Epirus Ascendant, Part 1

[HistoryDude]

This just seems a terrible precedent. Young men discarding their learning just to focus on personal combat so that they might fight for the crown, but then have no idea what to do with it because they are muscle-bound idiots.

Still, a problem for the future. Let us see about those expansion plans...

This was part of an event chain. As for the expansion plans... today's update shows the beginning of those.

It is nice that you have came back after 2 years hiatus.

I hope you can make a good Phyrrhus’s story in the game. His history is poisoned to repeat as his kingdom has low manpower and his got more morale than discipline.

Pyrrhus of Epirus - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

Knowing his weaknesses, I would secure enough manpower by integrating as many cultures you come by and wait for your opportunity to get Macedon by inheritance or by force.

Are you planning to follow any of the missions or events coded in the game?

Epirus - Imperator Wiki

imperator.paradoxwikis.com

Godspeed, it is nice reading you!

Thanks for the advice! I really meant to resume this earlier, but I kept getting distracted.

I have followed a few missions, and some events have fired.

 

[El Pip]

Expansion by diplomacy?! That was almost as much of a shock to me as it must have been to Phyrrhus, but you cannot argue with the results. An ominous cliff hanger at the end, what could be more important than matters of war and peace?

 

[HistoryDude]

Expansion by diplomacy?! That was almost as much of a shock to me as it must have been to Phyrrhus, but you cannot argue with the results. An ominous cliff hanger at the end, what could be more important than matters of war and peace?

Some of that (Corcyra) was aided by a mission tree, which I wasn't paying attention to earlier. As for the cliffhanger, betrayal and treason are very important, indeed... and that's all I will say on the matter.

 

[HistoryDude]

In July 453 AUC, Pyrrhus faced a challenge to his throne. The duel with Neoptolemus had not as decisively established Pyrrhus’s legitimacy as he would’ve liked. His reforms and expansionist policies were still disliked by many subjects of Epirus. His relative, Ptolemaios Aiakid, took advantage of this sentiment to gather large armies to support his bid for the throne.

Ptolemaios saw the new centralized state as a good thing, but he saw any kind of expansion as a good way to get attacked by the Diadochi. Still, he dealt with the Molossians and promised them concessions - notably a council of advisors containing only Molossians - in order to gain support. He also dealt with Epirus’s new vassals, and this decision would echo across the ages. It taught Pyrrhus distrust.

He promised to build a fleet on Corcyra. This fleet would belong to the people of Corcyra, and it was wanted for dealing with pirates. Pyrrhus had earlier refused a similar request because he worried that the (proposed) vast new fleet would be used to threaten Epirus, or, worse, expand the influence of Corcyra itself, which he saw as a road to a long war between Epirus and Corcyra. Those were his stated reasons for refusing. In retrospect, Pyrrhus might’ve been plotting his annexation of the island even then, which would make his real reason the sense of independence Corcyra might’ve gained.

Ptolemaios also promised the King of Taulantia more land and influence in Illyria. This led to a great internal conflict within the Taulantian King’s heart, but, in the end, his ambition outweighed his loyalty. He agreed to aid Ptolemaios.

In July, Ptolemaios’s court was set up in Omphalion. This was close to Taulantia, which would allow the rebel king’s new ally to aid him quickly. Still, the King of Taulantia was strangely slow in coming to his ally’s aid, which might have been out of residual loyalty to Pyrrhus. Some have argued that the King was pressured into his alliance by his advisors, which is supported by the fact that he never led troops on the battlefield during the Epirote Civil War.
Omphalion quickly became a battleground. Pyrrhus’s loyalists attacked the rebel army as July closed, and the First Battle of Omphalion lasted until the middle of August and ended with the rebels fleeing from their capital. The army of Pyrrhus settled down for a long siege.

The siege wouldn’t last long. In December, Taulantia’s armies finally arrived, and they joined with the remnants of the defeated rebel army. This new combined army attacked the besiegers of Omphalion again, and they were again defeated. This taught them nothing, and the remnants of the combined army attacked Omphalion again later that same month.

In January, a Fourth Battle of Omphalion was fought with the remnants of the combined army and the forces of Corcyra. Pyrrhus’s loyalists won this last battle as well, and the defenders of the city within the wall finally lost hope. Thrice, a mighty army had tried to relieve them, and, thrice, that same army had been destroyed. They surrendered the city, and Pyrrhus showed them mercy - he didn’t want to alienate his subjects.

