Italy, and Sicily without securing one theater before opening another.^[264][269] His western expeditions temporarily protected the Greek cities of Magna Graecia and Sicily from immediate conquest, but their financial costs exhausted his resources.^[270][271] The wars against Pyrrhus also gave Rome military experience that helped it to wage the later Punic Wars effectively.^[271]

References

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2. Дмитриев С. В. Геракл в древнейшей Италии (рассказ Аполлодора и его источники) // Межвузовский сборник научных статей «Античность и средневековье Европы» / под редакцией И. Л. Маяк и А. З. Нюркаевой. — Пермский университет, 1994. — С. 3—13. Архивировано 17 сентября 2010 года.
3. Pyrrhos’ Geburtsjahr und Alter wird aus Plutarch, Pyrrhos 3,3 erschlossen, wonach er bei seiner Rückführung nach Epiros 306 v. Chr. zwölf Jahre alt war.
4. Milton, John and W. Bell. 1890. Milton's L'allegro, Il Penseroso, Arcades, Lycidas, Sonnets Etc. London and New York: Macmillan and Co, p. 168; Smith, William. 1860. A New Classical Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography, Mythology and Geography. New York: Harper & Brothers Publishers, p. 729; Tytler, Alexander Fraser. 1823. Elements of General History. Concord, NH: Isaac Hill, p. 102.
5. At Pyrrhus's birth in 319 BC, Aeacides was only a prince and his father, Arrybas, ruled Epirus as a regent to the underaged King Neoptolemus.
6. Plutarch, Parallel Lives, "Life of Pyrrhus" 21.9 (ed. Clough 1859; ed. Loeb).
7. Казаров, 2003a, с. 147—148. (Казаров С. С. Ещё раз о «Пирровой победе» // Вопросы истории. — 2003a. — № 8. — С. 147—150. — ISSN 0042-8779.)
8. Plutarch, Parallel Lives, "Life of Pyrrhus" 34 (ed. Clough 1859; ed. Loeb).
9. Жигунин, 1980, с. 82. (Жигунин В. Д. Международные отношения эллинистических государств в 280—220 гг. до н. э.. — Казань: Издательство Казанского университета, 1980.)
10. O'Hara 2017, p. 106. (O'Hara, J. J. (2017). True Names: Vergil and the Alexandrian Tradition of Etymological Wordplay. University of Michigan Press. ISBN 978-0472036875.)
11. O'Hara 2017, str. 106. (O'Hara, J. J. (2017). True Names: Vergil and the Alexandrian Tradition of Etymological Wordplay. University of Michigan Press. ISBN 978-0472036875.)
12. Beekes 2010, s.v. πυρρός. (Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010). Lucien van Beek (ed.). Etymological Dictionary of Greek. Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series. Vol. ΙΙ. Leiden, the Netherlands: Brill Publications. ISBN 978-90-04-17419-1.)
13. Πλούταρχος, «Βίοι Παράλληλοι:Πύρρος», §1
14. Petros Garouphalias (1979). Pyrrhus, King of Epirus. Stacey International. p. 170.
15. Carney, 2006, p. 5. (Carney E. D. Olympias. Mother of Alexander the Great (англ.). — New York • London: Routledge, 2006. — 221 p. — (Women of the Ancient World). — ISBN 0-415-33316-4.)
16. Carcopino 1961, p. 27.
17. Encyclopædia Britannica ("Pyrrhus") 2013. (Encyclopædia Britannica ("Pyrrhus") (2013). "Pyrrhus". Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. Retrieved 1 July 2013.)
18. Πλούταρχος, «Βίοι Παράλληλοι:Πύρρος», §2
19. Плутарх, 1994, Пирр 2. (Плутарх. Сравнительные жизнеописания в двух томах / Перевод С. П. Маркиша, обработка перевода для настоящего переиздания — С. С. Аверинцева, переработка комментария — М. Л. Гаспарова. — второе. — М.: Наука, 1994.)
