Log in or Sign up
Coin Talk
Home
Forums
>
Coin Forums
>
Ancient Coins
>
OTD: 319 BCE, Pyrrhus of Epirus celebrates the first ever Pyrrhic victory...being born!
>
Reply to Thread
Message:
<p>[QUOTE="Ryro, post: 3754313, member: 91461"]Just 4 years after the death of my favorite Greek, 323 BCE, my second favorite Greek is born on this day in 319 BCE!</p><p>Pyrrhus of Epirus was a man on a mission. That mission, to become the 2nd Alexander the great!</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="http://www.panhistoria.com/Stacks/Novels/Character_Homes/homedirs/15705images/pyrrhus.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>Though he, and no one for that matter, would ever come close, he was assuredly born to raise hell for all that would oppose him.</p><p>He is, of course, the reason we have the term, "Pyrrhic Victory". A Pyrrhic victory being a victory that inflicts such a devastating toll on the victor that it is tantamount to defeat. Someone who wins a Pyrrhic victory has been victorious in some way (Pyrrhus drove the Romans off the field on 2 out of their 3 engagements). However, the heavy toll negates any sense of achievement or profit. Another term for this would be "hollow victory".</p><p>Presumably, after winning his second victory over the Romans, following Heraclea, was Ausculum in 279 BCE, one of his generals came over and congratulated him on his "victory" over the Romans. To this Pyrrhus famously said, "One more victory like that over the Romans will destroy us completely!"</p><p><img src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c5/Pyrrhic_War_Italy_en.svg/1280px-Pyrrhic_War_Italy_en.svg.png" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p> </p><p>He was reported, by Roman authors, to have been ugly. Like really ugly. "Pyrrhus’ features were more likely to inspire fear in the beholder than to impress him with a sense of majesty". But I am sure that plenty of Gauls would have told us how putrid Julius Caesar was to look at. He also had 5 wives and an unknown amount of children (around 10)...and wasn't even Mormon! (I live in Utah so I can make that joke).</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="https://snagfilms-a.akamaihd.net/0b/c5/a73a307d4ff1b3a583d49c60790a/337-lec23-1536x865.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>He was such a successful general that he is often mentioned in lists of the Diadochi, the feuding ex-generals of ATG trying to take over the former realms of Alexander, even though the two never were alive at the same time.</p><p>The man was king and ruler over Sicily for a time. And when he left it created such a vacuum that it took several wars to decide a successor.</p><p>He also was a co-ruler of Macedonia along with Lysimachus until Lysimachus ran him out in 286 BCE.</p><p>Here are some of those Sicilian coins of Pyrrhus:</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1006453[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p><b><u>Pyrrhus </u></b></p><p>(278-276 BCE) Sicily, Syracuse, AE 23mm 10.25 gr, head of young Herakles left, wearing lion's skin, rev. Athena Promachos advancing right (SNG ANS 852), attractive smooth green patina, good very fine</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1006454[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p><b><u>SICILY, Syracuse</u></b></p><p>Pyrrhos. 278-276 BC. Æ Litra 21mm. Head of Herakles left, wearing lion skin; [cornucopia behind] / Athena Promachos right; wreath to left. </p><p><br /></p><p>Just how good was this guy to his near contemporaries? We can leave that to a quote possibly from Hannibal himself. In a possibly made up account Hannibal and Scipio Africanus met after all their battles for a chat. Near the close of the conversation, as they prepared to depart, Scipio asked Hannibal whom he thought the greatest general in history to be. Hannibal replied that he would name Alexander of Macedon as the greatest, with Pyrrhus of Epirus second. Intrigued, Scipio asked who would come third. Hannibal replied that he would put himself in that position. Now bemused at being left out of the ranking, having defeated Hannibal himself, Scipio asked Hannibal where he would rank if he had won the day at Zama. Hannibal replied decisively that had he defeated Scipio that day, he would then put himself in the first place, above either Alexander or Pyrrhus. Scipio took this as the compliment it was intended to be and they parted ways as friends.