The King of Taulantia pulled back his forces and swore a renewed oath of allegiance to Pyrrhus. Corcyra’s forces remained, but Pyrrhus’s forces ultimately engaged them at Dodona, where, as the poets say, “Mother Rhea favored Her rightful descendant”, and the army of Corcyra was destroyed. The aftermath of Dodona saw a coup in Corcyra, where men loyal to Pyrrhus overthrew the island’s regime and affirmed their loyalty. All that was left to be done was mop up the remnants of Ptolemaios’s loyalists.

The remaining engagements can’t be considered battles. The rebels were quickly mopped up and lost all of their territory. By August, no one dared to profess open loyalty to Ptolemaios, and the false king himself had been captured.

Pyrrhus had reaffirmed his right to rule Epirus.

 

[HistoryDude]

With the rebellion defeated, Pyrrhus could finally go through with his plan to expand. Invading any Greek state would get him embroiled in the wars of the Diadochi, so Pyrrhus decided to continue with his previous plan - conquering Illyricum. He had already managed to vassalize Taulantia, which removed his main rival for control of the region, but rightful Greek land still remained in barbarian hands.

There had once been Greek colonies in Apollonia, and Pyrrhus intended to reclaim the land. Some of those colonies still stood, and they belonged in Greek hands. Pyrrhus had planned to invade in the summer of 453 AUC, but the disloyalty of his vassals - and of his family - had prevented that.

This left the King of Epirus with a choice to make. He could invade as soon as possible, but that would force him to deal with Apollonia’s winter rains. Those rains could delay his campaign for weeks. The alternative was to wait out the winter and invade once summer returned.

In the end, he decided to invade immediately. His reasoning was interesting, as it shows how impatient and distrustful Pyrrhus had become by this age.

In his campaign journal, he wrote that, “I will not make an empire alone, but I must still lay the foundations of one in order to remain honored in heaven and earth. I cannot afford to delay this campaign. I have not yet won glory in battle against those who did not once kneel to me. If I wait for Persephone to return to her mother to invade, I will give Apollonia time to prepare for my attack. Furthermore, I will give those who conspire against me in my own court time to prepare their schemes. If I don’t attack now, I may never have the chance again”.

This excerpt shows that the Molossian Scheme and the Civil War had caused Pyrrhus to distrust his entire court. He believed that any of them could be a spy for a foreign power or have interests of their own. It also implies that he suspected Apollonia of having spies in his court. It is a hint of the paranoia that would ultimately lead Pyrrhus to ruin.

As September approached, Epirote forces led by Pyrrhus entered Apollonia. Almost immediately, they met the tribal army of the Apollonians. The Battle of Apollonia raged on for weeks, and the tribal warriors fought valiantly, but the superior organization and unity of the Epirote army won the battle. The warriors were killed, captured, or forced to flee. Nothing stood between the cities of Apollonia and conquest except for a few walls.

However, the Apollonians quickly proved that they would not be so easy to defeat. Many of the fleeing warriors had simply fled to the cities, where they attacked the Epirotes from behind the walls. These warriors also encouraged the tribesmen to fight for their sovereignty, and it worked - many ordinary tribesmen picked up weapons and attacked the invading Epirotes. At first, the barbarians only attacked with bows and at range, but that was only effective for around two months.

As December approached, the barbarian tribesmen that their ranged attacks would soon prove inadequate, so they switched tactics. Many of them resorted to exploiting their familiarity with their homeland’s terrain to stage hit-and-run attacks. This held off their defeat for another three months, but their defeat was inevitable. In February 456 AUC, the Apollonian chiefs surrendered.

Still, Pyrrhus respected the people of Apollonia. He saw their resistance to his armies and admired their resolve. He also feared that they might continue attacking his army in a guerrilla warfare campaign in order to force him to withdraw. His respect and his fear caused him to offer the most prominent families amongst the Apollonian tribes positions of power in his court. The Theronid and Agid families were added to the Epirote court in recognition of their position of authority amongst the Apollonians.

Some historians have also suggested that Pyrrhus meant to give out positions of authority in his court to newly subjugated peoples in order to create a new class of rulers loyal to him and him alone.

 

[HistoryDude]

Pyrrhus also changed a lot of Epirus’s culture. In general, these changes were meant to make the people of Epirus more receptive to the idea of being an imperial power - and to convince other states that Epirus was worthy of an empire. Many of these cultural reforms weren’t solely Pyrrhus’s work, of course - many of his supporters supported and enforced them.