20. Plutarch, Judith Mossman, Lives of the noble Grecians and Romans, các trang 187-189.
21. Marcus Junianus Justinus, «Επιτομή του Πομπήιου Τρόγου»,17.3
22. Плутарх, 1994, Пирр 3. (Плутарх. Сравнительные жизнеописания в двух томах / Перевод С. П. Маркиша, обработка перевода для настоящего переиздания — С. С. Аверинцева, переработка комментария — М. Л. Гаспарова. — второе. — М.: Наука, 1994.)
23. Plutarch. Parallel Lives, "Pyrrhus".
24. Champion 2009, p. 12. (Champion, Jeff (2009). Pyrrhus of Epirus. Barnsley, South Yorkshire: Pen & Sword Books Limited. ISBN 978-1-84468-282-9.)
25. Will 2003, p. 91.
26. Justin, Epitome, 17.3.
27. Πλούταρχος, «Βίοι Παράλληλοι:Πύρρος», §3
28. Плутарх, 1994, Деметрий 25, 53. (Плутарх. Сравнительные жизнеописания в двух томах / Перевод С. П. Маркиша, обработка перевода для настоящего переиздания — С. С. Аверинцева, переработка комментария — М. Л. Гаспарова. — второе. — М.: Наука, 1994.)
29. Πλούταρχος, «Βίοι Παράλληλοι:Δημήτριος», §25
30. Champion 2009, p. 14; Glaukias' kingdom was being attacked by pirates. (Champion, Jeff (2009). Pyrrhus of Epirus. Barnsley, South Yorkshire: Pen & Sword Books Limited. ISBN 978-1-84468-282-9.)
31. Плутарх, 1994, Пирр 4. (Плутарх. Сравнительные жизнеописания в двух томах / Перевод С. П. Маркиша, обработка перевода для настоящего переиздания — С. С. Аверинцева, переработка комментария — М. Л. Гаспарова. — второе. — М.: Наука, 1994.)
32. Πλούταρχος, «Βίοι Παράλληλοι:Πύρρος», §4
33. Светлов, 2006, с. 46. (Светлов Р. В. Пирр и военная история его времени. — СПб.: Изд-во С.-Петерб. ун-та, 2006. — 355 с. — ISBN 5-288-03892-9.)
34. Светлов, 2006, с. 47. (Светлов Р. В. Пирр и военная история его времени. — СПб.: Изд-во С.-Петерб. ун-та, 2006. — 355 с. — ISBN 5-288-03892-9.)
35. Champion 2009, pp. 14–17. (Champion, Jeff (2009). Pyrrhus of Epirus. Barnsley, South Yorkshire: Pen & Sword Books Limited. ISBN 978-1-84468-282-9.)
36. Плутарх, 1994, Деметрий 29—30. (Плутарх. Сравнительные жизнеописания в двух томах / Перевод С. П. Маркиша, обработка перевода для настоящего переиздания — С. С. Аверинцева, переработка комментария — М. Л. Гаспарова. — второе. — М.: Наука, 1994.)
37. קרב איפסוס (Battle of Ipsos), באתר אנציקלופדיה בריטניקה
38. Champion 2009, p. 18. (Champion, Jeff (2009). Pyrrhus of Epirus. Barnsley, South Yorkshire: Pen & Sword Books Limited. ISBN 978-1-84468-282-9.)
39. Светлов, 2006, с. 129—130. (Светлов Р. В. Пирр и военная история его времени. — СПб.: Изд-во С.-Петерб. ун-та, 2006. — 355 с. — ISBN 5-288-03892-9.)
40. Светлов, 2006, с. 127. (Светлов Р. В. Пирр и военная история его времени. — СПб.: Изд-во С.-Петерб. ун-та, 2006. — 355 с. — ISBN 5-288-03892-9.)
