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Eagle King of Epirus Trivia Quiz

Pyrrhus of Epirus, the very first truly foreign invader of Rome, and the very first of what would be many climactic clashes between the Macedonian Phalanx and the Roman Maniple.

A multiple-choice quiz by BakedPotato. Estimated time: 8 mins.

Author
BakedPotato

Time
8 mins

Type
Multiple Choice

Quiz #
292,134

Updated
Jul 23 22

# Qns
20

Difficulty
Average

Avg Score
12 / 20

Plays
498

One at a Time - Single Page - Timed Game

Question 1 of 20

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? Hint

Illyria

Macedon

Epirus

Southern Italy

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Question 2 of 20

2. Despite having been on the losing side, which battle solidified Pyrrhus as a highly capable military commander in 301 BC? Hint

The Siege of Rhodes

The Battle of Heraclea

The Battle of Ipsus

The Battle of Hydaspes

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Question 3 of 20

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? Hint

Used his accumulated army to force Neoptolemos out

Killed Neoptolemos and assumed power in Epirus

Appealed to Macedon and his brother-in-law Demetrios to isolate Neoptolemos from his allies

Acceptrd joint-rule due to Neoptolemos's alliances with neighboring warlords

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? Hint

Demetrios withdrew his army when Lysimakhos of Thrace invaded

Pyrrhus was distracted by the possibility for invading Italy

Antigonos threatened his son not to invade Epirus

The two armies missed one another on the march, ending up in each other's opposite's territory

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Question 5 of 20

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? Hint

"A healthy respect for self-criticism makes a man great."

"With Macedon breathing down my neck, what use is this one voice against that of the enemy phalanx?"

"Words cannot harm me."

"It is better to have him here, saying these things, than rambling all over the world with them."

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Question 6 of 20

6. Why did Pyrrhus's invasion of Macedonia fail? Hint

Demetrios hired a mercenary army of Thracians and Thessalonicans to cut Pyrrhus's supply lines while in Macedonia

Demetrios returned from Epirus and attacked Pyrrhus from behind

Many of the Macedonians who began to join Pyrrhus on the way deserted him

The Seleucid Empire threatened both the major Greek nations

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Question 7 of 20

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? Hint

Send them north under Macedonian commanders so as to garrison against Thracian invaders

Take the disillusioned soldiers south with him, so they would be forced to fight a foreign invader rather than desert north to Macedonian commanders

Have them decimated (Roman style) and the mutineers put into one army group to be spent uselessly

Promote the commanders and reward the men with great gifts so as to ensure their loyalty

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Question 8 of 20

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? Hint

Demetrios was defeated and the Macedonians grew disillusioned with Pyrrhus's behavior

Thrace withdrew from Macedon, leaving Pyrrhus's drained forces alone to deal with Macedonian uprisings

The Epirotes wanted to go home, and forced Pyrrhus to abandon Macedon

Lysimakhos and Thrace betrayed Pyrrhus, turned many Macedonians against Pyrrhus, and captured Pyrrhus's supplies

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Question 9 of 20

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? Hint

The Romans sent a garrison force to Rhegium, which was ambushed and killed by the Tarentines

A Roman delegation was mocked and ridiculed by drunken Tarentines during a Bacchanalia, and a Tarentine defecated on one of the ambassadors

The Tarentine navy blockaded the ports of Roman allies

A Tarentine ambassador had an affair with a Senator's wife

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Question 10 of 20

10. What did Meton of Tarentum warn the Tarentines about Pyrrhus as they sought his assistance? Hint

Pyrrhus would oppress the Tarentines and incorporate them into his empire

Pyrrhus would seek an easy alliance with Rome regardless of the loss to Tarentum

Pyrrhus would make sure the Tarentines would fight their own war without his own men

Pyrrhus would not tolerate the Tarentines' easy living, and expect them to prepare for war

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Question 11 of 20

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? Hint

The Romans smashed the Epirote left flank, and began to encircle the army before the elephants were unleashed

He was injured in combat, and gave his armor to Megakles, who was then slain in full sight of much of his army