The first true cultural reform Pyrrhus did was his creation of a code of unified laws for Epirus. He didn’t do this himself - he instructed his Archgrammateus, Alexandros, to complete the task. He envisioned a code of law that all of Pyrrhus’s subjects would have to follow - and a singular tradition for Epirus. He gave Alexandrios the order to make this law code in October 452 AUC… but it would take years for a unified law code to be made. His attempts to unify Epirus’s traditions would last beyond Pyrrhus’s reign. That makes sense, however - those traditions included religious stories and ceremonies as well as secular festivals. The final product would become the basis of traditional Hellenism.

A secondary goal of the cultural reforms was to erase distinctions between individual Epirote tribes. A political goal of this was to limit the influence the Molossians had on Epirote politics… which is reflected throughout Pyrrhus’s reforms.

In May 454 AUC, Pyrrhus began his second great cultural reform. He began to support artists of all kinds. Many of these artists made statues of him, of course, so some of this was due to arrogance, but a lot of it was to expand Epirus’s “high culture”. Artists and playwrights created beautiful paintings and moving plays. Thousands flocked to Epirus. In order to encourage as many of these to move to Epirus, Pyrrhus granted freedom of expression… to a limited extent. This policy was surprisingly modern, as it allowed many works to express distaste with his policies and with his religious ideas.

The final great cultural reform Pyrrhus was responsible for was the writing of the Epirote Argonautica. Pyrrhus began to fund its author in February 452 AUC, but it wasn’t completed until May 454. The author briefly ran into financial troubles, even falling into debt, but Pyrrhus gave him more funds, and the Muses allowed him to complete the epic.

The Epirote Argonautica was often used as justification for why Epirus gained an empire… and it is very likely that it was written with justification of Pyrrhus’s political goals in mind. Regardless, the text differs from other tales of the Argonauts in many ways. The most notable are that the Epirote Argonautica contains many deities not present in other tales of the Argonauts, and there are many more members of the crew of the Argo itself. The second is that Jason and Medea never break up, and this is an element of Epirote propaganda because the Aiakids are imagined to be descended from their union. This gives Pyrrhus famous ancestors as well as divine justification for conquest - Hera, queen of the gods, promises Jason that his descendants will “rule over the myriad nations of Earth”.


AN: Some stuff that has nothing to do with war or politics for a change. I do like comments, and please vote in the Q2 ACAs!

 

[HistoryDude]

In December 456 AUC, Pyrrhus married his relative, Deidamia, to the Tyrant of Syracuse, Agthokles Agathoklid. This was done in preparation for his great campaigns in Italia. Pyrrhus knew that Italia would be the second basis of his empire, but he also believed that he didn’t need to build his empire on military force alone. Indeed, he imagined that a solely military campaign might be doomed to fail because it would drive other rulers into the arms of his two great rivals for control of Italia - Rome and Carthage. A royal marriage with Syracuse would allow him to build good relations with that city, which would hopefully lead to an alliance in the future.

Despite his diplomatic moves, Pyrrhus wasn’t so naive as to believe that he could create an empire with his small and disorganized army and a bit of diplomacy. No, he would need to expand his army. To do this, he organized his soldiers into the Molossike Taxis - a standing army for Epirus that was somewhat similar to the legions of Rome. He encouraged many soldiers (many of whom had been encouraged to serve by the Epirote Argonautica) to join this army, telling them that they would be serving their king and their culture by doing so. Thousands joined.

Still, Pyrrhus didn’t feel as if that was enough. An army was nothing without a leader, and he knew that. To solve this problem, he appointed a relative of his, Spartokos Aiakid, as the leader of the army. He also created a new position, a tribune, to help lead the army. If the army’s leader was indisposed or unable to be contacted, a tribune would lead in his stead. Pyrrhus believed that this would allow the Taxis to continue functioning even if it was split - by weather, by unexpected terrain, or even by enemy action. Only two tribunes were appointed - another relative of his named Areus Aiakid and a talented military leader named Megakles Megaklid.

Pyrrhus then began to prepare for his invasion of Italia, but he saw two problems. The first, and more pressing, problem was simple - Epirus didn’t have a massive fleet. It would be difficult to reach Italia without a fleet - it would require moving vast lands uninhabited by civilized peoples, and it would likely annoy the Romans. To alleviate this issue, Pyrrhus took an unconventional step - he hired a massive pirate fleet to transport his standing army across the Adriatic Sea.

Still, that still left his second problem - where should he invade first? There were many options. He could invade Sicily, establishing a base and hoping for Syracuse’s support, no matter how unlikely it was. He quickly rejected that as either unrealistic or too long-term. An alternative would be to invade tribal lands in Italia proper, but Pyrrhus believed that the tribes would resist his rule and take many years to subjugate.

