During what came to be known as the Pyrrhic War, Pyrrhus fought Rome at the behest of Tarentum, scoring costly victories at Heraclea and Asculum.

[17] Pyrrhus travelled to the Peloponnese and served his brother-in-law Demetrius Poliorcetes who had married his sister Deidamia, and who was campaigning against Cassander in southern Greece.

Demetrius, victorious on his wing, managed to escape with 9,000 men, and Pyrrhus continued to serve his brother-in-law as he started rebuilding Antigonus' empire.

Demetrius responded immediately; he left the siege to his son Antigonus Gonatas and marched back north at the head of a large army.

After ransacking the Aetolians' countryside, Demetrius left a strong force under his best general Pantauchus in Aetolia and marched on Epirus.

The two armies, on different roads, passed one another and Demetrius started plundering Epirus while Pyrrhus met Pantauchus in battle.

Demetrius then led his army against Pyrrhus, probably hoping that his Macedonians would be more willing to fight a foreign invader rather than Lysimachus, a veteran of Alexander.

However, they did not allow his army to enter the city, probably fearing Pyrrhus would install a garrison and make himself overlord of Athens.

Pyrrhus agreed, probably in order to keep his fractious Macedonian troops busy and less likely to rebel and also to gain an easy victory over the weakened Antigonids.

[35] Pyrrhus entered Italy with an army consisting of 20,000 infantry, 3,000 cavalry, 2,000 archers, 500 slingers, and 20 war elephants in a bid to subdue the Romans.

Meanwhile, the Romans had made peace with the Etruscans and had recalled Tiberius Coruncanius, the other consul, who was marching his army southwards from Etruria towards Rome.

[34] The consul Publius Decius Mus was the Roman commander, and while his able force was ultimately defeated, they almost managed to break the back of Pyrrhus' Epirot army, guaranteeing the security of Rome itself.

At the same time, the Macedonians, whose King Ptolemy Keraunos had been killed by invading Gauls, asked Pyrrhus to ascend the throne of Macedon.

Although they were inclined to come to terms with Pyrrhus, supply him money and send him ships once friendly relations were established, he demanded that Carthage abandon all of Sicily and make the Libyan Sea a boundary between themselves and the Greeks.

The Greek cities of Sicily opposed making peace with Carthage because the Carthaginians still controlled the powerful fortress of Lilybaeum, on the western end of the island.

For two months he launched unsuccessful assaults on the city, until finally he realized he could not mount an effective siege without blockading it from the sea as well.

At this point, Samnite and Tarentine envoys reached Pyrrhus and informed him that of all the Greek cities in Italy, only Tarentum had not been conquered by Rome.

As his ship left the island, he turned and, foreshadowing the Punic Wars, said to his companions: "What a wrestling ground we are leaving, my friends, for the Carthaginians and the Romans.

"[41][42] While his army was being transported by ship to mainland Italy, Pyrrhus' navy was destroyed by the Carthaginians at the Battle of the Strait of Messina, with 98 warships sunk or disabled out of 110.

However, the dense vegetation of the area caused problems for his men, who finally arrived at daylight, when they were tired and impossible to pass unnoticed.

Pyrrhus raised an army from his Epirote garrisons, Gallic mercenaries and the troops he had brought back from Italy and marched east into Macedon.

Pyrrhus agreed to the plan, intending to win control of the Peloponnese for himself, but unexpected strong resistance thwarted his assault on Sparta.

Since Antigonus Gonatas was approaching too, he hastened to enter the city with his army by stealth, only to find the place crowded with hostile troops.

Whether he was alive or not after the blow is unknown, but his death was assured when a Macedonian soldier named Zopyrus, though frightened by the look on the face of the unconscious king, hesitantly and ineptly beheaded his motionless body.

As Pliny the Elder states, Pyrrhus' great toe on his right foot cured diseases of the spleen by merely touching the patient.

[53] Pyrrhus lends his name to the term "Pyrrhic victory", which stems from a statement he is alleged to have made following the Battle of Asculum.

The conquest of Magna Graecia by the Romans brought them into direct competition with Carthage, ultimately leading to the First Punic War.

The league was dissolved and Rome took formal possession of the territoires which constitute modern day Greece, re-organising these territories into province of Macedonia.

[55] Pyrrhus was married five times: his first wife Antigone bore him a daughter called Olympias and a son named Ptolemy in honour of her stepfather.

His fourth wife was the Illyrian princess Bircenna, who was the daughter of King Bardylis II,(r. c. 295–290 BC) who bore Pyrrhus' youngest son, Helenus.