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The Battle of Argos of 272 BC was fought between the forces of Pyrrhus, the king of Epirus, and a spontaneous alliance between the city state of Argos, the Spartan king Areus I and the Macedonian king Antigonus Gonatas. The battle ended with the death of Pyrrhus and the surrender of his army.
Pyrrhus had little time to mourn, as he was immediately offered an opportunity to intervene in a civic dispute in Argos. Since Antigonus Gonatas was approaching too, he hastened to enter the city with his army by stealth, only to find the place crowded with hostile troops.
Pyrrhus' advance on Argos did not go smoothly as his army was constantly harassed by vengeful Spartan troops led by Areus. By setting up ambushes and occupying strategic positions along the Epiriote line of retreat, the Spartans were able to inflict heavy casualties on Pyrrhus' rearguard of Gauls and Molossians . [ 46 ]
Nothing is known of the time of his birth, [1] although his mother may have been the Athenian courtesan Demo who became his father's mistress. [2] He was already grown up to manhood in 272 BC, when Antigonus advanced into the Peloponnesus to oppose the invasion of Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, and he accompanied his father on that expedition. [1]
Pyrrhus asks Antiochus I for money and Antigonus II to lend him ships to carry his army to Italy. Ptolemy II gives him 5,000 infantry and 2,000 cavalries on the condition that they would not serve him for more than two years. Pyrrhus appoints Ptolemy as guardian of his kingdom while he was away. 280 BC Pyrrhus sends Cineas ahead to Tarentum
Areus I (Ancient Greek: Ἀρεύς; c. 320 or 312 – 265 BC) was Agiad King of Sparta from 309 to 265 BC. His reign is noted for his attempts to transform Sparta into a Hellenistic kingdom and to recover its former pre-eminence in Greece, notably against the kings Antigonos Gonatas of Macedonia and Pyrrhus of Epirus.
The siege of Sparta took place in 272 BC and was a battle fought between Epirus, led by King Pyrrhus, (r. 297–272 BC) and an alliance consisting of Sparta, under the command of King Areus I (r. 309–265 BC) and his heir Acrotatus, and Macedon.
Pyrrhus features in the player's speech in Shakespeare's Hamlet (Act 2, Scene 2) where his killing of Priam is described; The Second Part of the Iron Age, the final play in the Ages series by Thomas Heywood; Pyrrhus is a leading character in Andromaque (1667), a play by Jean Racine; Astianatte (1725), an opera by Leonardo Vinci