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Meanwhile, Etruscan power was waning north of the Tiber River, as their territory was squeezed on both their northern and southern borders. In the south they were being conquered and absorbed by Rome, while in the north the Gauls descended out of the Alps and south of the Po Valley to raid their city-states. The Apennine Mountains divide Rome from Italys eastern coast, which meant she naturally expanded up and down the west coast into the heavily Geek influenced part of Southern Italy, and into the Etruscan north. Conflicts with the Samnites of central Italy during the 4th century brought Roman influence further and further south, eventually bringing their expansion to the Bay of Naples and other neighboring Greek city-states. By the time the Samnite Wars (343-290 BC) were over for Rome, Alexanders empire was already broken into the three major divisions: the Ptolemaic pharaohs in Egypt, the Antigonid Empire in Greece, and the Seleucid Empire in Persia. To the west of Egypt, Carthage controlled the North African coast, and was waging war with the troublesome Greek city of Syracuse in Sicily, which refused to submit to Carthaginian rule of the island. Spain and northern Europe
were filled with small but powerful tribes of Celtic2 and Germanic peoples, which often mistrusted each other and were in a constant state of war. Such was the state of the Mediterranean world at the start of the 3rd century BC. It was at this time that Romes influence came in contact with the powerful southern Greek city of Tarentum. Located on the inner heel of Italy along the northern shore of the Bay of Tarentum, this Greek city-state was a powerful merchant and naval power in Southern Italy. In 282 BC, the conflict with Tarentum started when Rome came to the aid of another Greek city-state, Thurii, which was being attacked by a neighboring city.
The Romans sent troops and a handful of ships to the Bay of Tarentum in response. However, they were never to sail into those waters, which were the exclusive domain of Tarentum. The Roman ships were quickly sunk by the superior Greek warships, and this escalated to a state of war with the Tarentines. Feeling threatened by the proximity of Romes power, Tarentum called upon those Greeks back home across the Ionian Sea to aid her against this upstart Italian hill tribe which now threatened Greek independence.
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Celts and Gauls are the same people, and the names are often interchanged. It was Julius Caesar who stated that the word Celts is of Greek origin, while the Romans called the same people Gauls.
The general who answered Tarentums call for help was Pyrrhus of Epirus, a competent and skillful general who saw an opportunity to expand his kingdom into Italy, while veiling it in the role of a protector of Greek independence. There was no Greek power in Italy itself that could stand up to the Roman expansion, so all hope was put in Pyrrhus and his army. While some cities like Thurii were friendly to Rome, there were very few Greeks in Southern Italy who saw Pyrrhus as a greater threat than Rome.
Reflection Essay 1. Is there a time in American history that weve acted with defensive imperialism, and if so, is it justified? Why?