Pyrrhus could have directly challenged Rome or Carthage themselves. Indeed, this might have been more true to the spirit of his family’s conquests - after all, Alexander had conquered the Persian Empire by attacking it directly. Pyrrhus saw this as a move with far too much risk and far too little potential reward. Alexander’s empire, after all, had collapsed immediately after his death, and Pyrrhus of Epirus wanted a dynasty - and he got one. In addition, there was a high chance that he would lose against Rome or Carthage if he attacked them in 457 or 458.

No, Pyrrhus began his conquests in earnest by attacking the Greek cities on the tip of Italia. He attacked the state of Metapontum, which was near Tarentum, in June 458. Metapontum had allies among other cities on the tip of Italia, and they would support their ally - which meant that they could be annexed as well. The First Magna Graecian War had begun.

 

[El Pip]

Pyrrhus is a very ambitious man isn't he? He is cautious about his limits so he will indeed never be Alexander-esque, because he will never take enough risks. But his efforts in culture and the arts may provide a firmer base than anything Alexander built, there may be something other than dreams of glory that live on after Pyrrhus inevitably dies.

Magna Graecia seems a logical enough place to start, whatever Pyrrhus does he will make enemies and rivals but hopefully he can get Syracuse on side and build something substantial before Rome looks his way.

 

[HistoryDude]

Bad news emerged immediately after the declaration of war. It seemed as if the Oracle at Delphi disapproved of Pyrrhus’s warmongering, and a letter arrived in November stating that Pyrrhus was a bad leader… according to the gods. Public opinion in Epirus itself was divided over this - many of the traditionalists abandoned Pyrrhus, but those who believed in the epic and tales that Pyrrhus had churned out retained their faith in him. The Epirote state’s official position was that the letter wasn’t from the Oracle at all - Pyrrhus proclaimed that it was a political move by the regime in the city of Delphi. The truthfulness of that statement is extraordinarily questionable - many historians today believe that the letter was from the Oracle but that it was also motivated by fear of an expanding state.

It didn’t appear to have much of an effect at first. The Battle of Kroton was fought in December and saw the utter annihilation of the army of the city-state of Croton. This wasn’t enough to allow an outright annexation, though, as the city was well equipped for a long siege. However, the Epirote army was patient, and they could afford to wait for long stretches of time. Croton’s allies had no intention of relieving them. The Magna Graecian cities had faith in the ability of Croton’s walls to keep out the invaders… which might have led to their downfall.

While the commander of the Epirote forces in Magna Graecia, Euandros I Parmenid, besieged Croton, he sent out diplomats to attempt to negotiate with other factions in southern Italia. These diplomats managed to achieve one success… they secured military passage through the lands of the Bruttian tribes in the last days of 458 AUC.

Croton’s walls were mighty. The siege took an entire year, but Parmenid was a patient man - he could wait that long. In December 459 AUC, the city finally fell. This was aided by a naval engagement in the Mare Ionium where the fleet of Kroton was utterly annihilated. With no aid forthcoming, Croton surrendered to Parmenid, who was merciful to its inhabitants.

As 460 AUC dawned, the Oracle’s prophecy began to come true. A small force of Epirotes, led by Pyrrhus himself, attacked Metapontum… and were utterly destroyed. Pyrrhus himself was wounded and barely escaped. He fled back to Epirus and left the persecution of the war to his generals. He appointed Spatokos Gelid a commander of the Molossike Taxis and raised 2000 men from Illyria to reinforce that army. Still, he limited his involvement in the war to diplomacy - he went to Syracuse personally to improve relations with them in June.

Pyrrhus’s new policy paid off in February 461 AUC, which was when the Second Battle of Metapontum occurred. Epirus defeated the army of Metapontum and settled in to siege the city. The alliance of Magna Graecian cities had learned their lesson with Croton, though, and they attacked again in November. The combined forces of Metapontum, Heraclea, and what remained of Kroton attacked the besieging army… and was utterly destroyed.

On December 22, 461 AUC, Metapontum finally fell to Epirus, and Pyrrhus forced his peace on the alliance. Metapontum and Croton were completely annexed, and their leaders were banished… while the commoner prisoners were executed. Pyrrhus intended to ensure that no Magna Graecian city wished to cross him. The First Magna Graecian War had ended.

The Second Magna Graecian War began in January 463 AUC. Epirus declared war on Thuria, who paid tribute to the Bruttians, who were allied with Heraclea. Fortunately, Rome happened to be at war with the Bruttians, so they were distracted.

Pyrrhus sent his fleet to attack the fleet of Heraclea immediately, and the Battle of the Sinus Tarentinus was a victory for Epirus. The Epirote armies then landed in southern Italia and swept across the lands of the Bruttians. The Bruttians, preoccupied with fighting Rome, could do nothing as their lands were overrun by a foreign invader.

