Eagle King of Epirus Trivia Quiz

Answer: Illyria

Glaukias, King of the Taulanti, took Pyrrhus in until he was a young teen. Pyrrhus then returned to take the throne of Epirus.

Answer: The Battle of Ipsus

Pyrrhus was brother-in-law to Demetrios I of Macedon, son of Antigonos Monopthalmus (the One-Eyed), one of Alexander's original generals and successors (Diadokhoi, or Diadokhos singular). Antigonos was in control of Asia Minor, Judaea, and Syria. The combined forces of the Seleucid Empire and the Kingdom of Macedon managed to defeat Antigonos.

Answer: Acceptrd joint-rule due to Neoptolemos's alliances with neighboring warlords

Pyrrhus had an army accumulated from Egypt, but Neoptolemos had neighboring states friendly enough to him to provide assistance in case of invasion. So Pyrrhus accepted joint rule with Neoptolemos. Pyrrhus bided his time until enough of the Epirote people had grown to hate Neoptolemos before killing him and claiming sole power of Epirus.

Answer: The two armies missed one another on the march, ending up in each other's opposite's territory

Pyrrhus had missed Demetrios's army, but instead encountered a smaller army left to garrison Macedonia under Pantaukhos. Pantaukhos challenged Pyrrhus to a one-on-one duel, which Pyrrhus narrowly won. Pantaukhos's men pulled him out before he could be killed, causing the Epirotes in exultation to attack the Macedonians, and take 5,000 prisoner.

Many of the old Macedonian soldiers greatly admired Pyrrhus, remarking that he looked and acted just as Alexander the Great had.

Answer: "It is better to have him here, saying these things, than rambling all over the world with them."

Pyrrhus had a reputation for being benevolent, and always returning kind favors. It is said Pyrrhus was grieved less over the death of a friend than for the fact that he had died before Pyrrhus could repay him for an old debt.

Answer: Many of the Macedonians who began to join Pyrrhus on the way deserted him

While Demetrios fell sick in Epirus, Pyrrhus ran roughshod over Macedon, until his Macedonian subjects began to desert. Both sides did not want to become embroiled in a major conflict after the little success both men had seen, and so a treaty was signed making peace between the two.

Answer: Take the disillusioned soldiers south with him, so they would be forced to fight a foreign invader rather than desert north to Macedonian commanders

Unfortunately for Demetrios, Pyrrhus was not so foreign an invader as he supposed, and rumors of Pyrrhus's benevolence had reached Macedon (helped in part by some of Pyrrhus's agents). This caused most of the Macedonians to immediately defect to the Epirotes as soon as Pyrrhus rode before them. Pyrrhus conquered Macedonia without a fight.

Answer: Lysimakhos and Thrace betrayed Pyrrhus, turned many Macedonians against Pyrrhus, and captured Pyrrhus's supplies

Pyrrhus had made a treaty with Demetrios after his defeat. Demetrios went to Syria for conquest, and Pyrrhus began a war with Demetrios's subjects in Macedon. Once Demetrios was defeated in Syria, Thrace sprung on Pyrrhus, seizing their supplies and spreading rumors and lies and bribes to cause Pyrrhus's Macedonians to revolt.

Answer: A Roman delegation was mocked and ridiculed by drunken Tarentines during a Bacchanalia, and a Tarentine defecated on one of the ambassadors

A Roman delegation was sent to Tarentum after a small Roman fleet was sunk by the Tarentines. It was the middle of a large festival in the city, and many people were drunk. The Tarentines abused and assaulted the embassy, and one particularly tall Tarentine is reputed to have defecated on one of the ambassador's clothes.

The ambassador is reputed to have said that his toga would be washed with the blood of Tarentum.

Answer: Pyrrhus would not tolerate the Tarentines' easy living, and expect them to prepare for war

Meton reportedly pretended to be drunk, so as to command the attention of as many Tarentines in the town square as possible, before warning them to live it up while they could, for Pyrrhus would expect them to change their way of life if he were to help them. They ignored Meton and sought help from Pyrrhus anyway. Pyrrhus agreed but forcibly closed the public entertainment areas.

Answer: He was injured in combat, and gave his armor to Megakles, who was then slain in full sight of much of his army

Pyrrhus was struck down in the midst of the battle by Roman cavalry. Megakles, a man of similar build and appearance to Pyrrhus, was given Pyrrhus's armor to ride out and inspire the men. Instead, he was killed, and the Roman cavalry began to display Pyrrhus's helmet throughout the battlefield.

