Pyrrhic War - Conflict Chronology

Conflict Chronology

281 BC

• The city of Tarentum helps Pyrrhus of Epirus regain control of Corcyra.
• Roman consul Publius Cornelius Dolabella mounts a 10-ship exploratory expedition along the southern coast of Italia.
• Philocharis of Tarentum views Cornelius' expedition as a violation of an ancient naval treaty, attacks the expedition, sinking 4 ships and capturing 1.
• Tarentum attacks the Roman garrison at Thurii, and defeats it, sacking the city.
• Rome dispatches an embassy to Tarentum, which is rejected and insulted by The Tarentines.
• The Roman senate declares war on Tarentum.
• Consul Lucius Aemilius Barbula ceases hostilities with the Samnites, and moves against Tarentum.
• The Tarentines call on Pyrrhus to protect them against the Romans; Pyrrhus is encouraged to go by an oracle from Delphi.
• Pyrrhus makes an alliance with Ptolemy Keraunos and gets help from Macedonia for his expedition to Italy.

280 BC

• Pyrrhus sends Cineas ahead to Tarentum.
• Pyrrhus sets sail for Italy.
• Pyrrhus arrives in Italy, bringing war elephants to back up his army.
• The Samnites join Pyrrhus.
• Pyrrhus offers to negotiate with the Romans.
• A Roman garrison is sent to Rhegium.
• Pyrrhus defeats the Romans at the Battle of Heraclea.
• Locri and other places desert from the Romans.
• Two new legions levied for consul Publius Valerius Laevinus are deployed against Pyrrhus, reinforced by the existing legions of consul Tiberius Coruncanius from Etruria.
• Pyrrhus advances on Rome, as far as Anagnia in Latium.
• Pyrrhus retires to Campania.
• Cineas arrives at Rome as the ambassador of Pyrrhus, and unsuccessfully attempts to win support with bribes.
• The senate rejects Pyrrhus' peace terms, after a speech by Ap. Claudius Caecus.
• Cineas returns to Pyrrhus, and calls the Roman senate "a parliament of kings".
• Gaius Fabricius Luscinus is sent on a mission to Pyrrhus to negotiate the release of Roman prisoners of war. Pyrrhus attempts to bribe Fabricius, and when he cannot, releases the prisoners without ransom.
• Pyrrhus invades Apulia, and is confronted by the Roman army.
• Pyrrhus defeats the Romans at the Battle of Asculum, but suffers heavy losses.
• Mago the Carthaginian admiral offers support to the Romans, and a further treaty is signed between Rome and Carthage.
• Mago visits the camp of Pyrrhus on his way back from Rome.

279 BC

• When Fabricius discovers a plot by Pyrrhus' doctor Nicias to poison him, he sends warning to Pyrrhus.
• The Roman garrison at Rhegium mutinies and seizes the town.
• The Sicilians send an embassy to Pyrrhus, asking him to help them against the Carthaginians. Pyrrhus agrees.
• The Mamertines make an alliance with the Carthaginians and try to stop Pyrrhus crossing to Sicily.
• Cineas goes to Rome again, but he is unable to negotiate peace terms.
• Pyrrhus leaves Italy and crosses over to Sicily.
• Pyrrhus arranges peace between Thoenon and his opponents at Syracuse.
• Embassies from many Sicilian cities come to Pyrrhus offering their support.
• Pyrrhus is proclaimed king of Sicily.
• Pyrrhus takes control of Acragas and thirty other cities which previously belonged to Sosistratus.
• Pyrrhus attacks the territory of the Carthaginians in Sicily.
• Pyrrhus captures Eryx
• The rest of the Carthaginian possessions in Sicily go over to Pyrrhus.
• Pyrrhus defeats the Mamertines.

278 BC

• Negotiations begin between Pyrrhus and the Carthaginians.
• Pyrrhus prepares to attack Lilybaeum.
• Pyrrhus has Thoenon of Syracuse killed on suspicion of treason, and his despotic behaviour makes him unpopular with the Sicilians.
• Pyrrhus abandons the siege of Lilybaeum.
• The Italians appeal to Pyrrhus to return to help them.
• Pyrrhus defeats the Carthaginians in a final battle.
• Pyrrhus leaves Sicily and returns to Italy; he is attacked and defeated by the Carthaginian fleet en route.
• Manius Curius Dentatus enlists an army to fight against Pyrrhus.
• Pyrrhus sacks the town of Locri, together with the temple of Persephone.
• Pyrrhus' fleet is caught in a storm after leaving Locri.
• Pyrrhus asks Antigonus of Macedon for aid to continue the war in Italy.
• Hiero, general of Syracuse, makes an alliance with Pyrrhus.
• Pyrrhus attempts to raise recruits in Samnium.
• The Romans defeat Pyrrhus at the Battle of Beneventum.
• Pyrrhus punishes some of the Tarentines for treachery.
• Pyrrhus leaves Italy; the end of the war between Rome and Pyrrhus.