Alexander II was a king of Epirus, and the son of Pyrrhus and Lanassa, the daughter of the Sicilian tyrant Agathocles.
This article concerns the period 279 BC – 270 BC.
Pyrrhus was a Greek king and statesman of the Hellenistic period. He was king of the Molossians, of the royal Aeacid house, and later he became king of Epirus. He was one of the strongest opponents of early Rome, and had been regarded as one of the greatest generals of antiquity. Several of his victorious battles caused him unacceptably heavy losses, from which the term "Pyrrhic victory" was coined.
Antigonus II Gonatas was a Macedonian Greek ruler who solidified the position of the Antigonid dynasty in Macedon after a long period defined by anarchy and chaos and acquired fame for his victory over the Gauls who had invaded the Balkans.
The Battle of Heraclea took place in 280 BC between the Romans under the command of consul Publius Valerius Laevinus, and the combined forces of Greeks from Epirus, Tarentum, Thurii, Metapontum, and Heraclea under the command of Pyrrhus, king of Epirus. Although the battle was a victory for the Greeks and their casualties were lower than the Romans, they had lost many veteran soldiers that would be hard to replace on foreign soil.
The Pyrrhic War was largely fought between the Roman Republic and Pyrrhus, the king of Epirus, who had been asked by the people of the Greek city of Tarentum in southern Italy to help them in their war against the Romans.
The Battle of Beneventum was the last battle of the Pyrrhic War. It was fought near Beneventum, in southern Italy, between the forces of Pyrrhus, king of Epirus in Greece, and the Romans, led by consul Manius Curius Dentatus. The result was a Roman victory and Pyrrhus was forced to return to Tarentum, and later to Epirus.
Alexander V of Macedon was the second son of Cassander and Thessalonike of Macedon, who was a half-sister of Alexander the Great. He ruled as king of Macedon along with his brother Antipater I from the autumn of 297 to autumn 294 BC.
Ptolemy, king of Epirus was the second son of Alexander II, king of Epirus, and Olympias, grandson of the great Pyrrhus and brother of Phthia of Macedon. He was named in honour of his late uncle Ptolemy. He succeeded to the throne on the death of his elder brother, Pyrrhus II of Epirus, but reigned only a very short time, having set out on a military expedition, during the course of which he fell sick and died or, according to Polyaenus, he was treasonably assassinated. The date of his reign cannot be fixed with certainty, but as he was a contemporary of Demetrius II, king of Macedonia, it may be placed between 239 and 229 BC. He was succeeded by Deidamia II or Pyrrhus III.
Aeacides, King of Epirus, was a son of King Arybbas and grandson of King Alcetas I.
Andromaque is a tragedy in five acts by the French playwright Jean Racine written in alexandrine verse. It was first performed on 17 November 1667 before the court of Louis XIV in the Louvre in the private chambers of the Queen, Marie Thérèse, by the royal company of actors, called "les Grands Comédiens", with Thérèse Du Parc in the title role. The company gave the first public performance two days later in the Hôtel de Bourgogne in Paris. Andromaque, the third of Racine's plays, written at the age of 27, established its author's reputation as one of the great playwrights in France.
Neoptolemus II was king of Epirus from 302 BC until his death. He was the son of king Alexander I of Epirus and Cleopatra of Macedonia, his maternal grandparents were Philip II of Macedon and Olympias. His maternal uncles included Alexander the Great and Philip III of Macedon. His maternal aunts included Thessalonike and Cynane.
Bircenna was an Illyrian princess and later an Epirote queen.
The Epirote League was an ancient Greek coalition, or koinon, of Epirote tribes.
The siege of Sparta took place in 272 BC and was a battle fought between Epirus, led by King Pyrrhus, and an alliance consisting of Sparta, under the command of King Areus I and his heir Acrotatus, and Macedon. The battle was fought at Sparta and ended in a Spartan-Macedonian victory.
Glaucias was a ruler of the Taulantian kingdom which dominated southern Illyrian affairs in the second half of the 4th century BC. Glaucias is first mentioned as bringing a considerable force to the assistance of Bardylis' son Cleitus, an Illyrian prince who revolted against Alexander the Great, in the battle of Pelium 335 BC. They were, however, both defeated, and Cleitus was forced to take refuge within the Taulantian territories, whither Alexander did not pursue him, his attention being called elsewhere by the news of the revolt of Thebes.
Olympias was a queen consort and regent of Epirus.
Bardylis II was an Illyrian king, and presumably the son of Cleitus, and grandson of Bardylis. He was the father of Bircenna, wife of Pyrrhus of Epirus. Bardylis II is the only attested Illyrian king after Glaucias' death. He may have succeeded Glaucias on the throne as the grandson of Bardylis I, or alternatively he may have reigned independently after his father Cleitus somewhere in Dassaretia, in an area located nearer the Macedonian border. At that time Bardylis II was evidently the most powerful king in Illyria who could unite the largest number of Illyrian tribes under his rule.
Pyrrhus III, king of Epirus in 234 BC, was a son of Ptolemy and a grandson of Alexander II. He ascended to the throne in 234 BC. Pyrrhus III was assassinated, and he was then succeeded by his cousin Laodamia, or Deidamia who was the last of the Pyrrhus line. With his death, the male line of the royal family of Epirus became extinct.
Pyrrhus' invasion of the Peloponnese in 272 BC was an invasion of south Greece by Pyrrhus, King of Epirus. He was opposed by Macedon and a coalition of Greek city-states (poleis), most notably Sparta. The war ended in a joint victory by Macedonia and Sparta.