The elephants were unleashed, but stomped through the Epirote army, nearly breaking the lines before reaching the Romans

Pyrrhus's friend Cineas was slain in battle, causing him to be greatly grieved, and neglectful of the battle

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Question 12 of 20

12. Why did Pyrrhus not march on Rome after Heraclea? Hint

The Romans had a second army waiting should the first one be destroyed

The Italiot auxiliaries could not be rallied after the chaos of battle quickly enough

Pyrrhus did not have siege equipment available

The Romans had almost immediately replaced their losses from the battle, while Pyrrhus had not

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Question 13 of 20

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? Hint

Appius Claudius Caecus

Publius Clodius

Appius Claudius Pulcher

Appius Marcius Lucullus

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Question 14 of 20

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. Hint

Gaius Fabricius Luscinus

Manius Curius Dentatus

Quintus Fabius Maximus Rullianus

Lucius Cornelius Scipio Barbatus

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Question 15 of 20

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!"? Hint

The Battle of Bovarium

The Battle of Heraclea

The Battle of Beneventum

The Battle of Asculum

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Question 16 of 20

16. After his narrow victory at Asculum, Pyrrhus was again distracted from his Roman campaign by the prospect of conquest where? Hint

Macedon

Syria

Carthage

Sicilia

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Question 17 of 20

17. What caused Pyrrhus's defeat in Sicilia? Hint

The Sicilians grew impatient with Pyrrhus, and forced him to sue for peace after failing to engage Carthage in a major battle

Carthage bribed much of his army away from him, forcing him to abandon Sicilia

His behavior grew more authoritarian and oppressive, and his Sicilian allies turned on him, leaving him stranded, which forced to sue for peace with Carthage

The Romans began to overrun Tarentum, and threats of a naval invasion of Epirus forced him to return to Italia

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Question 18 of 20

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? Hint

The Romans managed to kill Cineas, and Pyrrhus's son Alexander

The Italiot allies gave up mid-battle and fled the battlefield, leaving Pyrrhus with only his Epirotes

His elephants, new, young and inexperienced, panicked and turned on Pyrrhus's lines

The Epirotes gave up mid-battle and fled the battlefield, leaving Pyrrhus with only his Italiots

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Question 19 of 20

19. Attempting a third invasion of Macedon, what caused Pyrrhus to become hated by the Macedonians? Hint

He had lost prestige after failing in Italia and Sicilia

He no longer accepted Macedonians into his army ranks after they had deserted him before

He was hardened by Rome and Carthage, and thus fought more ruthlessly

His Gallic allies looted Macedonian graves

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Question 20 of 20

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. Hint

Argos

Athens

Sparta

Corinth

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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?

Answer: Illyria

Glaukias, King of the Taulanti, took Pyrrhus in until he was a young teen. Pyrrhus then returned to take the throne of Epirus.

2. Despite having been on the losing side, which battle solidified Pyrrhus as a highly capable military commander in 301 BC?

Answer: The Battle of Ipsus

Pyrrhus was brother-in-law to Demetrios I of Macedon, son of Antigonos Monopthalmus (the One-Eyed), one of Alexander's original generals and successors (Diadokhoi, or Diadokhos singular). Antigonos was in control of Asia Minor, Judaea, and Syria. The combined forces of the Seleucid Empire and the Kingdom of Macedon managed to defeat Antigonos.

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?

Answer: Acceptrd joint-rule due to Neoptolemos's alliances with neighboring warlords

Pyrrhus had an army accumulated from Egypt, but Neoptolemos had neighboring states friendly enough to him to provide assistance in case of invasion. So Pyrrhus accepted joint rule with Neoptolemos. Pyrrhus bided his time until enough of the Epirote people had grown to hate Neoptolemos before killing him and claiming sole power of Epirus.

Answer: The two armies missed one another on the march, ending up in each other's opposite's territory

Pyrrhus had missed Demetrios's army, but instead encountered a smaller army left to garrison Macedonia under Pantaukhos. Pantaukhos challenged Pyrrhus to a one-on-one duel, which Pyrrhus narrowly won. Pantaukhos's men pulled him out before he could be killed, causing the Epirotes in exultation to attack the Macedonians, and take 5,000 prisoner.

