Pyrrhus: A Historical Guide to Playing as Epirus
Tyr
Pyrrhus: A Historical Guide to Playing as Epirus
Pyrrhus of Epirus, Pyrrhus the Eagle. For the few that don’t know, he was the King of Epirus, descendant of Achilles and a relation to Alexander the Great. Seen as the successor most similar to Alexander by his contemporaries, he was deemed the second greatest commander by Hannibal, after Alexander.
In 281BC he received an invitation by the Greek city of Tarentum to aid in a war against the Romans. In 280BC he landed in Italy with an army, including 19 war elephants. And it just so happens that Roma Surrectum begins in 280BC, and Epirus is one of the several new factions in the game. You begin with territories in Epirus, and have control of Tarentum, and have important decisions to make; and what better way than referring to the life of Pyrrhus himself!
Now, the best laid plans of mice and men, as they say, often go awry. And Pyrrhus, the ‘fool of hope’, had to change his plans on several occasions (He had already been dispelled as ruler of Macedon prior to the game start). So, I begin this guide with what Pyrrhus had planned, had Victory and Fortune been on his side.
The Plan
The following is taken from Plutarch’s ‘Life of Pyrrhus’, from his superb Parallel Lives writings. It details a conversation between Cineas, a respected public speaker who served Pyrrhus, and Pyrrhus himself.
Quote:
‘Pyrrhus’, he said, ‘everyone tells me that the Romans are good soldiers and that they rule over many warlike nations. Now if the gods allow us to defeat them, how shall we use our victory?’
‘The answer is obvious,’ Pyrrhus told him, ‘If we can conquer the Romans, there is no other Greek or Barbarian city that is a match for us. We shall straight away become the masters of all of Italy, and no one knows the size and the strength and the resources of the country better than yourself.’
There was a moment’s pause before Cineas went on.
‘Then sire, after we have conquered Italy, what shall we do next?’ Pyrrhus did not yet see where the argument was leading. ‘After Italy, Sicily of course,’ he said. ‘The place positively beckons to us. It is rich, well populated and easy to capture. Now that Agothecles is dead, the whole Island is torn by factions, there is not stable government in the cities, and the demagogues have it all their own way.’
‘No doubt what you say is true,’ Cineas answered, ‘but is our campaign to end with the capture of Sicily?’
‘If the gods grant us victory in this campaign,’ Pyrrhus told him, ‘we can make it the spring board for much greater enterprises. How could we resist making an attempt on Libya and Carthage, once we come in reach of them? Even Agothecles very nearly succeeded in capturing them when he slipped out of Syracuse with only a handful of ships. And when we have conquered these countries, none of our enemies who are so insolent to us now, will be able to stand up to us. I do not have to emphasize that.’
‘Certainly not,’ replied Cineas. ‘There is no doubt that when we have achieved that position of strength, we shall be able to recover Macedonia and have the rest of Greece at our feet. But after all these countries our in our power, what shall we do then?’ Pyrrhus smiled benevolently and replied. ‘Why, then we shall relax. We shall drink, my dear fellow, every day, and talk and amuse one another to our hearts’ content.’
Now that he had brought Pyrrhus to this point, Cineas had only to ask him, ‘Then what prevents us from relaxing and entertaining each other now? We have the means to do that all around us. So the very prizes which we propose to win with all this bloodshed and toil and danger and all the suffering inflicted on other people and ourselves, we could enjoy without taking an other step!’
These arguments disturbed Pyrrhus but did not convert him. He could see clearly enough the happiness he was leaving behind, but he could not give up the hopes he had set his heart on.
So, playing as Epirus your objectives are clear:
• Defeat Rome, gaining control over Italy
• Capture Sicily
• Invade Africa, taking the Carthaginian lands there
• Use the vast resources and manpower obtained to regain the Macedonian crown, and then subdue the Greek Cities
(Or you could still listen to the advice of Cineas!)
The Back Up Plan
But of course, it was not as easy for Pyrrhus; he came close to achieving each of these aims in his lifetime, but ultimately failed. Hopefully Victory and Fortune will be on your side, but history may repeat itself. If you too run in to difficulties, once again you can follow the examples of Pyrrhus:
Problem 1 – Romans putting up too much of a hard fight!
They put up a stubborn fight those Romans, as in real life so in Roma Surrectum. Epriot victories at Heraclea and Asculum only came at great cost of life for both sides, losses the Romans could more easily replace. It was after Asculum that Pyrrhus stated: “Another such victory and I shall be utterly undone.” It was here that Pyrrhus tried to enter diplomatic negotiations with the Romans, but they refused to negotiate while he remained on Italian soil. However, in Roma Surrectum, depending on your situation, maybe an arrangement could be negotiated that benefits both sides.
In 278BC Pyrrhus received two offers, one inviting him to take the Macedonian throne, the other an appeal by the Greeks of Sicily aid against Carthage. Pyrrhus accepted the task of liberating Sicily. Maybe you too could divert your attentions elsewhere if the Romans are proving too stubborn.