41. Светлов, 2006, с. 130—131. (Светлов Р. В. Пирр и военная история его времени. — СПб.: Изд-во С.-Петерб. ун-та, 2006. — 355 с. — ISBN 5-288-03892-9.)
42. Πλούταρχος, «Βίοι Παράλληλοι:Πύρρος», §5
43. Plutarch, Parallel Lives, "Life of Pyrrhus" 5 (ed. Clough 1859; ed. Loeb).
44. Плутарх, 1994, Пирр 5. (Плутарх. Сравнительные жизнеописания в двух томах / Перевод С. П. Маркиша, обработка перевода для настоящего переиздания — С. С. Аверинцева, переработка комментария — М. Л. Гаспарова. — второе. — М.: Наука, 1994.)
45. Казаров, 2009, с. 32, 408. (Казаров С. С. История царя Пирра Эпирского / Под научной редакцией Ю. Н. Кузьмина, М. М. Холода. — СПб.: Издательство Санкт-Петербургского университета, 2009. — 521 с. — (Res militaris). — ISBN 978-5-288-04749-7.)
46. Bennett 2010. (Bennett, Chris (2010). "Antigone (Egyptian Royal Genealogy - The Ptolemaic Dynasty)". Tyndale House.)
47. Плутарх, 1994, Пирр 6, 9. (Плутарх. Сравнительные жизнеописания в двух томах / Перевод С. П. Маркиша, обработка перевода для настоящего переиздания — С. С. Аверинцева, переработка комментария — М. Л. Гаспарова. — второе. — М.: Наука, 1994.)
48. Bennett Antigone, 2010. (Bennett Chris. Antigone : [англ.] : [арх. 16 июля 2011] // The Egyptian Royal Genealogy Project. — Tyndale house, 2010. — 20 November.)
49. Πλούταρχος, «Βίοι Παράλληλοι:Πύρρος», §6
50. Hammond, 1967, p. 578. (Hammond N. G. L. Epirus (англ.). — Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1967.)
51. Champion 2009, p. 32; Demetrius commanded the full might of the Macedonian army which at that particular time was much larger than the army of Epirus. (Champion, Jeff (2009). Pyrrhus of Epirus. Barnsley, South Yorkshire: Pen & Sword Books Limited. ISBN 978-1-84468-282-9.)
52. Στράβων, «Γεωγραφία», 7.7.6
53. Казаров, 2009, с. 506—507. (Казаров С. С. История царя Пирра Эпирского / Под научной редакцией Ю. Н. Кузьмина, М. М. Холода. — СПб.: Издательство Санкт-Петербургского университета, 2009. — 521 с. — (Res militaris). — ISBN 978-5-288-04749-7.)
54. Carcopino 1961, p. 29-33.
55. Hammond, 1967, pp. 558—559. (Hammond N. G. L. Epirus (англ.). — Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1967.)
56. Казаров, 2009, с. 415—426. (Казаров С. С. История царя Пирра Эпирского / Под научной редакцией Ю. Н. Кузьмина, М. М. Холода. — СПб.: Издательство Санкт-Петербургского университета, 2009. — 521 с. — (Res militaris). — ISBN 978-5-288-04749-7.)
57. Pline l'Ancien, Histoire naturelle, VIII, 70.
58. Казаров, 2009, с. 426—439. (Казаров С. С. История царя Пирра Эпирского / Под научной редакцией Ю. Н. Кузьмина, М. М. Холода. — СПб.: Издательство Санкт-Петербургского университета, 2009. — 521 с. — (Res militaris). — ISBN 978-5-288-04749-7.)
