Sign-In
Cart
The Battle of Asculum 279 B.C.: Pyrrhus, Rome, and the Deadliest Clash of Legion and Phalanx
Paperback
Series: Epic Battles of Ancient History, Book 19
Ancient GreeceGeneral Military HistoryMilitary Strategy
Publisher: Antonios Athenaeus
Published: May 12 2026
Pages: 282
Weight: 0.72
Height: 0.64 Width: 5.50 Depth: 8.50
Language: English
The Battle of Asculum was not a war of maneuver or surprise. It was a brutal contest of endurance between two powers already learning how difficult the other would be to destroy.
In 279 B.C., one year after Heraclea, King Pyrrhus of Epirus marched again into Apulia seeking the decisive victory that could break Roman resistance in southern Italy before Rome's superior manpower and allied system reshaped the war. Opposing him were the Roman consuls Publius Decius Mus and Publius Sulpicius Saverrio, commanding armies that had already faced the Epirote king once and no longer feared either his phalanx or his elephants.
The Battle of Asculum became the largest and bloodiest engagement of the Pyrrhic War. Fought across broken ground cut by streams, wooded sectors, and narrow approaches, the battle denied both armies the kind of clean deployment they wanted. Roman manipular flexibility clashed violently with the dense cohesion of the Hellenistic phalanx in a prolonged struggle where exhaustion, pressure, and battlefield control mattered as much as tactical brilliance.
This book examines Asculum not simply as another victory for Pyrrhus, but as the moment when battlefield success began slipping away from strategic decision. It reconstructs the difficult opening movements, the savage infantry fighting in restricted terrain, the cavalry actions on the wings, and the delayed but decisive commitment of Pyrrhus' elephants that finally forced the Roman army to withdraw after hours of relentless combat.
Drawing on ancient sources including Plutarch, Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Appian, Frontinus, and Livy, this study combines narrative, tactical analysis, battlefield reconstruction, and operational interpretation to examine one of antiquity's most important military encounters. The volume includes:
- Strategic background after Heraclea
- Analysis of Roman and Epirote armies
- Reconstruction of the battlefield near Asculum
- Step-by-step examination of the battle phases
- Tactical diagrams of deployments and maneuvers
- Analysis of cavalry and elephant operations
- Operational and strategic consequences of the campaign
Asculum gave Pyrrhus another battlefield victory.
It also revealed that Rome could absorb defeat, rebuild its armies, and continue the war with its strength-and determination-still intact.
Also from
Athenaeus, Antonios
The Battle of Chaeronea 338 B.C.: Philip II, Alexander the Great, and the Battle That Ended Greek Independence
Athenaeus, Antonios
Paperback
The Battle of Cunaxa 401 B.C.: Xenophon and the Ten Thousand in the Persian Civil War
Athenaeus, Antonios
Paperback
The Battle of Heraclea 280 B.C.: Pyrrhus, Rome, and the First Clash of Legion and Phalanx
Athenaeus, Antonios
Paperback
The Battle of Mantinea 362 B.C.: Epaminondas, Thebes, and the Limits of Tactical Victory
Athenaeus, Antonios
Paperback
The Battle of Leuctra 371 B.C.: Epaminondas and the End of Spartan Supremacy
Athenaeus, Antonios
Paperback
The Battle of Cunaxa (401 B.C.): Epic Battles of the Ancient World - Volume I
Athenaeus, Antonios
Paperback
The Battle of Hydaspes 326 B.C.: Alexander, King Porus, and the Clash That Tested the Limits of Conquest
Athenaeus, Antonios
Paperback
The Battle of Dara 530 A.D.: The Clash That Halted Persia and Secured Rome's Eastern Frontier
Athenaeus, Antonios
Paperback
The Battle of Salamis 480 B.C.: Themistocles, Naval Strategy and the Destruction of Xerxes' Fleet
Athenaeus, Antonios
Paperback
The Battle of Beneventum 275 B.C.: Pyrrhus, Rome, and the Battle That Ended the Age of Elephants in Italy
Athenaeus, Antonios
Paperback
The Battle of Issus 333 B.C.: Alexander Charges Darius III and the Clash That Broke the Persian Empire
Athenaeus, Antonios
Paperback
The Battle of Mycale 479 B.C.: How the Greeks Destroyed the Persian Fleet at Mycale