Problem 2 – Sicily is proving too hard to take/ War is going badly with Carthage
Pyrrhus managed to conquer nearly all of Sicily, with only Lilybaeum remaining in control of the Carthaginians. If you achieve this, but only with great difficulty; or the war with Carthage isn’t going too well, you may also –once again – consider turning to diplomacy. Once Pyrrhus had achieved dominance in Sicily the Carthaginians were willing to come with terms with him, and even sent him ships and money. However they were not willing to completely remove from Sicily as Pyrrhus was demanding.
Meanwhile, the Greeks of Sicily were angered at Pyrrhus’s despotic manner, and when the Samnites and Tarentines once again requested help against the Romans he was eager to use it as a reason to leave (276BC). So if one finds himself unable to complete the conquest of Sicily and Carthage, its back to step 1 to continue the war against Rome.
Problem 3 – My western enterprise have failed altogether, Carthage and Rome are too much for me!
Ahh, fear not my pupil – even Pyrrhus failed to gain anything in the west. After returning to Italy he decided to withdraw after the inconclusive Battle of Beneventum in 275BC. However a new opportunity arose in Macedonia, and he seized the throne there. In 272BC an exiled Spartan of royal blood asked Pyrrhus to attack Sparta and place him as King. Pyrrhus organised a powerful force – a force he intended to conquer the Peloponnese with, not just Sparta. However his plans immediately began to go astray, he delayed in attacking Sparta, and a stubborn Spartan defence stopped him from capturing the city. But even as this opportunity seemed to slip from his grasp, a new one emerged. He was invited to solve a civic dispute in Argos. Here he got caught in a cramped, confused fight in the streets of the city. An Argive woman, seeing her son fighting Pyrrhus cast a tile at him. The tile stunned Pyrrhus and he was dragged aside and slain by an Argive soldier.
So having failed in your attempts to forge an empire in the west concentrate on the Greece and Macedon area and consolidate your power there. Count yourself lucky Argos isn’t on the map!!
The Future
Wait, what’s that? You did succeed in laying low both Rome, Carthage, Macedon and The Greeks? Bravo, you are truly a worthy descendant of Achilles!
Hmmm…what to do next…you could always do what Cineas had wanted you to do and relax!! However, I doubt Pyrrhus would have taken such a route - even in defeat he was looking for new oppurtunities and set himself new goals; who knows where his ambition would have taken him had he been successful.
Now, it is easy to look at what Pyrrhus did do, and to look at what we know he wanted to do. But it’s another thing to predict what he might have done after, based on what we think of his character and his past actions, descending in to the realm of "What If(s)?"; but I shall try my best.
Corsica and Sardinia: The reason Carthage was so reluctant to give up Lilybaeum was that it would be very hard to maintain control over these Islands. So it is my assumption, that if he had been successful, it would be a natural step to take these islands and shouldn’t have proved to be too difficult to Pyrrhus
Gauls of Northern Italy: Having defeated the Romans and conquering most of Italy, it would make sense if he decided to take Transalpine Gaul, pushing the borders of his Italian holdings to the natural frontier of the Alps. Pyrrhus prouded himself on defeating an army of Gauls in Macedonia that were acting as mercenaries to another contender to the Macedonian crown; so he would probably be happy to repeat such endeavours to strengthen his position in Italy.
Naval Superiority: This is based more on assumption -and common sense- than any evidence of his character. With an empire stretching from Sicily to Aegean a strong navy would be essential. This is even more important when you consider that none of the other successors would be able to wage war on Pyrrhus without crossing a body of water (Unless the Seleucid Empire was so determined that they sent a force overland around the black sea, through Armenian, Scythian, Dacian, and Thracian territory). In Roma Surrectum this would involve building up your navy (obviously) and gaining control of the several Aegean islands and the Thracian sea board.
War with the Seleucids: Being on good terms with Ptolemaic Egypt (He had married Ptolemy’s stepdaughter and was restored to his throne in Epirus by Ptolemy in 297BC), judging but the nature of Pyrrhus, it is likely he would honour this friendship by aiding Egypt in any wars with its neighbour.
Alexander’s Empire, or an Alexander of the West?: Now this is pushing it. The above assumptions are feasible to an extent, but this is moving in to fantasy – but it was a possibility nether the less. He was a successor, and he was deemed to hold the most resemblance to the great conqueror in his actions and manner. And what successor wouldn’t want to take the opportunity to reunite Alexander’s Empire if he could. However, in my opinion (and this is solely my opinion) I get the impression that Pyrrhus would not have attempted this (it would after all mean running in to conflict with the Ptolemy’s); and would not be happy to follow in the footsteps of another man. If he did extend his Empire out of the bounds stated in the conversation of the Plutarch passage; I would like to think it would be westwards, along the Mediterranean coast and perhaps striking in to Iberia. An Alexander of the West if you will.
Well, that’s it folks, my first guide to playing a faction historically; hope you enjoyed it. Of course this is of little value to anyone at the moment; as only BETA testers have access to the mod, but once the mod is released I hope it can be of use to some people. I have in mind some other similar guides (including Rome), but that will wait till the mod has been released.
EDIT: Roma Surrectum is now available for download, and I hope some people enjoy this little guide.