</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1006451[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>A brief overview via Wikipedi, "<b>Pyrrhus Ι</b> (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA/English" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA/English" rel="nofollow">/ˈpɪrəs/</a>; <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Greek_language" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Greek_language" rel="nofollow">Ancient Greek</a>: Πύρρος, <i>Pyrrhos</i>; 319/318–272 BC) was a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greeks" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greeks" rel="nofollow">Greek</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General" rel="nofollow">general</a> and <a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/statesman" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/statesman" rel="nofollow">statesman</a> of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hellenistic_period" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hellenistic_period" rel="nofollow">Hellenistic period</a>.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrrhus_of_Epirus#cite_note-1" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrrhus_of_Epirus#cite_note-1" rel="nofollow">[1]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrrhus_of_Epirus#cite_note-Plutarch-2" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrrhus_of_Epirus#cite_note-Plutarch-2" rel="nofollow">[2]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrrhus_of_Epirus#cite_note-BritB-3" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrrhus_of_Epirus#cite_note-BritB-3" rel="nofollow">[3]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrrhus_of_Epirus#cite_note-BritA-4" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrrhus_of_Epirus#cite_note-BritA-4" rel="nofollow">[4]</a> He was king of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ancient_Greek_tribes#Epirus" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ancient_Greek_tribes#Epirus" rel="nofollow">Greek</a> tribe of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molossians" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molossians" rel="nofollow">Molossians</a>,<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrrhus_of_Epirus#cite_note-BritB-3" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrrhus_of_Epirus#cite_note-BritB-3" rel="nofollow">[3]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrrhus_of_Epirus#cite_note-5" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrrhus_of_Epirus#cite_note-5" rel="nofollow">[5]</a> of the royal Aeacid house (from c. 297 BC),<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrrhus_of_Epirus#cite_note-6" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrrhus_of_Epirus#cite_note-6" rel="nofollow">[6]</a> and later he became <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monarch" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monarch" rel="nofollow">king</a> (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Malalas" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Malalas" rel="nofollow">Malalas</a> called him also <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toparch" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toparch" rel="nofollow">toparch</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrrhus_of_Epirus#cite_note-7" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrrhus_of_Epirus#cite_note-7" rel="nofollow">[7]</a>) of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epirus_(ancient_state)" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epirus_(ancient_state)" rel="nofollow">Epirus</a> (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reign" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reign" rel="nofollow">r.</a> 306–302, 297–272 BC). He was one of the strongest opponents of early <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Republic" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Republic" rel="nofollow">Rome</a>. Several of his victorious battles caused him unacceptably heavy losses, from which the term <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrrhic_victory" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrrhic_victory" rel="nofollow">Pyrrhic victory</a></i> was coined. He is the subject of one of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plutarch" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plutarch" rel="nofollow">Plutarch</a>'s <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallel_Lives" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallel_Lives" rel="nofollow">Parallel Lives</a></i>."</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/da/Pyrrhus_and_his_Elephants.gif" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p>(Pyrrhus atop his elephant)</p><p><br /></p><p>Talk about an ignominious demise! During a clash in the claustrophobic streets of Argos (yep, that Argos) Pyrrhus was struck on the head/spine by a roof tile thrown from above by an old woman and killed! </p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1006455[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p><b><u>Pyrrhos of Epiros</u></b></p><p>as King of Macedon (287-285 and 274-273 BC). AE17 (4.81 g), Macedonian mint.