Many of the old Macedonian soldiers greatly admired Pyrrhus, remarking that he looked and acted just as Alexander the Great had.

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?

Answer: "It is better to have him here, saying these things, than rambling all over the world with them."

Pyrrhus had a reputation for being benevolent, and always returning kind favors. It is said Pyrrhus was grieved less over the death of a friend than for the fact that he had died before Pyrrhus could repay him for an old debt.

6. Why did Pyrrhus's invasion of Macedonia fail?

Answer: Many of the Macedonians who began to join Pyrrhus on the way deserted him

While Demetrios fell sick in Epirus, Pyrrhus ran roughshod over Macedon, until his Macedonian subjects began to desert. Both sides did not want to become embroiled in a major conflict after the little success both men had seen, and so a treaty was signed making peace between the two.

Answer: Take the disillusioned soldiers south with him, so they would be forced to fight a foreign invader rather than desert north to Macedonian commanders

Unfortunately for Demetrios, Pyrrhus was not so foreign an invader as he supposed, and rumors of Pyrrhus's benevolence had reached Macedon (helped in part by some of Pyrrhus's agents). This caused most of the Macedonians to immediately defect to the Epirotes as soon as Pyrrhus rode before them. Pyrrhus conquered Macedonia without a fight.

Answer: Lysimakhos and Thrace betrayed Pyrrhus, turned many Macedonians against Pyrrhus, and captured Pyrrhus's supplies

Pyrrhus had made a treaty with Demetrios after his defeat. Demetrios went to Syria for conquest, and Pyrrhus began a war with Demetrios's subjects in Macedon. Once Demetrios was defeated in Syria, Thrace sprung on Pyrrhus, seizing their supplies and spreading rumors and lies and bribes to cause Pyrrhus's Macedonians to revolt.

Answer: A Roman delegation was mocked and ridiculed by drunken Tarentines during a Bacchanalia, and a Tarentine defecated on one of the ambassadors

A Roman delegation was sent to Tarentum after a small Roman fleet was sunk by the Tarentines. It was the middle of a large festival in the city, and many people were drunk. The Tarentines abused and assaulted the embassy, and one particularly tall Tarentine is reputed to have defecated on one of the ambassador's clothes.

The ambassador is reputed to have said that his toga would be washed with the blood of Tarentum.

10. What did Meton of Tarentum warn the Tarentines about Pyrrhus as they sought his assistance?

Answer: Pyrrhus would not tolerate the Tarentines' easy living, and expect them to prepare for war

Meton reportedly pretended to be drunk, so as to command the attention of as many Tarentines in the town square as possible, before warning them to live it up while they could, for Pyrrhus would expect them to change their way of life if he were to help them. They ignored Meton and sought help from Pyrrhus anyway. Pyrrhus agreed but forcibly closed the public entertainment areas.

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?

Answer: He was injured in combat, and gave his armor to Megakles, who was then slain in full sight of much of his army

Pyrrhus was struck down in the midst of the battle by Roman cavalry. Megakles, a man of similar build and appearance to Pyrrhus, was given Pyrrhus's armor to ride out and inspire the men. Instead, he was killed, and the Roman cavalry began to display Pyrrhus's helmet throughout the battlefield.

It wasn't until Pyrrhus rode out bare-headed for his men to see that the Epirotes took heart again, and began to fight more fiercely.

12. Why did Pyrrhus not march on Rome after Heraclea?

Answer: The Romans had almost immediately replaced their losses from the battle, while Pyrrhus had not

One crucial aspect of Roman success was the rapid speed with which new soldiers could be brought up and trained. What they lacked in the skill of seasoned Greek and Macedonian veterans, they made up for in superior tactics and almost fanatical levels of morale.

As soon as the Consul Publius Valerius Laevinus's army was routed at Heraclea, they met up with Consul Tiberius Coruncanius's army some miles away from Rome, and had their ranks replenished. Pyrrhus was shocked by this.

