The Army of Pyrrhus of Epirus: 3rd Century BC

Osprey Men at Arms #528

by Nicholas Sekunda, Peter Dennis (Illustrator)

Fully illustrated story of the army of the Greek king who fought both Rome and Carthage in the 280s--270s BC, and gave the world the phrase "a Pyrrhic victory" for a success so costly that it counts as a defeat.

Fully illustrated with detailed color plates, this is the story of one of the most renowned warrior-kings of the post-Alexandrian age, whose costly encounters with Republican Rome have become a byword for victory won at unsustainable cost.

Pyrrhus was one of the most tireless and famous warriors of the Hellenistic Age that followed the dispersal of Alexander the Great's brief empire. After inheriting the throne as a boy, and a period of exile, he began a career of alliances and expansion, in particular against the region's rising Rome. Gathering both Greek and Italian allies into a very large army (which included war-elephants), he crossed to Italy in 280 BC, but lost most of his force in a series of costly victories at Heraclea and Asculum, as well as a storm at sea. After a campaign in Sicily against the Carthaginians, he was defeated by the Romans at Beneventum and was forced to withdraw. Undeterred, he fought wars in Macedonia and Greece, the last of which cost him his life.

Genres: History, Ancient History

48 pages, Paperback

First published September 17, 2019

About the author

Dr. Nicholas Victor Sekunda was born in 1953. After studying Ancient History and Archaeology at Manchester University, he went on to take his Ph.D. in 1981. He has taken part in archaeological excavations in Poland, Iran and Greece, participated in a research project on ancient Persian warfare for the British institute of Persian Studies. He has published numerous books and academic articles, and is currently he is Head of the Department of Mediterranean Archaeology at Gdansk University, Poland, and is co-director of excavations at Negotino, Republic of Macedonia.

Reviews

[Hunter Ross · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wanted to love this, but it was marginally okay. IF you have ever read Genesis Chapters 4,5, and 11 with all the begets him and her, that is what this book reminds me. It is more like a genealogy and not really any interesting details. Everything is rushed through so it is hard to retain much of anything. Honestly I wonder if this was some other language translated into English as it feels like a row of speed bumps and there are errors like page37 "gain" instead of "grain." I would skip this.

[Rindis · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a good idea for the subject of an Osprey book. While he's remembered today for costly defeats thanks to the phrase 'Pyrrhic victory', in his time he was considered one of the best generals there was. And it should be remembered he did beat Rome at a time when other Hellenistic states were largely suffering catastrophic defeats by them.

Sadly, the coverage of his campaigns is very sparse. They are discussed, but only the Battle Asculum gets a diagram (some ways away from the history bit on it), and that's just a basic look at the dispositions of allied contingents. The section on his army is similarly long on looks at the various types of troops, and less so on detailed looks at equipment.

There is the usual good map near the front of the region, but it could be better marked for which part is more properly Epirus. As it is, it takes some reading of the description and hunting on the map to piece it together.

Peter Dennis' illustrations are nothing special (the cover piece is the best of the lot), but do illustrate the kind of equipment and symbols used. They do all at least some decent backgrounds to them, and attempt to show men doing more than standing around for a fashion plate (which I've noted an occasional tendency to go back to, so I'm very happy to note the absence of it here). The bulk of the photos are black-and-white, but there are some color ones scattered about. Mostly, they're nothing extra-special, especially if you have other books on related subjects, but they are all reproduced quite clearly.

So, if you have an interest in early-Roman/late-Diadochoi military history, this is a good short look at the subject. But, it is more of an extended essay, without some of the crunch that other similar Osprey books have had, so it is not as useful to, say, a miniatures wargamer.