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In 306 B.C.E., at the age of twelve, a youth named Pyrrhus took the throne of Epirus, a country in northwestern Greece. Pyrrhus grew to be an aggressive and quarrelsome king, given to warring with his neighbors. In 280 B.C.E., he brought 25,000 men (and a number of elephants) to southern Italy and defeated the Romans at Heraclea, but only after losing many of his soldiers. A year later, he again suffered heavy casualties at Roman hands in a battle at Ausculum. According to Plutarch, when he was congratulated on those victories Pyrrhus replied, “Another such victory over the Romans and we are undone.” The bloody battles of Pyrrhus didn’t find their way into English in the phrase “Pyrrhic victory” until the 1800s, but once it was established Pyrrhic quickly found occupation as an adjective even independent of the phrase, in such constructions as a “Pyrrhic achievement” and “Pyrrhic success.”
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“Pyrrhic.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pyrrhic. Accessed 8 Nov. 2026.
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