Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. According to Plutarch, Pyrrhus's childhood had only just begun when his father was deposed as King of Epirus. Where did Pyrrhus end up spending most of his childhood?
2. Despite having been on the losing side, which battle solidified Pyrrhus as a highly capable military commander in 301 BC?
3. After being released from Egypt as a hostage to the Ptolemaic Empire, Pyrrhus found Epirus under the rule of one Neoptolemos. What was Pyrrhus's response?
4. While Demetrios took control of Macedon, Epirus's wife, who was Demetrios's sister, died. Inevitably, this led to war between the two men and their nations. In their first march to war, what event occurred that avoided a direct battle?
5. When a man began to insult and harangue Pyrrhus publicly, Pyrrhus refused to have the man banished. According to history, when asked by his friends why, how did Pyrrhus respond?
6. Why did Pyrrhus's invasion of Macedonia fail?
7. Disillusioned by the corrupt behavior of their king Demetrios, the Macedonian army was seething with discontent and talk of mutiny. At the same time, Pyrrhus had exploited this to invade southern Macedonia in 286 BC. What was Demetrios's response?
8. After conquering Macedonia, Pyrrhus kept his Macedonians in constant war against the remnants of Demetrios's faction while making a pact with Lysimakhos of Thrace to partition Macedon. By 283 BC, Pyrrhus had lost Macedon and returned to Epirus. What caused this?
9. Rome's expansionism began to spill over into the southern Italian Greek city-states, and Tarentum was pressured again and again by Roman expansionism. What one event in particular pushed the Romans over the edge towards open war?
10. What did Meton of Tarentum warn the Tarentines about Pyrrhus as they sought his assistance?
11. Pyrrhus met and defeated the Romans at the Battle of Heraclea with heavy losses himself. What single event very nearly cost him the battle?
12. Why did Pyrrhus not march on Rome after Heraclea?
13. Pyrrhus sent his friend Cineas to give gifts to the Roman senators and their families, before delivering a great speech to the Senate which very nearly persuaded them to capitulate. Who famously delivered a speech which persuaded them otherwise?
14. Pyrrhus was supposedly so impressed by the austerity of this Roman senator, and his refusal to let Pyrrhus's display of his war elephant persuade him to accept a gift of gold or to try and persuade Rome to sue for peace, that he released his Roman prisoners without condition.
15. Which battle waged was the one which has become synonymous with the term "Pyrrhic Victory" and was supposedly the battle in which Pyrrhus claimed, "Another such victory and I am lost!"?
16. After his narrow victory at Asculum, Pyrrhus was again distracted from his Roman campaign by the prospect of conquest where?
17. What caused Pyrrhus's defeat in Sicilia?
18. At the battle of Beneventum, Pyrrhus's army was greatly disillusioned with Pyrrhus for having gone to Sicilia. In the process of engaging the Romans, the Romans managed to split Pyrrhus's army in two, forcing a more even-sided battle than the previous two waged by Pyrrhus on Rome. What was the turning point in the battle which ultimately doomed Pyrrhus?
19. Attempting a third invasion of Macedon, what caused Pyrrhus to become hated by the Macedonians?
20. Again and again Pyrrhus abandoned his campaigns in search of newer ones. From Macedon in 274-273 BC to Sparta in 272 BC, Pyrrhus finally met his end as he was killed besieging this city in 272 BC.
Source: Author
BakedPotato
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bloomsby before going online.
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