Thuria itself was besieged from March to July 463 AUC. The pressure from Rome likely contributed to its surrender, as the Greeks in the city might have preferred rule by a foreign Greek power to rule by a local Italian power.

In September 463 AUC, a peace treaty was signed with the Bruttians and Thuria. Thuria and its lands were annexed, while Epirus withdrew from Bruttia, which allowed Rome to annex those tribes a few months later.

Epirus now had a foothold in Magna Graecia… and Pyrrhus’s ambition to have more than that nearly destroyed his empire entirely within a couple of years.

 

[HistoryDude]

Pyrrhus is a very ambitious man isn't he? He is cautious about his limits so he will indeed never be Alexander-esque, because he will never take enough risks. But his efforts in culture and the arts may provide a firmer base than anything Alexander built, there may be something other than dreams of glory that live on after Pyrrhus inevitably dies.

Magna Graecia seems a logical enough place to start, whatever Pyrrhus does he will make enemies and rivals but hopefully he can get Syracuse on side and build something substantial before Rome looks his way.

Hopefully. Assuming Pyrrhus doesn't do something stupid.

Pyrrhus wants to build a lasting legacy, so he will also focus on "soft power" (culture, art, religion, language, and philosophy) that doesn't require Rome. This will be a lasting theme in the AAR, actually.

 

[HistoryDude]

Pyrrhus’s strategy during the First Italian War was simple. He knew that he had no chance of defeating all of the mighty Roman legions. He had many great generals, of course, but the best generals in the world could never allow an army of 5000 men to defeat an army of 70000 men. Pyrrhus’s plan was to avoid confrontation with Rome… and to confront their allies, instead.

The First Italian War began when Pyrrhus declared war on Locri, a small city that was allied with Rome. He didn’t expect Rome to defend this small city at all. The Romans, however, had grown worried about Epirus’s expansion on the Italian Peninsula. They saw Italia as their territory, and they worried that Epirus might become a rival.

Pyrrhus was shocked that Rome had declared war in defense of their small ally, but he decided that he could still make this war work. He would need to seize control of Locri before Rome could defend it and send a demand that this annexation be recognized. He would present this as a fait accompli, and hope Rome didn’t press the issue.

Initially, everything went exactly according to plan. In April 456 AUC, the Epirote fleet defeated the meager fleet of Locri at the Battle of the Mare Ionium. This allowed them to land soldiers outside Locri, and Locri didn’t have much of an army. They were forced to surrender to Pyrrhus within a month. Everything had gone exactly according to plan.

Then, things went off-script. Pyrrhus sent his demand that Locri be given up to Epirus - since it was already occupied - to Rome, and the Roman Senate refused. They declared that Locri was a Roman ally and would be defended by the full army of the Republic.

This put Pyrrhus into a tough spot. He could attempt to further intimidate Rome into surrendering Locri and risk humiliating defeat, or he could sign a status quo ante bellum peace with Rome. Pyrrhus liked to think that he wasn’t overly ambitious, but, in this instance, he took the ambitious option. He would attempt to further intimidate Rome. Historians have debated why he took such an unwise move for centuries, but the simple answer seems to be a matter of simple pride. An alternative reason would be that he was tired of always taking the safe option. After all, taking risks tended to generate greater rewards.

His army advanced into Stylacium in May and occupied it by the end of that month. No Roman legions emerged to attack the armies of Epirus. Indeed, the first army that Epirus faced wasn’t a legion at all but merely a collection of the armies of Roman allies.

At Tempsa, the Epirote army fought an alliance of Pelignia, Frentania, and Nuceria, all of whom were subordinate to Rome. The battle took place throughout July, and it ultimately ended when the Italians retreated. The Epirote army settled down for a long siege.

Unfortunately, the long period of time where the Epirote did nothing except besieging Italian towns gave the Roman legions time to enter Magna Graecia. Soon, the true war would begin…





AN: I intended for this to be a longer update, but my Imperator game wasn't cooperating. I'm hoping to finish the First Italian War by next week.

 

[IsaacCAT]

Hoping for the best. The italian HI is a mighty force. If you have any terrain modifier from your military traditions use it to your advantage and try to hire as many mercs as possible.

Send them first to discover the Roman army tactic and then send your levy/legion to counter their tactic (you only need to have more cohorts than the merc army to supersede the tactic).

Good luck!

PS: the best fights are the challenging ones when you are outgunned and outnumbered. They make the best epic. Moreover, defeats are resfreshing among all these repeating tales of victories.

