CLA 1102 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Pyrrhic Victory, Mamertines, Roof Tiles

• School: University of Ottawa
• Department: Classical Studies
• Course: CLA 1102
• Professor: Richard Burgess

Document Summary

Tarentum people think romans are making fun of them because their greek is so bad. King called pyrrhus (relative of alexander the great) 280 bc: king pyrrhus of epirus invades italy, wins victory at heraclea. 279 bc: pyrrhus wins pyrrhic victory" at ausculum; leaves for syracuse. Famous because fight for so long, both armies are wiped out. Pyrrhic victory: winning but at a terrible cost. All the new territories conquered: form a border around rome. He gets a request from syracuse (capital of sicily) to fight carthaginians. Spends 4 years there and abandons tarentum. Isn"t successful for sicily - convinced that if he goes back after 4 years he can defeat rome. 275 bc: pyrrhus returns to italy and is defeated at beneventum. 2 victories against rome, did not win the war. Goes back to epirus, tries to capture parts of greece. As he marches through argos, city in greece, roof tile thrown at him and killed him.