It wasn't until Pyrrhus rode out bare-headed for his men to see that the Epirotes took heart again, and began to fight more fiercely.

Answer: The Romans had almost immediately replaced their losses from the battle, while Pyrrhus had not

One crucial aspect of Roman success was the rapid speed with which new soldiers could be brought up and trained. What they lacked in the skill of seasoned Greek and Macedonian veterans, they made up for in superior tactics and almost fanatical levels of morale.

As soon as the Consul Publius Valerius Laevinus's army was routed at Heraclea, they met up with Consul Tiberius Coruncanius's army some miles away from Rome, and had their ranks replenished. Pyrrhus was shocked by this.

Answer: Appius Claudius Caecus

Appius Claudius "Caecus" (the Blind) was an old man by this point who had lost his sight and had to be carried to the Senate house by his servants, though as he said, he wished he had lost his hearing as well, as he ridiculed and abused the Senators for considering talking peace with Pyrrhus, after having bragged so proudly in the past on how they could have defeated Alexander the Great.

The Senate was moved by his speech, and told Cineas they would not talk terms with Pyrrhus until he had left Italia with his army.

Answer: Gaius Fabricius Luscinus

Gaius Fabricius "Luscinus" (the One-Eyed) was reportedly famous as a good soldier and honest man who was very poor. He was sent by the Senate to negotiate the release of Roman prisoners from the battle of Heraclea. Pyrrhus was so impressed by this and his remarks over dinner that night that he released the prisoners without conditions.

Answer: The Battle of Asculum

Pyrrhus waged the battle of Asculum in the same way as he had done at Heraclea, with evenly matched sides fighting it out on an even battlefield. It wasn't until Pyrrhus unleashed his elephants against the Roman flanks that the Roman lines broke. The Romans had prepared for the elephants with wagon-like contraptions that would attempt to scare the elephants with sharp objects, loud noises, and fire.

It didn't work.

Answer: Sicilia

In what was becoming customary for Pyrrhus, he abandoned his venture half-completed and targeted Sicilia, with the ultimate aim of fighting and defeating Carthage, accumulating great wealth and trade possibilities for Epirus in the process.

Answer: His behavior grew more authoritarian and oppressive, and his Sicilian allies turned on him, leaving him stranded, which forced to sue for peace with Carthage

As with the Tarentines, Pyrrhus was exercising a heavily militant authoritarian hand on the Sicilians. Unlike Tarentum, however, his Sicilian allies were more numerous and powerful than the Tarentines, and due to the island's close proximity of conflicting cultures (Italiot, Greek, and Carthaginian), Pyrrhus's subject tribes could find easily willing tribes willing to help them turn themselves over to Carthage to thwart Pyrrhus.

Answer: His elephants, new, young and inexperienced, panicked and turned on Pyrrhus's lines

Pyrrhus was soundly defeated. Although some sources claim Pyrrhus actually won the battle as he had the previous two, he had lost too many men and could no longer carry out a campaign against the Romans. Out of 20,000 Epirotes he had brought with him to Italia, he went home to Epirus with just about 8,500 left alive.

Answer: His Gallic allies looted Macedonian graves

While Pyrrhus still had loyal friends and allies in Macedon, he became universally despised by most Macedonians as his Gallic allies and mercenaries began to loot Macedonian graveyards, while Pyrrhus did nothing to stop them. Failed in this invasion, Pyrrhus aimed to "liberate" Sparta from the rule of Antigonos II of Macedon after being called upon to settle an internal dispute.

Instead his army began to loot Laconia.

Answer: Argos

According to some sources, an old woman from atop a building threw a roof tile down on Pyrrhus, catching him in the back of the neck as he rode past on his horse. This kept him stunned long enough for an enemy soldier to behead him. Antigonos gave Pyrrhus a proper burial and compensation to his family.

Thus ended the life and career of Pyrrhus of Epirus, named the "Eagle" of Epirus by his people, and despite his great skill and charisma and genius, he never stuck to a single campaign long enough to see it through.

Ultimately, Plutarch sums up the life of Pyrrhus perfectly in this quote:

"Whatever Pyrrhus won, he lost by going on to new adventures, like a lucky gambler who does not know when to stop. What he won by great actions he lost by vain hopes. Because of his desires for new conquests, he lost what he had already won. On and on he went, building new ambitions on the ruins of old ones, and never finishing what he started."