</p><p>Obv. Macedonian shield with king´s monogram on boss.</p><p>Rev: BAΣI, Macedonian helmet within oak wreath, star below.</p><p>SNG Alpha Bank 971.</p><p><br /></p><p> [ATTACH=full]1006456[/ATTACH] </p><p><b><u>Pyrrhos of Epiros</u></b></p><p>287-285 BC and 274-273 BC. Æ Unit (17.5mm, 4.82 g, 6h). Pella mint. Macedonian shield with Monogram of Pyrrhos on boss / Macedonian helmet; BAΣI below; all within oak wreath. AMNG III/2, –; HGC 3, 272; SNG Alpha Bank 970. VF</p><p><br /></p><p>Happy 2338 birthday Pyrrhus! Please post your Pyrrhic coins, coins of his enemies or anything else that you deem relevant.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>
[QUOTE="Ryro, post: 3754313, member: 91461"]Just 4 years after the death of my favorite Greek, 323 BCE, my second favorite Greek is born on this day in 319 BCE! Pyrrhus of Epirus was a man on a mission. That mission, to become the 2nd Alexander the great! [IMG]http://www.panhistoria.com/Stacks/Novels/Character_Homes/homedirs/15705images/pyrrhus.jpg[/IMG] Though he, and no one for that matter, would ever come close, he was assuredly born to raise hell for all that would oppose him. He is, of course, the reason we have the term, "Pyrrhic Victory". A Pyrrhic victory being a victory that inflicts such a devastating toll on the victor that it is tantamount to defeat. Someone who wins a Pyrrhic victory has been victorious in some way (Pyrrhus drove the Romans off the field on 2 out of their 3 engagements). However, the heavy toll negates any sense of achievement or profit. Another term for this would be "hollow victory". Presumably, after winning his second victory over the Romans, following Heraclea, was Ausculum in 279 BCE, one of his generals came over and congratulated him on his "victory" over the Romans. To this Pyrrhus famously said, "One more victory like that over the Romans will destroy us completely!" [IMG]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c5/Pyrrhic_War_Italy_en.svg/1280px-Pyrrhic_War_Italy_en.svg.png[/IMG] He was reported, by Roman authors, to have been ugly. Like really ugly. "Pyrrhus’ features were more likely to inspire fear in the beholder than to impress him with a sense of majesty". But I am sure that plenty of Gauls would have told us how putrid Julius Caesar was to look at. He also had 5 wives and an unknown amount of children (around 10)...and wasn't even Mormon! (I live in Utah so I can make that joke). [IMG]https://snagfilms-a.akamaihd.net/0b/c5/a73a307d4ff1b3a583d49c60790a/337-lec23-1536x865.jpg[/IMG] He was such a successful general that he is often mentioned in lists of the Diadochi, the feuding ex-generals of ATG trying to take over the former realms of Alexander, even though the two never were alive at the same time. The man was king and ruler over Sicily for a time. And when he left it created such a vacuum that it took several wars to decide a successor. He also was a co-ruler of Macedonia along with Lysimachus until Lysimachus ran him out in 286 BCE. Here are some of those Sicilian coins of Pyrrhus: [ATTACH=full]1006453[/ATTACH] [B][U]Pyrrhus [B][U][/U][/B][/U][/B] (278-276 BCE) Sicily, Syracuse, AE 23mm 10.25 gr, head of young Herakles left, wearing lion's skin, rev. Athena Promachos advancing right (SNG ANS 852), attractive smooth green patina, good very fine [ATTACH=full]1006454[/ATTACH] [B][U]SICILY, Syracuse[/U][/B] Pyrrhos. 278-276 BC. Æ Litra 21mm. Head of Herakles left, wearing lion skin; [cornucopia behind] / Athena Promachos right; wreath to left. Just how good was this guy to his near contemporaries? We can leave that to a quote possibly from Hannibal himself. In a possibly made up account Hannibal and Scipio Africanus met after all their battles for a chat. Near the close of the conversation, as they prepared to depart, Scipio asked Hannibal whom he thought the greatest general in history to be. Hannibal replied that he would name Alexander of Macedon as the greatest, with Pyrrhus of Epirus second. Intrigued, Scipio asked who would come third. Hannibal replied that he would put himself in that position. Now bemused at being left out of the ranking, having defeated Hannibal himself, Scipio asked Hannibal where he would rank if he had won the day at Zama. Hannibal replied decisively that had he defeated Scipio that day, he would then put himself in the first place, above either Alexander or Pyrrhus. Scipio took this as the compliment it was intended to be and they parted ways as friends. [ATTACH=full]1006451[/ATTACH] A brief overview via Wikipedi, "[B]Pyrrhus Ι[/B] ([URL='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA/English']/ˈpɪrəs/[/URL]; [URL='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Greek_language']Ancient Greek[/URL]: Πύρρος, [I]Pyrrhos[/I]; 319/318–272 BC) was a [URL='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greeks']Greek[/URL] [URL='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General']general[/URL] and [URL='https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/statesman']statesman[/URL] of the [URL='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hellenistic_period']Hellenistic period[/URL].