59. Pline l'Ancien, Histoire naturelle [détail des éditions] [lire en ligne], VIII, 6.
60. Carcopino 1961, p. 28-29.
61. Der Kleine Pauly Lexikon Der Antike, Dritter Bande, 1969, 516, Latrunculorum ludus.
62. Der Kleine Pauly III (1969) 516 (latrunculorum ludus)
63. Pliny, Naturalis Historia, 7.2
64. Plinij Starejši, Naturalis Historia, 2.111
65. Плутарх, 1994, Пирр 6. (Плутарх. Сравнительные жизнеописания в двух томах / Перевод С. П. Маркиша, обработка перевода для настоящего переиздания — С. С. Аверинцева, переработка комментария — М. Л. Гаспарова. — второе. — М.: Наука, 1994.)
66. Plut. Pirr. 6, con los añadidos de Niebuhr, Hist. de Roma vol. iii. nota 811, Παραναίαν en lugar de Παραλίαν.
67. Lévêque 1957[réf. incomplète].
68. Carcopino 1961, p. 33.
69. Thirlwall, Grecia vol. viii. p. 16.
70. Πλούταρχος, «Βίοι Παράλληλοι:Δημήτριος», §36
71. Πλούταρχος, «Βίοι Παράλληλοι:Πύρρος», §7
72. Казаров, 2009, с. 234—235. (Казаров С. С. История царя Пирра Эпирского / Под научной редакцией Ю. Н. Кузьмина, М. М. Холода. — СПб.: Издательство Санкт-Петербургского университета, 2009. — 521 с. — (Res militaris). — ISBN 978-5-288-04749-7.)
73. Плутарх, 1994, Пирр. 9. (Плутарх. Сравнительные жизнеописания в двух томах / Перевод С. П. Маркиша, обработка перевода для настоящего переиздания — С. С. Аверинцева, переработка комментария — М. Л. Гаспарова. — второе. — М.: Наука, 1994.)
74. Πλούταρχος, «Βίοι Παράλληλοι:Πύρρος», §9
75. Plutarch, Parallel Lives: Pyrrhus, §9
76. Плутарх, 1994, Пирр 10. (Плутарх. Сравнительные жизнеописания в двух томах / Перевод С. П. Маркиша, обработка перевода для настоящего переиздания — С. С. Аверинцева, переработка комментария — М. Л. Гаспарова. — второе. — М.: Наука, 1994.)
77. Πλούταρχος, «Βίοι Παράλληλοι:Πύρρος», §10
78. Плутарх, 1994, Пирр 7. (Плутарх. Сравнительные жизнеописания в двух томах / Перевод С. П. Маркиша, обработка перевода для настоящего переиздания — С. С. Аверинцева, переработка комментария — М. Л. Гаспарова. — второе. — М.: Наука, 1994.)
79. Плутарх, 1994, Деметрий 39. (Плутарх. Сравнительные жизнеописания в двух томах / Перевод С. П. Маркиша, обработка перевода для настоящего переиздания — С. С. Аверинцева, переработка комментария — М. Л. Гаспарова. — второе. — М.: Наука, 1994.)
80. Champion 2009, pp. 33–34. (Champion, Jeff (2009). Pyrrhus of Epirus. Barnsley, South Yorkshire: Pen & Sword Books Limited. ISBN 978-1-84468-282-9.)
81. Champion 2009, p. 34. (Champion, Jeff (2009). Pyrrhus of Epirus. Barnsley, South Yorkshire: Pen & Sword Books Limited. ISBN 978-1-84468-282-9.)
82. Светлов, 2006, с. 152—153. (Светлов Р. В. Пирр и военная история его времени. — СПб.: Изд-во С.-Петерб. ун-та, 2006. — 355 с. — ISBN 5-288-03892-9.)
83. Champion 2009, str. 34–35. (Champion, Jeff (2009). Pyrrhus of Epirus. Barnsley, South Yorkshire: Pen & Sword Books Limited. ISBN 978-1-84468-282-9.)
84. Hammond, 1988, pp. 227—228. (Hammond N. G. L., Griffith G. T., Walbank F. W. A History of Macedonia (англ.). — Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1988. — Vol. III: 336-167 B.C.. — ISBN 0-l9-814814-1.)