 

[HistoryDude]

As July drew to a close, many Roman legions attacked the besiegers at Tempsa. Their allies returned to the battlefield, and they wanted revenge for their defeat. The Second Battle of Tempsa was an absolute bloodbath. The Epirotes were outnumbered more than two to one, but they fought valiantly anyway.

Ultimately, the superior technology of the legion won out, but the victory wasn’t a happy one. Only 2000 Epirotes died, and more than 4500 Romans did. The number of Roman allies who died is unclear. Some believe that the Romans weren’t counted separately from their allies, but others that as many as half of the Italian forces might’ve been slaughtered. To this day, a “Tempsene victory” refers to a victory won at far too great a cost.

Indeed, the cost was so great that Rome sent envoys to Pyrrhus, asking what he wanted in exchange for peace. Pyrrhus demanded Locri, which was already under Epirote occupation. The Roman Senate agreed - they worried that Pyrrhus might have more soldiers lurking in his lands and that his success might inspire revolts among their Greek cities.

Pyrrhus knew that the execution of all of the Locrian wouldn’t be a good idea if he wished to keep their loyalty. He spared the Alketids and elevated them to Epirote nobility. They were renowned as mighty warriors among the Locrians, so they would prove useful. Their fellow nobles were executed, as they provided nothing to the Epirote state.

Pyrrhus had escaped from the indignity of defeat in the First Italian War by a stroke of luck. He had what he wanted, but he knew that another war with Rome wasn’t something that his kingdom could afford. For the time being, Magna Graecia wasn’t an option for further expansion. Pyrrhus’s first instinct was thus to look south toward the divided Greek cities. Surely they would be easy pickings for his extensive empire? Unfortunately, they were protected by Macedon, and Pyrrhus had no intention of dragging himself into the Diadochi Wars. Macedon also bordered Epirus to the east.

That left one avenue of expansion open - Illyria. Taulantia was already an Epirote vassal, but most of Illyria was inhabited by fractious tribes. Pyrrhus began making overtures to the Taulantian elite about “being brought the full benefits of civilization” in May 469 AUC - and many Taulantians were interested. Negotiations proved fruitful, and the integration of the Taulantians into the existing political structure of Epirus became a gradual process. Ultimately, they would be fully incorporated in May 474, but many caveats were included with this process. Firstly, the Taulantians were allowed to continue paying tribute to their former king, who was a good friend of Pyrrhus, instead of the Governor of Illyria, who Pyrrhus was beginning with. Secondly, the Taulantian nobles would remain nobles and keep their lands.

As these negotiations were occurring, Pyrrhus sent overtures to the nearby Illyrian tribes about alliances. He also offered protection against neighboring rivals. This peaceful attempt at annexing Illyria didn’t yield much of a result. After a couple of years, Pyrrhus abandoned it over the objections of his wife. The only lasting effect of this peaceful attempt was the vassalization of Pieria. Pyrrhus allied with Pieria in June 469 AUC, and they asked to pay tribute in exchange for more protection in April 470, and Pyrrhus accepted that deal.

 

[HistoryDude]

Hoping for the best. The italian HI is a mighty force. If you have any terrain modifier from your military traditions use it to your advantage and try to hire as many mercs as possible.

Send them first to discover the Roman army tactic and then send your levy/legion to counter their tactic (you only need to have more cohorts than the merc army to supersede the tactic).

Good luck!

PS: the best fights are the challenging ones when you are outgunned and outnumbered. They make the best epic. Moreover, defeats are resfreshing among all these repeating tales of victories.

Indeed. Fighting the Romans is very difficult, which is why I offered peace with the most minimal demands ASAP. I'm not taking them on again for a while.

 

[Idhrendur]

Nice turnabout from OTL.

 

[El Pip]

Their fellow nobles were executed, as they provided nothing to the Epirote state.

This also encourages any future enemy of Epirus to fight to the last breath, because you are going to get killed if they win. Not perhaps the best precedent to set.

 

[HistoryDude]

Pyrrhus had heard rumors of treason throughout the 470s. Initially, he had expected this to be mere unfounded gossip, but then he had noticed strange behavior among his courtiers, notably the Gelid family. This prompted him to investigate, and what he found stunned him. At first, he found nothing.

However, when he announced to his court what he intended to do with regards to Illyria, he found that his relative, Tryphon Aiakid, refused to support his plans of expansion. He claimed that invading such a vast land would be catastrophic, as the Diadochi would begin seeing Pyrrhus as a threat to their power. This made Pyrrhus suspicious, and he sent men to follow Tryphon - he worried that he could oppose his Illyrian Campaigns as the current Governor of Illyria. However, he didn’t have enough evidence that he was the type of man to do this, so he couldn’t fire his relative without harming his image among his subjects.

