At the end of the Samnite Wars (343 BC – 291 BC), Southern Italy could hardly be considered pacified by the Romans. Tarentum, the Spartan colony, took the lead of an anti-Roman alliance (the Italiote League), joined by the ancient colonies of Magna Graecia. After Rome violated the peace treaty previously established with the polis, the Tarentines, albeit reluctantly, sought help from Pyrrhus, the king of Epirus. The choice was logical given the city’s proximity to the Molossian kingdom, and Pyrrhus, claiming to be the heir of Alexander the Great and, why not, of Achilles did not hesitate to intervene.

Pyrrhus landed in Italy in the spring of 280 BC, leading an army of 22,000 infantrymen, 3,000 cavalry, and 20 war elephants. They were met by Consul Publius Valerius Laevinus, whose forces faced for the first time the enveloping maneuver typical of the Hellenistic phalanx,and, of course, the elephants, which, as historian Montanelli once wrote, “made the same impression on them as the first British tanks did on the Germans in Flanders in 1916.” At first, the Romans mistook them for oxen (hence the term “Lucanian oxen”), but when they drew closer, panic spread among the soldiers, and even the horses hesitated to charge, frightened by the trumpeting and the smell of the massive beasts.

The animals carried small wooden towers on their backs, each holding two or three warriors and protected by hoplite shields. Contrary to popular belief, Pyrrhus used the elephants mainly for defensive purposes, making them an effective means of avoiding encirclement, a tactic later adopted by Hannibal (who regarded Pyrrhus as a model) during the Battle of the Trebia in 218 BC.

The Romans were defeated but inflicted heavy losses on the Epirote army (4,000 Roman deaths versus 6,000 Epirote). Thus began the proverbial “Pyrrhic victories,” those won at an exceedingly high cost.

The following year (279 BC), two new consuls, Sulpicius and Decius Mus, clashed again with the King of Epirus near Ausculum in Apulia (modern Ascoli Satriano). This time, by hurling javelins at the elephants and throwing torches at their towers, the Romans fared better. Yet Pyrrhus once again emerged victorious, though at such devastating losses that he reportedly exclaimed, “If we win another battle against the Romans, we shall be utterly ruined.”