85. Reputedly raising 110,000 soldiers and 500 ships.
86. Marcus Junianus Justinus, «Επιτομή του Πομπήιου Τρόγου»,16.2
87. Champion 2009, pp. 34–35. (Champion, Jeff (2009). Pyrrhus of Epirus. Barnsley, South Yorkshire: Pen & Sword Books Limited. ISBN 978-1-84468-282-9.)
88. Полиэн, 2002, IV. 12. 2, с. 174. (Полиэн. Стратегемы / под общей редакцией А. К. Нефёдкина. — СПб.: Евразия, 2002. — 608 с. — ISBN 5-8071-0097-2.)
89. Pausanias, Descripción de Grecia I.10.2.
90. Champion 2009, pp. 35–36. (Champion, Jeff (2009). Pyrrhus of Epirus. Barnsley, South Yorkshire: Pen & Sword Books Limited. ISBN 978-1-84468-282-9.)
91. Πλούταρχος, «Βίοι Παράλληλοι:Πύρρος», §11
92. Плутарх, 1994, Пирр 11. (Плутарх. Сравнительные жизнеописания в двух томах / Перевод С. П. Маркиша, обработка перевода для настоящего переиздания — С. С. Аверинцева, переработка комментария — М. Л. Гаспарова. — второе. — М.: Наука, 1994.)
93. Πλούταρχος, «Βίοι Παράλληλοι:Δημήτριος», §45
94. פלוטרכוס, 11.5, חיי אישים - פירוס
95. Πλούταρχος, «Βίοι Παράλληλοι:Πύρρος», §12
96. Champion 2009, p. 37. (Champion, Jeff (2009). Pyrrhus of Epirus. Barnsley, South Yorkshire: Pen & Sword Books Limited. ISBN 978-1-84468-282-9.)
97. Carcopino 1961, p. 39-40.
98. Plutarch, Parallel Lives, "Life of Pyrrhus" 12 (ed. Clough 1859; ed. Loeb). Plutarch, Parallel Lives, "Life of Demetrius" 41 (ed. Clough 1859; ed. Loeb).
99. In 301 BC, at the Battle of Ipsus, Lysimachus had fielded 40,000 troops. Since then he had acquired half of Macedonia and western Asia Minor. With these combined assets his army could have numbered over 70,000 troops. Pyrrhus commanded 40,000 troops at best.
100. Champion 2009, str. 37–39; {{harvnb|Greenwalt|2010|p=298 (Champion, Jeff (2009). Pyrrhus of Epirus. Barnsley, South Yorkshire: Pen & Sword Books Limited. ISBN 978-1-84468-282-9.)
101. Плутарх, 1994, Пирр 12. (Плутарх. Сравнительные жизнеописания в двух томах / Перевод С. П. Маркиша, обработка перевода для настоящего переиздания — С. С. Аверинцева, переработка комментария — М. Л. Гаспарова. — второе. — М.: Наука, 1994.)
102. Ευσέβιος, «Χρονικόν», κείμενο
103. apud Euseb. Arm. p. 329, ed. Aucher; apud Syncell. p. 266a.
104. Plut. Pirr. 12; Paus. 1.10.2
105. Champion 2009, pp. 37–39; Greenwalt 2010, p. 298: "From 288 until 284, Pyrrhus and Lysimachus shared the rule of Macedonia until the latter drove the former back to Epirus (Plut., Pyrrhus 7–12)."; Pausanias. Guide to Greece, 1.7. (Champion, Jeff (2009). Pyrrhus of Epirus. Barnsley, South Yorkshire: Pen & Sword Books Limited. ISBN 978-1-84468-282-9.)
106. Παυσανίας, «Ελλάδος περιήγησις», 1.9.7
107. Paus. 1.9,7. Pausanias describe a Pirro como «de naturaleza errabunda». Jerónimo de Cardia dice que Lisímaco «destruyó las tumbas y esparció los huesos de los muertos», afirmación cuestionada por Pausanias.