Interestingly, Pyrrhus quickly found a far more nefarious plot - Tryphon wasn’t loyal to Pyrrhus at all! It seemed as if he was plotting rebellion - either to take the throne of Epirus himself or, failing that, to become the king of an independent Illyrian state. This outraged Pyrrhus, who ordered Tryphon arrested.

Tryphon arrived for his trial, but things quickly went wrong. The head of the Gelid family vouched for Tryphon, and he demanded that Tryphon be found innocent. To make matters worse, the jury agreed with him. That might have been the end of the matter, but Tryphon’s honor had been injured. To make things even worse, Pyrrhus and Tryphon got into a scuffle and injured each other.

He declared war on Pyrrhus for his claim to Epirus as a member of the Aiakid family, and most of the Gelids joined him. Illyria and a city in Magna Graecia supported his claim. They began attacking Epirus itself.

Pyrrhus raised his armies, but he also hired mercenaries with his vast treasury. He didn’t fully trust his soldiers to be loyal to him above their commanders. The mercenaries, at the very least, would be loyal to whoever paid them. The practice of hiring mercenaries would be common throughout the history of Ancient Epirus - to their own eventual undoing.

Pyrrhus ordered his small army and his mercenaries to attack Illyria. At first, this left Epirus defenseless, so there was a risk of Pyrrhus himself being captured. He wasn’t that worried, though - he viewed Tryphon as too incompetent to manage that feat. Even if he was captured, he could always commit suicide and leave this fight to his descendants.

It didn’t come to that, as Pyrrhus is nowadays perhaps best known for his Illyrian Campaigns, which occurred after this civil war. In May 475, a siege of Apollonia began, but the walls proved too strong for the mercenaries ordered to besiege the city. They decided that dealing with the rebellion directly would be smarter than what they had been ordered to.

The mercenaries were right - the Battle of Passaron lasted all of one day. That day was January 26, 476, and 382 men of Korkyra were killed with the loss of 50 mercenaries. Korkyra’s support for the rebellion had been unknown to Pyrrhus, but, when the letter informing him of that fact arrived, he was angry. He decided that they needed to be punished for their treason, especially since it wasn’t even the first time that this had happened.

The mercenaries then began reclaiming the occupied areas of Epirus, and that task was completed by the end of May. This was followed by the Siege of Korkyra, which lasted from June 476 until May 477. It was only after this that Apollonia was besieged, and it finally fell in January 478.

In July, the last remnants of the forces of both Korkyra and the rebels were destroyed at the Battle of Lissos. This was followed by the fall of the city of Epidamnos in July 479, and the revolt was almost completely finished.

Parallel to the destruction of the rebellion’s armies was the destruction of the rebellion’s reputation. In June 476, Pyrrhus discovered that Archagathos Gelid was spreading insulting rumors about him, so he publicized this fact. He was then captured and executed, and he was stupid enough to admit his guilt to the court.

The war was finally completed once Pyrrhus simply outbid the mercenaries that the revolt was hiring for their service. That left Tryphon without any base of support, as they had been defending his territory in Magna Graecia, and he was executed.

Pyrrhus could now focus on conquering the northern tribes…

 

[HistoryDude]

Nice turnabout from OTL.

Rome isn't defeated quite yet, though.

This also encourages any future enemy of Epirus to fight to the last breath, because you are going to get killed if they win. Not perhaps the best precedent to set.

Not necessarily. This isn't mentioned in the text, but the nobles who I spare are spared because of their martial ability. Therefore, it should inspire Pyrrhus's foes to get better at fighting so that he views them as worthy of survival. I'm roleplaying this a bit.

Pyrrhus's logic is flawed in a lot of ways. The most obvious one is probably that, if his enemies actually got better at fighting, they might get better than his generals... which would allow him to be defeated.

 

[HistoryDude]

In 480 AUC, Pyrrhus declared war on Cavia, a region that was similar in culture to his new Taulantian subjects and that honored the gods of Greece. He hired mercenaries and raised armies to crush his adversaries.

The tribal people of Cavia were allied with the people of Abria and of Delmatia in a grand defensive pact. Pyrrhus declared war on Cavia to prove his power - he wanted to ensure that the northern tribes knew that no tribe or even alliance of tribes could hope to match Epirus’s power. The declaration of war was meant to draw in the other tribes as a warning to not cross Epirus. It was mostly psychological - intended to make many tribes believe that Illyria was a better course of action than being subjugated by Pyrrhus.

