Pyrrhus was one of the most tireless and famous warriors of the Hellenistic Age that followed the dispersal of Alexander the Great's brief empire. After inheriting the throne as a boy, and a period of exile, he began a career of alliances and expansion, in particular against the region's rising power: Rome. Gathering both Greek and Italian allies into a very large army (which included war-elephants), he crossed to Italy in 280 BC, but lost most of his force in a series of costly victories at Heraclea and Asculum, as well as a storm at sea. After a campaign in Sicily against the Carthaginians, he was defeated by the Romans at Beneventum and was forced to withdraw. Undeterred, he fought wars in Macedonia and Greece, the last of which cost him his life. Fully illustrated with detailed colour plates, this is the story of one of the most renowned warrior-kings of the post-Alexandrian age, whose costly encounters with Republican Rome have become a byword for victory won at unsustainable cost.

Nicholas Sekunda was born in 1953. After studying Ancient History and Archaeology at Manchester University, he went on to take his PhD in 1981. He has taken part in archaeological excavations in Poland, Iran and Greece, and participated in a research project on ancient Persian warfare for the British Institute of Persian Studies. He has published numerous books and academic articles, and is currently teaching at the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology in Torun, Poland.

Introduction: the peoples of Epirus, and their confederation before the accession of Pyrrhus as King of the Molossians . * Chronology of the reign of Pyrrhus, 307-272 BC . * The appearance of Pyrrhus. * Pyrrhus as general: his books on the art of war; his coucillors. * The Army of Pyrrhus: Guard Cavalry, Line Cavalry, Macedonian Phalanx, Epirote Phalanx, Mercenary Phalanx, Elephants, and Slingers. * Pyrrhus's Allies: the Tarantines, Lucanians, Bruttians and Samnites. * Plate Commentaries