Athenaeus, Antonios
Paperback
The Battle of Gaugamela 331 B.C.: Alexander's Operational Command and the Collapse of Persian Empire
Athenaeus, Antonios
Paperback
The Battle of Granicus 334 B.C.: Alexander's River Assault and the Opening Blow Against Persia
Athenaeus, Antonios
Paperback
The Battle of Pylos and Sphacteria 425 B.C.: Athens, Sparta, and the Surrender That Shocked Greece
Athenaeus, Antonios
Paperback
The Battle of Thermopylae 480 B.C.: Leonidas, the Spartan Stand, and the Strategy of the Narrow Pass
Athenaeus, Antonios
Paperback
The Battle of Cynoscephalae 197 B.C.: Rome, Macedon, and the Battle That Shattered the Power of the Phalanx
Athenaeus, Antonios
Paperback
The Siege of Tyre 332 B.C.: Alexander's Greatest Siege and the Fall of Tyre
Athenaeus, Antonios
Paperback
The Battle of Marathon 490 B.C.: Miltiades, the Hoplite Charge, and the Birth of Strategic Defense
Athenaeus, Antonios
Paperback
The Battle of Yarmuk 636 A.D.: The Battle That Ended Byzantine Syria and Opened the Levant to Islam
Athenaeus, Antonios
Paperback
The Battle of Pydna 168 B.C.: Rome, Macedon, and the Battle That Ended the Age of the Phalanx
Athenaeus, Antonios
Paperback
The Battle of Amphipolis 422 B.C.: Brasidas, Cleon, and the End of the Archidamian War
Athenaeus, Antonios
Paperback
The Battle Of Plataea 479 B.C.: Pausanias And The Final Defeat Of The Persian Invasion
Athenaeus, Antonios
Paperback
The Battle of Aegospotami 405 B.C.: Lysander and Sparta's Decisive Victory That Ended the Peloponnesian War
Athenaeus, Antonios
Paperback
The Battle of Delium 424 B.C.: Athens, Boeotia and Battle for Control in the Peloponnesian War
Athenaeus, Antonios
Paperback
The Battle of Tegyra 375 B.C.: Pelopidas, the Sacred Band, and Sparta's First Defeat
Athenaeus, Antonios
Paperback
The Battle of Ipsus 301 B.C.: The War of the Successors and the Battle That Shattered Alexander's Empire
Athenaeus, Antonios
Paperback
The Battle of Megalopolis 331 B.C.: Agis III, Antipater, and Sparta's War for Survival
Athenaeus, Antonios
Paperback
Also in
General Military History
Viking Warrior Operations Manual: The Life, Equipment, Weapons and Fighting Tactics of the Vikings
Konstam, Angus
Hardcover
Hero of the Empire: The Boer War, a Daring Escape, and the Making of Winston Churchill
Candice Millard
Hardcover
The Last Full Measure: An American Family and How the United States Brought Home the Dead of World War II
Clarke, Kim
Hardcover
The Fate of the Day: The War for America, Fort Ticonderoga to Charleston, 1777-1780
Atkinson, Rick
Hardcover
The Demon of Unrest: A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War
Larson, Erik
Hardcover
The Two Swords of Christ: Five Centuries of War Between Islam and the Warrior Monks of Christendom
Ibrahim, Raymond
Hardcover
Band on the Run: Xenophon and the First Great Mercenary Army's Epic Escape from Persia
O'Connell, Robert L.
Hardcover
From Resistance to Revolution: Colonial Radicals and the Development of American Opposition.....
Maier, Pauline
Paperback
The Old Breed... the Complete Story Revealed: A Father, a Son, and How WWII in the Pacific Shaped Their Lives
Sledge, W. Henry
Hardcover
While Israel Slept: How Hamas Surprised the Most Powerful Military in the Middle East
Katz, Yaakov
Bohbot, Amir
Hardcover
Two World Wars and Hitler: Who Was Responsible?: Anglo-American Money, Foreign Agents and Geopolitics
MacGregor, Jim
O'Dowd, John
Paperback
American Vikings: How the Norse Sailed Into the Lands and Imaginations of America
Whittock, Martyn
Hardcover
KJV, Pew Bible, Large Print, Hardcover, Burgundy, Red Letter Edition (Large Print Edition)
Thomas Nelson
Hardcover
NKJV, Value Thinline Bible, Large Print, Imitation Leather, Burgundy, Red Letter Edition (Large Print Edition)
Thomas Nelson
Hardcover
Wrecked: The Edmund Fitzgerald and the Sinking of the American Economy
Podair, Jerald
Nelson, Thomas M.
Paperback
Alexander at the End of the World: The Forgotten Final Years of Alexander the Great
Kousser, Rachel
Paperback
Targeted: Beirut: The 1983 Marine Barracks Bombing and the Untold Origin Story of the War on Terror
Scott, James M.