Answer: Appius Claudius Caecus

Appius Claudius "Caecus" (the Blind) was an old man by this point who had lost his sight and had to be carried to the Senate house by his servants, though as he said, he wished he had lost his hearing as well, as he ridiculed and abused the Senators for considering talking peace with Pyrrhus, after having bragged so proudly in the past on how they could have defeated Alexander the Great.

The Senate was moved by his speech, and told Cineas they would not talk terms with Pyrrhus until he had left Italia with his army.

Answer: Gaius Fabricius Luscinus

Gaius Fabricius "Luscinus" (the One-Eyed) was reportedly famous as a good soldier and honest man who was very poor. He was sent by the Senate to negotiate the release of Roman prisoners from the battle of Heraclea. Pyrrhus was so impressed by this and his remarks over dinner that night that he released the prisoners without conditions.

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!"?

Answer: The Battle of Asculum

Pyrrhus waged the battle of Asculum in the same way as he had done at Heraclea, with evenly matched sides fighting it out on an even battlefield. It wasn't until Pyrrhus unleashed his elephants against the Roman flanks that the Roman lines broke. The Romans had prepared for the elephants with wagon-like contraptions that would attempt to scare the elephants with sharp objects, loud noises, and fire.

It didn't work.

16. After his narrow victory at Asculum, Pyrrhus was again distracted from his Roman campaign by the prospect of conquest where?

Answer: Sicilia

In what was becoming customary for Pyrrhus, he abandoned his venture half-completed and targeted Sicilia, with the ultimate aim of fighting and defeating Carthage, accumulating great wealth and trade possibilities for Epirus in the process.

17. What caused Pyrrhus's defeat in Sicilia?

Answer: His behavior grew more authoritarian and oppressive, and his Sicilian allies turned on him, leaving him stranded, which forced to sue for peace with Carthage

As with the Tarentines, Pyrrhus was exercising a heavily militant authoritarian hand on the Sicilians. Unlike Tarentum, however, his Sicilian allies were more numerous and powerful than the Tarentines, and due to the island's close proximity of conflicting cultures (Italiot, Greek, and Carthaginian), Pyrrhus's subject tribes could find easily willing tribes willing to help them turn themselves over to Carthage to thwart Pyrrhus.

Answer: His elephants, new, young and inexperienced, panicked and turned on Pyrrhus's lines

Pyrrhus was soundly defeated. Although some sources claim Pyrrhus actually won the battle as he had the previous two, he had lost too many men and could no longer carry out a campaign against the Romans. Out of 20,000 Epirotes he had brought with him to Italia, he went home to Epirus with just about 8,500 left alive.

19. Attempting a third invasion of Macedon, what caused Pyrrhus to become hated by the Macedonians?

Answer: His Gallic allies looted Macedonian graves

While Pyrrhus still had loyal friends and allies in Macedon, he became universally despised by most Macedonians as his Gallic allies and mercenaries began to loot Macedonian graveyards, while Pyrrhus did nothing to stop them. Failed in this invasion, Pyrrhus aimed to "liberate" Sparta from the rule of Antigonos II of Macedon after being called upon to settle an internal dispute.

Instead his army began to loot Laconia.

Answer: Argos

According to some sources, an old woman from atop a building threw a roof tile down on Pyrrhus, catching him in the back of the neck as he rode past on his horse. This kept him stunned long enough for an enemy soldier to behead him. Antigonos gave Pyrrhus a proper burial and compensation to his family.

Thus ended the life and career of Pyrrhus of Epirus, named the "Eagle" of Epirus by his people, and despite his great skill and charisma and genius, he never stuck to a single campaign long enough to see it through.

Ultimately, Plutarch sums up the life of Pyrrhus perfectly in this quote:

"Whatever Pyrrhus won, he lost by going on to new adventures, like a lucky gambler who does not know when to stop. What he won by great actions he lost by vain hopes. Because of his desires for new conquests, he lost what he had already won. On and on he went, building new ambitions on the ruins of old ones, and never finishing what he started."

Source: Author BakedPotato

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor bloomsby before going online.
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