The beginning of the war was extremely slow and was arguably the best opportunity the Illyrian Pact had for catching Pyrrhus off guard. Pyrrhus began besieging Labeiton in February 480 AUC, and the settlement didn’t fall until September. This was immediately followed by a siege of Askribion that lasted from February to October 481. Neither of these sieges was opposed by a single Illyrian army, and it’s unclear why.

The first military engagement was at Grabaion against Abrian tribesmen. This army contained very few Cavians, and the battle was extraordinarily quick - it didn’t even last a month. All of the fighting took place in December.

Still, that battle proved decisive. The forces of Epirus spent six months after it occupying tribal land, but no other army ever materialized. In June 482, Pyrrhus ended his first war against the Illyrians by annexing all of Cavia and large portions of Abria. He left Delmatia alone, but they didn’t seem to care much about their defeat.

Pyrrhus welcomed the most martially oriented family of Cavia - the Glabids - into the ranks of the Epirote nobles, but the other two prominent families of Cavia - the Laiskids and the Baolids - were executed.

In October, tribesmen from the mountains in the newly conquered lands attacked the more civilized lands, but the Epirotes were able to quickly crush them. Pyrrhus ordered his generals to interrogate the tribesmen that they managed to capture, as he suspected that an Illyrian tribe was paying them, but no evidence of foreign interference emerged. It seemed as if the tribes normally raided these lands for money.

Almost two months later, Pyrrhus declared war on an alliance of Armistia and Delmatia. It took him some time to actually invade these kingdoms, though. This should’ve given both polities time to prepare, especially since Delmatia had fought against Epirus before, but it seemed as if they didn’t use that time. The Siege of Risetia lasted from February to July 483.

It seemed as if this made the Armistians realize what was at stake, and an epic battle ensued. The Battle of Risetia raged throughout July, and the Armistians managed to kill many Epirotes. They even almost killed multiple mercenary captains that Epirus was employing and Pyrrhus himself. Still, they were eventually defeated. This was the closest the Armistians came to outright the Epirote armies, although they would prove shockingly resilient.

As a result of the close call that Pyrrhus had at Risetia, he decided to retreat from the battlefield and leave command to his capable generals. They quickly took control of Pecina in August, but the Armistians attacked the besieging in May and almost managed to successfully hold the city.

It was at this point that Pyrrhus decided to attempt a repeat of one of his more unorthodox strategies to win wars. He bought out Armistia’s mercenaries in December, but even this wasn’t enough to destroy them. The mercenaries turned on their former allies and won the Battle of Osinion, but the Armistian tribesmen managed to retreat and live to fight another day.

These men ultimately attacked the Epirote army itself in March 486, hoping that the element of surprise would permit them a victory. Many knew that the cause was lost, but they fought on anyway, hoping to go down in history as glorious soldiers.This succeeded - thousands of plays and books and even a few epics have been written about the battle. This “Grand Stand of the Armistians” failed miserably.

Pyrrhus ordered his armies to focus on the Delmatians, and they did. The Siege of Delminion lasted from May 486 to January 487 and ultimately succeeded.

The Armistians still remained a threat, though. Despite their near total destruction, they still refused to kneel to the Epirotes. They made one last, glorious stand at Barcellum, and Pyrrhus was so impressed by their courage - at Barcellum and at the Grand Stand of the Armistians earlier - that he offered to make Armistia his vassal, which was accepted.

He also offered to make Delmatia a vassal, and they also agreed. Still, Pyrrhus clearly respected the Armistians more, which would influence Epirote Imperial Policy for centuries.

Almost immediately after this peace, in June 487, Pyrrhus declared war on Epidaurum, which didn’t actually control the city of Epidaurum. The polity was a far cry from being a threat. Indeed, the entire war was merely a siege and a battle. The Siege of Salthoua lasted until November 489, but the area was the entire territory of Epidaurum - once it was lost, Pyrrhus could impose whatever terms he liked.

The forces of Epidaurum attacked Askribion in August 488, but that merely saw the annihilation of their army. Still, the surrender didn’t come until December 489. Epidaurum was completely annexed by Epirus.

Pyrrhus followed this with a declaration of war on the island-state of Issa. His psychological tactic showed its first fruits, as Issa surrendered without a fight. Most of Illyria was now under Epirus’s rule. The Great Illyrian Campaign was over.

 

[Argead33]

Ave HistoryDude, glad to see you writing. My old laptop died and my screen captures/narrative for my AAR went with it. There is too much content lost to continue so it is up to you to carry the torch for Epirus.