King Pyrrhus in the West: In the footsteps of Agathocles

López Sánchez, Fernando (2025) King Pyrrhus in the West: In the footsteps of Agathocles. ACTA ANTIQUA ACADEMIAE SCIENTIARUM HUNGARICAE, 65 (1). pp. 21-34. ISSN 0044-5975

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Abstract

Though in some instances they behaved simply as the preservers of established states, Hellenistic kings were in general businesslike kingdom-builders and in the West, no other general or king is as deserving as Pyrrhus (307–272 BC) of the reputation of being an energetic soldier throughout his life. Even if he is viewed positively as an entrepreneurial king, though, his campaigns have often been characterised in ancient and in modern literature as mere “adventures” and this has resulted in his operations in Italy and Sicily being almost unanimously regarded as failures, and his eventual coming back to the Balkans in keeping with the inevitable return of all the mercenary nostoi of the age. There is, however, an alternative prism through which we can view Pyrrhus’ war efforts in Italy and Sicily and his arrival to the Epirote kingdom: his actions in Italy and Sicily were essential for securing his own greatness in the West and the interests of both Tarentum and Syracuse, both movements inspired by the final period of Agathocles’ tyranny (317–289 BC). This article will focus on the true meaning of Pyrrhus’ Syracusan basileia, not only in Sicily but in Italy too, and consider the extent to which his actions were determined by the immediate precedent set by Agathocles. Rather than viewing them as two separate events, it will also investigate the interconnection between Pyrrhus’ period sin southern Italy and Sicily. It was the same need to minimise the power of both Carthage and Rome that lay behind his operations in both regions, and the control of the vital straits of Messina and Otranto were key objectives for the cities of Syracuse and Tarentum, respectively.

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