Pyrrhus of Epirus - Retreat From Italy

Retreat From Italy

While Pyrrhus had been campaigning against the Carthaginians, the Romans rebuilt their army by calling up thousands of fresh recruits. When Pyrrhus returned from Sicily, he found himself vastly outnumbered against a superior Roman army. After the inconclusive Battle of Beneventum in 275 BC, Pyrrhus decided to end his campaign in Italy and return to Epirus which resulted in the loss of all his Italian holdings. Before leaving Italy Pyrrhus sent requests for military and financial assistance to southern Greece and Macedon, as well as to the Hellenistic empires of the Ptolemaic and Seleucid dynasties. These appeals were all in vain.

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