108. Hackens 1992, pp. 20-21: "When, however, a Roman fleet sailed into the Tarentine Gulf (perhaps in order to place a garrison in Thurii) and thereby violated the terms of a treaty probably made at the time of Cleonymus, Tarentum responded swiftly … " (Hackens, Tony, ed. (1992). The Age of Pyrrhus: Papers Delivered at the International Conference, Brown University, 8–10 April, 1988 (Archaeologia Transatlantica XI). Providence, RI: Center for Old World Archaeology and Art, Brown University.)
109. Παυσανίας, «Ελλάδος περιήγησις», 1.12
110. {{harvnb|Hackens|1992|loc=str. 20-21.
111. Павсаний, 1996, I. 12. 1. (Павсаний. Описание Эллады / Перевод и примечания С. П. Кондратьева под редакцией Е. В. Никитюк. Ответственный редактор проф. Э. Д. Фролов.. — СПб.: Алетейя, 1996. — ISBN 5-89329-006-2.)
112. Πλούταρχος, «Βίοι Παράλληλοι:Πύρρος», §13
113. Marcus Junianus Justinus, «Επιτομή του Πομπήιου Τρόγου»,18.1
114. Marcus Junianus Justinus, Epitome of Trogus, 17.2
115. Дройзен, 1995b, с. 96. (Дройзен И. Г. История эллинизма. — Ростов н/Д.: Феникс, 1995b. — Т. 3. — 608 с. — ISBN 5-85880-263-X.)
116. Светлов, 2006, с. 188—195. (Светлов Р. В. Пирр и военная история его времени. — СПб.: Изд-во С.-Петерб. ун-та, 2006. — 355 с. — ISBN 5-288-03892-9.)
117. Siehe Hammond (1988), S. 413.
118. Плутарх, 1994, Пирр 14. (Плутарх. Сравнительные жизнеописания в двух томах / Перевод С. П. Маркиша, обработка перевода для настоящего переиздания — С. С. Аверинцева, переработка комментария — М. Л. Гаспарова. — второе. — М.: Наука, 1994.)
119. Plutarque, Pyrrhus, p. 360.
120. Just. 17.2, 18.1.
121. Фронтин, 1946, I. 4. 1, с. 226. (Фронтин. Стратегемы. Введение А. Б. Рановича // Вестник древней истории. — 1946. — Вып. 15, № 1. — С. 219—306.)
122. Staehelin, 1932. (Staehelin F.. Milon 5 // Paulys Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft : [нем.] / Georg Wissowa. — Stuttgart : J. B. Metzler’sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, 1932. — Bd. XV,2. — Kol. 1676—1677.)
123. Πλούταρχος, «Βίοι Παράλληλοι:Πύρρος», §15
124. Плутарх, 1994, Пирр 15. (Плутарх. Сравнительные жизнеописания в двух томах / Перевод С. П. Маркиша, обработка перевода для настоящего переиздания — С. С. Аверинцева, переработка комментария — М. Л. Гаспарова. — второе. — М.: Наука, 1994.)
125. Дройзен, 1995b, с. 102. (Дройзен И. Г. История эллинизма. — Ростов н/Д.: Феникс, 1995b. — Т. 3. — 608 с. — ISBN 5-85880-263-X.)
126. Πλούταρχος, «Βίοι Παράλληλοι:Πύρρος», §16
127. "History of Liberty: The Ancient Romans" (1853), p. 6.
128. Плутарх, 1994, Пирр 16. (Плутарх. Сравнительные жизнеописания в двух томах / Перевод С. П. Маркиша, обработка перевода для настоящего переиздания — С. С. Аверинцева, переработка комментария — М. Л. Гаспарова. — второе. — М.: Наука, 1994.)