Carr, Jack
Paperback
The Shortest History of War: From Hunter-Gatherers to Nuclear Superpowers - A Retelling for Our Times
Dyer, Gwynne
Paperback
The Men Who Lost America: British Command during the Revolutionary War and the Preservation of the Empire
O'Shaughnessy, Andrew J.
Paperback
The Code Book: The Science of Secrecy from Ancient Egypt to Quantum Cryptography
Singh, Simon
Paperback
The History of the Medieval World: From the Conversion of Constantine to the First Crusade
Bauer, Susan Wise
Hardcover
Navy SEAL's Guide to Surviving Invasions, Civil War, and World War III
Melton, H. Keith
Emerson, Clint
Paperback
The Home Front: Revolutionary Households, Military Occupation, and the Making of American Independence
Duval, Lauren
Hardcover
Targeted: Beirut: The 1983 Marine Barracks Bombing and the Untold Origin Story of the War on Terror
Carr, Jack
Scott, James M.
Hardcover
A Brief History of China: Dynasty, Revolution and Transformation: From the Middle Kingdom to the People's Republic
Clements, Jonathan
Paperback
The Histories (Royal Collector's Edition) (Annotated) (Case Laminate Hardcover with Jacket)
Herodotus
Hardcover
KJV, Pew Bible, Large Print, Hardcover, Blue, Red Letter Edition (Large Print Edition)
Thomas Nelson
Hardcover
American Biography: A History of the United States as Told Through the Lives of Ninety-Four Americans
Schweikart, Larry
Paperback
Toward Combined Arms Warfare: A Survey of 20th-Century Tactics, Doctrine, and Organization
House, Jonathan M.
Paperback
Scapegoats of the Empire: The True Story of Breaker Morant's Bushveldt Carbineers
Witton, Edward
Paperback
Autumn in the Heavenly Kingdom: Autumn in the Heavenly Kingdom: China, the West, and the Epic Story of the Taiping Civil War
Platt, Stephen R.
Paperback
The Birth of the Anglo-Saxons: Three Kings and a History of Britain at the Dawn of the Viking Age
Adams, Max
Hardcover
The Ghost Army of World War II: How One Top-Secret Unit Deceived the Enemy with Inflatable Tanks, Sound Effects, and Other Audacious Fakery (Updated E
Beyer, Rick
Sayles, Elizabeth
Hardcover
Insignia of the Waffen-SS: Cuff Titles, Collar Tabs, Shoulder Boards & Badges
Michaelis, Rolf
Hardcover
Beirut Rules: The Murder of a CIA Station Chief and Hezbollah's War Against America
Burton, Fred
Katz, Samuel M.
Paperback
By the Spear: Philip II, Alexander the Great, and the Rise and Fall of the Macedonian Empire
Worthington, Ian
Paperback
Érase Una Vez Tenochtitlán: Entre Dioses Y Tlatoanis / Once Upon a Time in Tenochtitlán: Among Gods and Tlatoanis
Rosas, Alejandro
Paperback
Black Soldiers, White Laws: The Tragedy of the 24th Infantry in 1917 Houston
Haymond, John A.
Hardcover
American Vikings: How the Norse Sailed Into the Lands and Imaginations of America
Whittock, Martyn
Paperback
Iron and Blood: A Military History of the German-Speaking Peoples Since 1500
Wilson, Peter H.
Paperback
The Prince (Royal Collector's Edition) (Annotated) (Case Laminate Hardcover with Jacket)
Machiavelli, Niccolò
Hardcover
The Sacred Band: Three Hundred Theban Lovers and the Last Days of Greek Freedom
Romm, James
Paperback
Il Fior di Battaglia by Fiore dei Liberi Facsimile: With translation by Guy Windsor
Windsor, Guy
Hardcover
Map Reading And Land Navigation - FM 3-25.26 US Army Field Manual FM 21-26 (2001 Civilian Reference Edition): Unabridged Manual On Map Use, ... Releas
Us Department of the Army
Paperback
The Other Trench: The WW1 Diary and Photos of a German Officer
Cross, Philipp
Pfeifer, Alexander
Paperback
Alexander at the End of the World: The Forgotten Final Years of Alexander the Great
Kousser, Rachel
Hardcover
The Savior Generals: How Five Great Commanders Saved Wars That Were Lost - From Ancient Greece to Iraq
Hanson, Victor Davis
Paperback
John Stark of Rogers' Rangers: a Famous Ranger and His Associates During the French & Indian War: The Life of General John Stark of New Hampshire by H
Moore, Howard Parker
Stark, Caleb
Paperback