To Tarentum's Aid: Pyrrhus' Costly Victory against Rome at Heraclea

By Guy Bowers

In 282 BC, the city state of Tarentum attacked ten Roman ships that had entered the gulf of Taranto without permission. In the following year, the Romans sent a ‘diplomatic mission’ to the city to negotiate terms for the release of prisoners. Instead, this mission took control of the city, fighting off the Tarentines and some Samnite allies. In desperation, the Tarentines called for aid from Pyrrhus of Epirus.

As the Tarentines had assisted in his conquest of the island of Corcyra, Pyrrhus felt indebted to them. However, he also saw an opportunity. The conquest of southern Italy could lay the way open to the rich island of Sicily, which in turn could generate the revenues he needed to renew his claim on Macedon. Pyrrhus also speculated he could unite the tribes of Southern Italy against their common enemy, Rome. Pyrrhus landed and assembled his army. He then retook Tarentum, forcing the Romans to flee. Rome reacted swiftly and mobilised four armies. One guarded Rome itself while two moved to block any possible attempts by the Etruscans or Samnites to join the Tarentines. The largest army, under Publius Valerius Laevinus, marched south to meet the Epirote army, plundering Lucania on the way.


Pyrrhus calmly waited for the Romans; it gave him more time to muster his troops. He hoped that more would flock to his cause. He could also move his army to intercept the Romans and pick a place to fight of his choosing. The Roman efforts to block the Etruscans and Samnites were successful. Scouts warned Pyrrhus that Publius’ forces were crossing the Siris river, close to Heraclea. At first, Pyrrhus tried to negotiate with he Romans, attempting to set himself up as a mediator between Rome and Tarentum, but Publius dismissed this gesture and prepared for battle. This was the first time the Macedonian phalanx had fought against the Roman legion. 

Pyrrhus commands his phalanx and hypaspists forward to meet the advancing Roman and allied legions.

The battlefield

Like most ancient battlefields, Pyrrhus chose a flat plain to allow his troops to manoeuvre. Use a standard 6’x4’ table with little terrain and set the forces up opposing each other along the long sides of the table edge. Pyrrhus kept his elephants in reserve, not wishing to risk such a valuable resource early on in his campaign. Players may be wise to do as Pyrrhus did. Another option is to count the loss of any elephant as double victory points for the opponent.


The forces

Below is a rough estimate of the forces on each side and some suggestions on how these might translate into standard wargames rules. This scenario has been deliberately left rules agnostic, but the guidelines to forces should enable players to easily adapt them to their favourite system.

EPIRUS AND ALLIES - Commander: Pyrrhus (good)

Unit
Equipment
Wargame terms
3,000 hypaspists
Light armour, large shield, spear, light infantry
2x small units (15 men)
15,000 Phalangites
Light armour, small shield, pike, phalanx
3x units (24 men)
5000 from Ptolemy
Light armour, small shield, pike, phalanx
1x unit (24 men)
6000 Tarentines
Light armour, large shield, spear, phalanx, levy
1x large unit (30 men)
1500 Epirote horse
Light armour, small shield, spear, elite
1x unit (12 cavalry)
3000 Thessalian horse
Light armour, small shield, spear, javelin
1x unit (12 cavalry)
1000 Tarentine horse
Light armour, small shield, spear, javelin, levy
1x unit (12 cavalry)
2000 archers
Bow, light infantry
2x small units (12 men)
500 Rhodian slingers
Sling, light infantry, elite
1x small unit (12 men)
20 war elephants
Elephant, howdah, light armour, bow, pike
2x elephants

THE ROMAN REPUBLIC -  Commander: Publius Valerius Laevinus (average)

Unit Equipment Wargame terms
20,000 Romans Light armour, large shield, pilum, legion 4x units (24 men)
16,000 allies Light armour, large shield, spear, legion 4x units (18 men)
3000 Bruttians Large shield, spear, light infantry 2x small units (15 men)
1200 Roman horse Light armour, small shield, spear, javelin 1x unit (12 cavalry)
3600 allied horse Light armour, small shield, spear, javelin 2x units (12 cavalry)
1200 S. Italy cavalry Small shield, spear, javelin, levy 1x unit (12 cavalry)

The battle

As the battle opened, both side’s cavalry clashed, but neither gained the upper hand. Phalanx and legion met, but despite each side launching attack after attack, neither side would give ground. A rumour began to circulate amongst the Epiroites that Pyrrhus had fallen, causing the phalanx to retreat. Seeing their foes fall back, the Roman legions gave out a mighty roar. To salvage the situation, Pyrrhus took off his helmet and rode down the lines, showing that he was alive. This rallied the Greeks and prevented the retreat from becoming a rout. With the battle still a stalemate, Pyrrhus decided to unleash his elephants. They startled the Roman cavalry, causing them to flee, which in turn started to break the morale of the legionaries. With the Greek cavalry now free to exploit the flanks, the Roman line disintegrated.

CONCLUSION

While Pyrrhus was eventually victorious, it was at a cost. He’d destroyed the Roman army (with some 15,000 dead on the battlefield and 7000 captured), but - according to Dionysius - he had sustained serious losses of some 11,000 troops. This was the first of his many Pyrrhic victories. Both of these numbers represent a very high percentage of the overall combatants, which shows how fierce and determined the fighting was.After his victory, the initially reluctant Southern Italians flocked to the Epirote cause, and Pyrrhus’ army grew. He then marched on Rome itself, stopping at Anagni, a mere two days march from the city. There he negotiated with the Roman Tribune Tiberius Coruncanius. Pyrrhus knew that while he had defeated one Roman army, there were more converging on him. Nor did he have the forces to take Rome. Instead, he retreated and turned his eyes to another prize, Apulia, which in turn led to the Battle of Asculum in 279 BC. WS&S


Pyrrhus has also appeared in WS&S105 ‘Pyrrhus’ last gamble’ and WS&S 59 ‘The Eagle at Sparta’.

This article was featured in Wargames, Soldiers & Strategy Magazine 128. Discover this issue, and others, in our webshop: