Greek: CALABRIA. Tarentum. Time of Pyrrhus of Epirus (ca. 280-272 BC). AV stater (18mm, 8.58 gm, 9h). NGC AU★ 5/5 - 4/5, Fine S...

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Pyrrhus, Cousin of Alexander the Great

CALABRIA. Tarentum. Time of Pyrrhus of Epirus (ca. 280-272 BC). AV stater (18mm, 8.58 gm, 9h). NGC AU★ 5/5 - 4/5, Fine Style. Nicar-, magistrate. Head of Heracles right, wearing lion skin headdress, paws tied before neck / TAPANTINΩN, male youth (Taras?), driving rearing biga right, nude save for chlamys draped over left arm, reins in right hand, trident in left; NIKAP above. Fischer-Bossert G24. Vlasto 23. HN Italy 984. Elegant, Fine Style artistry set against a lustrous flan make this a highly eye-appealing masterpiece in ancient gold.

From the time he became king of Epirus in 319 BC, the handsome and charismatic Pyrrhus dreamed of emulating his cousin Alexander the Great's career of conquest. He married Lanassa, the daughter of king Agathocles of Syracuse, in 295 BC and an opportunity presented itself in 280 BC, when the city of Tarentum in southern Italy sought his assistance in resisting Rome. Landing in Italy with his army and several war elephants, he marched against the Roman consul Publius Valerius Laevinus and defeated him in a bloody encounter near Heraclea. Pyrrhus won a second, even more costly victory at Ausculum in 279 BC, after which he is said to have remarked, "another such 'victory' and I am finished!" Thus was born the phrase "Pyrrhic victory," a battle won at such cost that it might as well be a defeat. Next, the Siceliotes lobbied for his support against Roman ally Carthage in 278 BC, resulting in Pyrrhus taking over the island and being acclaimed 'King of Sicily'. The presence of Pyrrhus in southern Italy and Sicily soon became an occupation, with the hosting cities forced to strike coins to pay the army. He returned to Italy in 276 BC and eventually to Epirus.

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