129. Dionisio de Halicarnaso 19.9,1-10,5
130. Казаров, 2001. (Казаров С. С. Первое сражение греков с римлянами (битва при Гераклее) // Военно-исторический журнал "PARA BELLVM". — 2001. — Вып. 15.)
131. Вершинин, 1986, с. 86—87. (Вершинин Л. Р. Пиррова победа // Вопросы истории. — М.: Правда, 1986. — № 6. — С. 81—90.)
132. Διονύσιος ο Αλικαρνασσεύς, «Ρωμαϊκή Αρχαιολογία», 19.12
133. Πλούταρχος, «Βίοι Παράλληλοι:Πύρρος», §17
134. Niebuhr conjetura que podría tratarse de Venusia.
135. Plutarch, Parallel Lives, "Life of Pyrrhus" 17.4 (ed. Clough 1859; ed. Loeb).
136. Плутарх, 1994, Пирр 17. (Плутарх. Сравнительные жизнеописания в двух томах / Перевод С. П. Маркиша, обработка перевода для настоящего переиздания — С. С. Аверинцева, переработка комментария — М. Л. Гаспарова. — второе. — М.: Наука, 1994.)
137. Франке, 2015, с. 546—547. (Франке П. Р.. Пирр // Кембриджская история древнего мира / под редакцией Ф. У. Уолбэнка, А.-Э. Астина, М.-У. Фредериксена, Р.-М. Огилви, Э. Драммонда. — М.: Ладомир, 2015. — Т. VII. Книга 2. Возвышение Рима: от основания до 220 года до н. э.. — ISBN 978-5-94451-053-2.)
138. Πλούταρχος, Πύρρος 17.5: «χώραν πολλὴν διεπόρθησε, καὶ προῆλθεν ὅσον μὴ πλέον σταδίων τριακοσίων ἀποσχεῖν τῆς Ῥώμης»
139. George Long, Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge (Great Britain), The Penny cyclopædia of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge: v. 1-27, Tập 19, các trang 169-172.
140. Champion 2009, pp. 75–76. (Champion, Jeff (2009). Pyrrhus of Epirus. Barnsley, South Yorkshire: Pen & Sword Books Limited. ISBN 978-1-84468-282-9.)
141. Encyclopædia Britannica ("Pyrrhus") 2013
142. Плутарх, 1994, Пирр 20. (Плутарх. Сравнительные жизнеописания в двух томах / Перевод С. П. Маркиша, обработка перевода для настоящего переиздания — С. С. Аверинцева, переработка комментария — М. Л. Гаспарова. — второе. — М.: Наука, 1994.)
143. Διονύσιος ο Αλικαρνασσεύς, «Ρωμαϊκή Αρχαιολογία», 19.13
144. Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (Boston: Little, Brown and co., 1867), Luscinus, Fabricius
145. Διονύσιος ο Αλικαρνασσεύς, «Ρωμαϊκή Αρχαιολογία», 19.18
146. Este es el relato de los hechos según Apiano, Guerras samnitas 10.4, 5 y Plutarco Vidas Paralelas:Pirro 20. Otras fuentes recelan de a que a los prisioneros les fuera permitido abandonar Tarento de manera incondicional y sin un rescate: Liv. Epit. 13; Zonar. 8.4; Flor. 1.18; Eutrop. 2.7; Aurel. Vict. de Vir. Ill. 35.
147. Казаров, 2009, с. 121. (Казаров С. С. История царя Пирра Эпирского / Под научной редакцией Ю. Н. Кузьмина, М. М. Холода. — СПб.: Издательство Санкт-Петербургского университета, 2009. — 521 с. — (Res militaris). — ISBN 978-5-288-04749-7.)
148. Πλούταρχος, «Βίοι Παράλληλοι:Πύρρος», §18
149. Цицерон, 2017, I. 59, с. 53. (Цицерон. Тускуланские беседы / пер. с лат. М. Гаспарова. — М.: РИПОЛ классик, 2017. — 360 с. — (Кофе с мудрецами). — ISBN 978-5-386-09866-7.)
