Epirus

Situated on the Adriatic coast, Epirus is not a city-state like other Greek powers. Rather, its population lives in many small towns, villages and trading ports. These ports give them excellent trade links across the Adriatic and beyond, into the Mediterranean.

The Epirot army is an effective, balanced force similar in structure to Alexander’s forces, including cavalry, archers, peltasts, phalangites and war elephants. The Epirots are also happy to hire mercenaries from the Greek-speaking world when they are needed.

The ruling family claim descent from Achilles and have newer, just as potent, connections to Alexander the Great: Olympias, Alexander’s mother, was a princess of Epirus. Epirus regained its independence from Macedon after Alexander’s death under King Pyrrhus, with a certain amount of judicious help from the Ptolemaic dynasty of Egypt. Although a master tactician, Pyrrhus is now remembered for suffering “pyrrhic victories”: he won, but at such terrible cost it was hardly worth calling a victory. Such victories against Rome with a seemingly bottomless supply of men were not the road to victory. These victories were the result of his helping the Greek colony of Tarentum in Italy against the Romans; Pyrrhus undoubtedly thought he could turn this to his own advantage and have an Epirot empire on both sides of the Adriatic. A soldier to the end, he was killed in the front lines, leading an assault through the streets of Argos in 272 BC.

Now, recovering from the death of their great king, the Epirots have interesting choices and opportunities: to the west lies the Italian peninsular and Rome; to the east, Macedon; to the south, the Greek cities. Will they be rivals or enemies?