The old-style phalanx was not effective when the Romans expanded into the mountainous terrain of central Italy against the Samnites in the 4th century. It was a simple fact: a phalanx had extreme difficulty when it moved over anything but flat terrain. As it has been noted, Alexander and his phalanx had difficulty just getting over a riverbank and maintaining a solid line of soldiers at the Battle of Issus in 333 BC. The old, solid line of soldiers locked shield-to-shield cannot by its very nature maintain cohesion when fighting uphill. Therefore, in what would become a hallmark of Roman warfare, the Romans adapted their army to be more mobile. They formed their army, called a legion, into three lines of infantry, with each line broken down into sub-units of men called maniples. In Latin, the word manus means hand, so in essence these were handfuls of men, usually 120 strong each, while a legion at full strength numbered around 4,800 men. In the very front of the army the Romans would have velites, short-range skirmishers equipped with various light weapons. These could be dislodged against an enemy, and the velites could retreat behind the army for safety. A couple hundred cavalry held the flanks, with the main infantry in the center. Each maniple had enough space between another maniple to allow the lines to move through each other, giving the Roman army the look of a checkerboard formation. This was done to allow a battle line, if needed, to retire in good order back behind the safety of fresh troops. This gave the legions something that the phalanx did not have: flexibility. The first line of Roman heavy infantry was called the hastati, and represented the newer units, who had seen some battle, but were the most raw and least experienced battle line. If the fight was beyond the hastati, they fell back through the gaps in the line, letting the second line take over the fight. In fact, the Romans typically used the hastati to exhaust an enemys strength, so they could hit them with their second line, which would be fresh for the fight. This second line was called the principes, and was comprised of soldiers who had seen some experience in battle. Theywere the core of the Roman army, and represented the seasoned soldier, who was usually in his mid-twenties. However, even they might break in the face of a tough opponent. If the Roman army needed to retreat from the battlefield, they relied on the third line to step forward and protect the army from a rout and potential disaster. An army that could not maintain order could easily turn a retreat into a rout. Then, in full flight, the fleeing troops could be hunted down by an enemys cavalry and suffer terrible losses, since soldiers tend to throw away their weapons in the panic of flight. For that reason, the Roman third line,
called the triarii, was equipped differently than that of the first two lines. The hastati and principes had both spear and sword, with the spear (pilum) roughly 6-8 feet in length and meant to be thrown en masse at the enemy. Instead, the triarii had longer spears, which were used in a manner similar to the Macedonian phalanx. Composed of the most experienced veterans of the Roman army, the soldiers of the triarii were expected to save a legion if it faced potential defeat. Calm and cool under pressure, the older soldiers of the triarii would protect the rear of a retreating legion. The Roman expression ad triarios redisse (it has come to the triarii) became synonymous with a desperate situation. This was the Roman army that Pyrrhus of Epirus faced in 280 BC.
Reflection Essay 2. Why did the Roman army look different when they faced Pyrrhus, when in the beginning they looked the same as a Greek army?
In a manner similar to Alexander and other Greek generals, Pyrrhus wore armor that made him easily recognizable on the battlefield. Curiously, he took off that armor and gave it to a bodyguard to wear, who was unfortunately cut down by the Romans soon thereafter. The Romans cheered, and rallied, thinking Pyrrhus had fallen in battle. Seeing his men beginning to panic, Pyrrhus rode down the Greek line, cheering his men on and reassuring them he was alive after all.3 At this point in the battle the Roman cavalry had rallied and returned to the battlefield, and was pressing in on Pyrrhus flanks. Seeing the decisive moment, Pyrrhus played his trump card: his elephants, which he had kept in reserve until this key moment. The Roman horses panicked at the sight and smell of the elephants, which threw the whole of the Roman army into confusion, routing them from the battlefield. Pyrrhus ordered his cavalry to pursue and cut down the retreating Romans, further exacerbating their defeat. The Romans left an estimated 10,000 dead on the battlefield, while Pyrrhus had only slightly less. It was a victory for Pyrrhus and his army, but in that victory was sown the seeds for his ultimate defeat.
We do not know the motivation for this move by Pyrrhus. The Romans would site cowardice, but that seems unlikely.
The Romans had one of their four legions routed along with their Latin allies, while for Pyrrhus the Tarentines and Epriotes in the center had to fall back. Retreating to a nearby hill, the Romans broke off their attack, while Pyrrhus himself retreated to deal with an attack on his own camp, which was promptly crushed. Both sides spent a wary night encamped on nearby hills for protection. At dawn on the second day, both sides renewed the battle on an open plain between the two hills. The battles outcome was in doubt until Pyrrhus, as he had done at Heraclea, seized the opportunity to use his elephants, which once again broke through the Roman line. The Roman anti-elephant countermeasures worked briefly, until Epriote skirmishers destroyed the ox-led chariots. The elephants charged once again and broke completely through the Roman line. At the same time Pyrrhus ordered his Royal Cavalry Guard to charge the Roman line. Overrun, the Romans fled the field, and the consul Publius Mus lay dead.4 While victorious, Pyrrhus lost about 4,000 menmany of them his officers, while the Romans lost nearly 6,500. It was at this time that Pyrrhus famously said, One more such victory and we shall be undone. This was the origin of the phrase Pyrrhic Victory, since Pyrrhus decided to seek a new opportunity than the conquest of Italy. That opportunity would be Sicily.