150. Плутарх, 1994, Пирр 18. (Плутарх. Сравнительные жизнеописания в двух томах / Перевод С. П. Маркиша, обработка перевода для настоящего переиздания — С. С. Аверинцева, переработка комментария — М. Л. Гаспарова. — второе. — М.: Наука, 1994.)
151. Аппиан, 1998, III. 10. 1, с. 30. (Аппиан Александрийский. Римская история / Отв. редактор д. и. н. Е. С. Голубцова, комментарии А. С. Балахванцева. — М.: Наука, 1998. — 726 с. — (Памятники исторической мысли). — ISBN 5-02-010146-X.)
152. Plut. Pirr. 18-19
153. Плутарх, 1994, Пирр 19. (Плутарх. Сравнительные жизнеописания в двух томах / Перевод С. П. Маркиша, обработка перевода для настоящего переиздания — С. С. Аверинцева, переработка комментария — М. Л. Гаспарова. — второе. — М.: Наука, 1994.)
154. Marcus Junianus Justinus, «Επιτομή του Πομπήιου Τρόγου»,18.2
155. Франке, 2015, с. 540—549. (Франке П. Р.. Пирр // Кембриджская история древнего мира / под редакцией Ф. У. Уолбэнка, А.-Э. Астина, М.-У. Фредериксена, Р.-М. Огилви, Э. Драммонда. — М.: Ладомир, 2015. — Т. VII. Книга 2. Возвышение Рима: от основания до 220 года до н. э.. — ISBN 978-5-94451-053-2.)
156. Франке, 2015, с. 549—550. (Франке П. Р.. Пирр // Кембриджская история древнего мира / под редакцией Ф. У. Уолбэнка, А.-Э. Астина, М.-У. Фредериксена, Р.-М. Огилви, Э. Драммонда. — М.: Ладомир, 2015. — Т. VII. Книга 2. Возвышение Рима: от основания до 220 года до н. э.. — ISBN 978-5-94451-053-2.)
157. Este es el recuento de Jerónimo de Cardia, recogido por Plutarco, y bastante exacto en líneas generales. Los analistas romanos, por el contrario, representaron la batalla bien como un empate, o reclamaron la victoria para su nación: Liv. Epit. 13 ; Zonar. 8.5; Eutrop. 2.13; Ores. 4.1 Flor. 1.18.9
158. Цицерон, 1985, О природе богов II. 10, с. 103. (Цицерон. О природе богов // Философские трактаты / пер. с л. (в т. ч. и стихов, кроме особо оговоренных случаев) и комм. М. И. Рижского. Отв. ред., сост. и автор вступ. ст. д. филос. н. Г. Г. Майоров. — М.: Наука, 1985. — 381 с. — (Памятники философской мысли).)
159. Цицерон, 2017, I. 78, с. 78. (Цицерон. Тускуланские беседы / пер. с лат. М. Гаспарова. — М.: РИПОЛ классик, 2017. — 360 с. — (Кофе с мудрецами). — ISBN 978-5-386-09866-7.)
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164. Διονύσιος ο Αλικαρνασσεύς, «Ρωμαϊκή Αρχαιολογία», 20.1-3
165. Плутарх, 1994, Пирр 21. (Плутарх. Сравнительные жизнеописания в двух томах / Перевод С. П. Маркиша, обработка перевода для настоящего переиздания — С. С. Аверинцева, переработка комментария — М. Л. Гаспарова. — второе. — М.: Наука, 1994.)
166. Πλούταρχος, «Βίοι Παράλληλοι:Πύρρος», §21
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196. Marcus Junianus Justinus, «Επιτομή του Πομπήιου Τρόγου», 25.3
197. Carcopino 1961, p. 83.
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