★ Pyrrhos of Epeiros ★

Kingdom of Epeiros, Pyrrhos AR Stater. Lokroi Epizephyrioi, circa 279-274 BC. Head of Achilles facing to left, wearing anachronistic pseudo-Corinthian crested helmet ornamented with a leaping griffin / Thetis, mother of Achilles, seated to left on a hippocamp swimming to right, in her left hand she holds the Shield of Achilles, adorned with a gorgon-head; BAΣIΛEΩΣ above, ΠYPPOY below. BMC 8; SNG Lloyd 657; Jameson 1128; Kraay & Hirmer pl. 150, 473; McClean 5165 and pl. 188, 6 (same dies); Prospero 341 (same dies) = HGC 3.I, 262 (same dies). 8.40g, 23mm, 7h.

Near Extremely Fine; attractive old cabinet tone. Extremely Rare.

From the Long Valley River Collection;
Ex Schweizerische Kreditanstalt (Crédit Suisse), Monetarium List 55, Spring 1991, no. 9.

“Pyrrhos, who yielded to none of the kings in daring and prowess, and wished that the glory of Achilles should belong to him by right of valour rather than of blood alone”, wrote Plutarch of this Eperiote king, whom the historian claimed was descended from the Homeric hero depicted on this coin obverse (Plutarch, Life of Pyrrhos, 1-7). Apparently sprung from the Pyrrhidae line of Neoptolemus, son of Achilles, Pyrrhos commemorated this heroic ancestry through such coins as this wonderful stater, aligning himself as BAΣIΛEΩΣ with the divine mother of the Iliadic warrior on this coin reverse. Dodona in Epeiros, the site of a theatre built by Pyrrhos himself, was in fact mentioned by Homer as the location of an oracle of Zeus: Achilles prays to "High Zeus, Lord of Dodona, Pelasgian, living afar off, brooding over wintry Dodona" (Iliad, 16.233-16.235), while in the Odyssey, the eponymous hero refers to an oracle at Dodona when speaking to the swineherd Eumaeus (Homer, Odyssey, 14.327-14.328). "In one important respect Pyrrhos' practice is closely akin to that of the Macedonian kings of this time,” comments G.K. Jenkins, “in that nowhere does his portrait appear. Much as we may regret this, the splendid and exuberant types of Pyrrhos' Lokrian coins go far to compensate for it…" (G.K. Jenkins, Ancient Greek Coins, 1972, pp. 247-8.) Thus, this dynamic coin type forms part of a praiseworthy group, impressive in its artistic quality and representation of Pyrrhos’ Homeric ancestry.

Pyrrhos is most famed for his campaign against the Romans, a mighty struggle which the king was incited to undertake through his alliance to the Tarentines. Provoked by perceived Roman interference within their territories, increasing numbers of Roman colonies in Apulia and Lucania, and a growing Roman fleet which threatened Tarentine naval supremacy in Italy, the Tarentines had reached an agreement with Rome in 282 BC, which was promptly violated the same year. The Tarentines refused to negotiate with a Roman delegation and responded to the Roman’s subsequent declaration of war by calling on Pyrrhos for military backing. Shortly before this coin was minted, the king of Epeiros invaded Italy and achieved victory at Asculum in 279 BC. However, in Plutarch’s account of this battle, the king is credited with remarking, “If we are victorious in one more battle with the Romans, we shall be utterly ruined”; hence the term ‘Pyrrhic victory’ is used to designate a victory secured at too devastating a cost (Plutarch, 21). Hieronymus of Cardia, cited by Plutarch, records 3,505 losses for Pyrrhos at Asculum, compared to the 6,000 Roman dead, while Dionysius of Halicarnassus apparently numbered the deaths on both sides as equal, standing at 15,000 men each (Plutarch, 21). Such limited victories by the forces of Pyrrhos achieved little for the Tarentines and, after an unsuccessful battle at Beneventum in 275 BC, Pyrrhos withdrew from Italy.

This failed challenge to Rome’s power was followed by the Roman conquest of Lucania, Samnium, and finally, Tarentum itself in 272 BC. In this same year, Pyrrhos himself died, hit on the head by a tile thrown from the roof of a house (Plutarch, 34). Thus, this extremely rare specimen was produced during a crucial turning point: after the defeat of this Epeirote king and Tarentum, Rome’s conquest of Italy was completed and Roman supremacy was established in the central Mediterranean.