Quote Originally Posted by Foot
Eh? Thats not exactly fair. He beat the romans, but only won by a small margin, not enough to secure victory. His plan was to get to sciliy and use that as a money making venture so that he could defeat the Maks. It didn't work so he changed plan and just went for a headlong attack at Pella, then at the last minute he changed tack and went to Argos. What is your proof for the inevitable loss of Taras. Epeiros was a rising star, not a falling one. It was only the death of Phyrrus that caused to to fall.

Foot
Yeah I was to short in my answer I agree. Though Sicily rather than Italy, which was to serve as a stepping stone, was probably his real objective from the beginning. It was wealthy and rather then the highly disputed peninsula more Greek then not considering it had two major Greek cities and only the Carths to deal with. He won 2 major victories against Rome but he got distracted by Carthage and went to Sicily. He did win almost all his battles but the war of attrition was too much for him. So in a desperate attempt he returned once more into Italy, to fight one more campaign. He was severely defeated in 275 at Malventum, as the Romans had meanwhile learned how to deal with his spearmen and elephants.
The tide having turned against him in force Pyrrhus returned home. I think his biggest folly was his inability to focus on a goal and see it through. I think Taras would have fallen eventually weather Phyrrus died or not. He was more focused on taking the Mak throne then going back to Italy. That was my point. I was just too quick with my answer. Sorry about that.