[URL='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrrhus_of_Epirus#cite_note-1'][1][/URL][URL='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrrhus_of_Epirus#cite_note-Plutarch-2'][2][/URL][URL='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrrhus_of_Epirus#cite_note-BritB-3'][3][/URL][URL='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrrhus_of_Epirus#cite_note-BritA-4'][4][/URL] He was king of the [URL='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ancient_Greek_tribes#Epirus']Greek[/URL] tribe of [URL='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molossians']Molossians[/URL],[URL='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrrhus_of_Epirus#cite_note-BritB-3'][3][/URL][URL='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrrhus_of_Epirus#cite_note-5'][5][/URL] of the royal Aeacid house (from c. 297 BC),[URL='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrrhus_of_Epirus#cite_note-6'][6][/URL] and later he became [URL='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monarch']king[/URL] ([URL='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Malalas']Malalas[/URL] called him also [URL='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toparch']toparch[/URL][URL='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrrhus_of_Epirus#cite_note-7'][7][/URL]) of [URL='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epirus_(ancient_state)']Epirus[/URL] ([URL='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reign']r.[/URL] 306–302, 297–272 BC). He was one of the strongest opponents of early [URL='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Republic']Rome[/URL]. Several of his victorious battles caused him unacceptably heavy losses, from which the term [I][URL='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrrhic_victory']Pyrrhic victory[/URL][/I] was coined. He is the subject of one of [URL='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plutarch']Plutarch[/URL]'s [I][URL='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallel_Lives']Parallel Lives[/URL][/I]." [IMG]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/da/Pyrrhus_and_his_Elephants.gif[/IMG] (Pyrrhus atop his elephant) Talk about an ignominious demise! During a clash in the claustrophobic streets of Argos (yep, that Argos) Pyrrhus was struck on the head/spine by a roof tile thrown from above by an old woman and killed! [ATTACH=full]1006455[/ATTACH] [B][U]Pyrrhos of Epiros[/U][/B] as King of Macedon (287-285 and 274-273 BC). AE17 (4.81 g), Macedonian mint. Obv. Macedonian shield with king´s monogram on boss. Rev: BAΣI, Macedonian helmet within oak wreath, star below. SNG Alpha Bank 971. [ATTACH=full]1006456[/ATTACH] [B][U]Pyrrhos of Epiros[/U][/B] 287-285 BC and 274-273 BC. Æ Unit (17.5mm, 4.82 g, 6h). Pella mint. Macedonian shield with Monogram of Pyrrhos on boss / Macedonian helmet; BAΣI below; all within oak wreath. AMNG III/2, –; HGC 3, 272; SNG Alpha Bank 970. VF Happy 2338 birthday Pyrrhus! Please post your Pyrrhic coins, coins of his enemies or anything else that you deem relevant.[/QUOTE]
Your name or email address:
Do you already have an account?
No, create an account now.
Yes, my password is:
Forgot your password?
Stay logged in
Coin Talk
Home
Forums
>
Coin Forums
>
Ancient Coins
>
OTD: 319 BCE, Pyrrhus of Epirus celebrates the first ever Pyrrhic victory...being born!
>
Home
Home
Quick Links
Search Forums
Recent Activity
Recent Posts
Forums
Forums
Quick Links
Search Forums
Recent Posts
Competitions
Competitions
Quick Links
Competition Index
Rules, Terms & Conditions
Gallery
Gallery
Quick Links
Search Media
New Media
Showcase
Showcase
Quick Links
Search Items
Most Active Members
New Items
Directory
Directory
Quick Links
Directory Home
New Listings
Members
Members
Quick Links
Notable Members
Current Visitors
Recent Activity
New Profile Posts
Sponsors
Menu
Search
Search titles only
Posted by Member:
Separate names with a comma.
Newer Than:
Search this thread only
Search this forum only
Display results as threads
Useful Searches
Recent Posts
More...