The Publius Decius Mus family had a record of dying on the battlefield; his grandfather (same name and also a consul), pledged his life to the gods if his army would be victorious against the Latins in 340 BC. His father (also a consul and also the same name) made an identical devotio and also died in battle against the Samnites in 312 BC.
On to Sicily
At this point Pyrrhus tried to negotiate a truce with Rome, asking only for Tarentine independence, but was offer was rebuffed by the Senate. Led by the aged and blind former consul Appius Claudius Caecus, creator the first Roman highway and aqueduct (the Via Appia and Aqua Appia), the Senate turned down any offer from Pyrrhus and vowed to continue the war5. Pyrrhus, seeing a lack of any strong allies in southern Italy, decided to change opponents and aid the Greek city of Syracuse in Sicily against the powerful city-state of Carthage, which had been trying for centuries to subjugate the entire island. Carthage, located in North Africa, saw Syracuse as the only real Greek threat left on the island of Sicily.
Ironically, Rome formed a military alliance with Carthage. In an attempt to aid Rome, Carthaginian ships sailed up the Tiber, only to be sent back to Carthage with the polite refusal for any direct help on Italian soil. Never again would a Carthaginian ship come so close to Rome.
Landing his forces successfully in Sicily in 278 BC, Pyrrhus drove off the Carthaginians from their siege of Syracuse and forced them back to the western port city of Lilybaeum. He then proclaimed himself king of Sicily and captured the Carthaginian stronghold of Mt. Eryx the following year.6 The only city in Sicily left for Carthage was Lilybaeum, and Pyrrhus began peace negotiations with the Carthaginians. Pyrrhus knew the siege of Lilybaeum would be costly, so he thought a peace accord would be the wiser course of action. The Sicilian Greeks were not pleased that Carthage still had a port city in Sicily, and the peace process broke down. The Sicilian Greeks pushed Pyrrhus to lay siege to Lilybaeum. He then demanded manpower and money from his Sicilian allies in order to throw Carthage out, but his measures became so unpopular that he lost Greek support, which prompted the Sicilians to shockingly side with Carthage against Pyrrhus. Another Carthaginian army was sent to exploit the situation, but Pyrrhus promptly defeated it. The situation in Sicily became poisonous for Pyrrhus, and it was at this time that he received word that the Tarentines were in desperate situation. They were about to be defeated by the Romans, so Pyrrhus decided to go back to Italy with his army and aid them in their conflict.
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Pyrrhus was also given the choice to become king of Macedonia, whose king was killed in 279 when the Gauls invaded Greece and sacked Delphi. He thought the better opportunity lay in Sicily and Italy for he and his sons.
46 years old. With the death of Pyrrhus, there was no further aid that would be coming to the Greek city-states of Southern Italythey were now on their own to face Rome. Within the next few years, Roman forces dominated Italy from the northern regions all the way down to the tip of the boot. There, across the narrow Straits of Messina lay the fertile plains of Sicily, the powerful city of Syracuse and the expanding power of Carthage. As a sign of Roman preeminence, the Ptolemaic pharaohs of Egypt officially recognized Rome as a power by opening an embassy and dialogue between them. Rome had now thrust herself onto the world stage.
In this photo, from the Sicilian port of Messina, Sicilys tip of land (back left) extends to the Strait of Messina towards Italy (back right). Less than two miles apart separate Italy from Sicily at this point.
Reflection Essay 3. Thinking back on Pyrrhus and his generalship, what would your opinion of him be? Would you classify him as a successful general?