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108-521: In 280 BC, the Syracusans appealed to King Pyrrhus of Epirus for help against the Mamertines. The then-small band of desperados came across the walled Greek settlement of Messina built on a strategic location on the north-eastern tip of Sicily on the strait between Sicily and Italy . Together with the fort Rhegium on the toe of Italy, it was the crossing point between Italy and Sicily. Being

216-577: A basis for coinages: anthropology , photography , telephony , isomer , biomechanics , cinematography , etc. Together with Latin words , they form the foundation of international scientific and technical vocabulary ; for example, all words ending in -logy ('discourse'). There are many English words of Greek origin . Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European language family. The ancient language most closely related to it may be ancient Macedonian , which, by most accounts,

324-511: A bid to subdue the Romans. The elephants had been loaned to him by Ptolemy II Philadelphus , who had also promised 9,000 soldiers and a further 50 elephants to defend Epirus while Pyrrhus and his army were away. Due to his superior cavalry, his elephants and his deadly phalanx infantry , he defeated the Romans, led by Consul Publius Valerius Laevinus , in the Battle of Heraclea in 280 BC, in

432-558: A fairly stable set of consonantal contrasts . The main phonological changes occurred during the Hellenistic and Roman period (see Koine Greek phonology for details): In all its stages, the morphology of Greek shows an extensive set of productive derivational affixes , a limited but productive system of compounding and a rich inflectional system. Although its morphological categories have been fairly stable over time, morphological changes are present throughout, particularly in

540-560: A faster, more convenient cursive writing style with the use of ink and quill . The Greek alphabet consists of 24 letters, each with an uppercase ( majuscule ) and lowercase ( minuscule ) form. The letter sigma has an additional lowercase form (ς) used in the final position of a word: In addition to the letters, the Greek alphabet features a number of diacritical signs : three different accent marks ( acute , grave , and circumflex ), originally denoting different shapes of pitch accent on

648-540: A foreign language. It is also often stated that the historical changes have been relatively slight compared with some other languages. According to one estimation, " Homeric Greek is probably closer to Demotic than 12-century Middle English is to modern spoken English ". Greek is spoken today by at least 13 million people, principally in Greece and Cyprus along with a sizable Greek-speaking minority in Albania near

756-799: A military dictatorship of Sicily and installing military garrisons in Sicilian cities. These actions were deeply unpopular and soon Sicilian opinion became inflamed against him. Pyrrhus had so alienated the Sicilian Greeks that they were willing to make common cause with the Carthaginians. The Carthaginians took heart from this and sent another army against him. This army was promptly defeated. In spite of this victory, Sicily continued to grow increasingly hostile to Pyrrhus, who began to consider abandoning Sicily. At this point, Samnite and Tarentine envoys reached Pyrrhus and informed him that of all

864-464: A monarch having a touch that could heal all wounds may have originated with Pyrrhus. As Pliny the Elder states, Pyrrhus' great toe on his right foot cured diseases of the spleen by merely touching the patient. His toe could also not be burned so when his body was cremated, his toe was put in a coffer, and kept at an unknown temple. Pyrrhus lends his name to the term " Pyrrhic victory ", which stems from

972-428: A peaceful people, the inhabitants allowed the travelling mercenaries into their homes. After a time, the mercenaries became restless and plotted to capture the town. One night, the mercenaries betrayed their hosts and killed most of the population, who were unprepared. In this way, they claimed Messina for themselves in 288 BC. The surviving Messinians were thrown out and the property and women divided. After their victory,

1080-485: A propaganda campaign in which he appealed to the patriotism of the Macedonians serving Pyrrhus. He reminded them that Pyrrhus was in fact a foreign king while he himself was a true Macedonian. The campaign was successful. With his Macedonian troops turning against him Pyrrhus had no other choice but to withdraw to Epirus. Lysimachus invaded and plundered Epirus the following year. Pyrrhus did not oppose Lysimachus for he

1188-563: A puppet kingdom of Cassander. Pyrrhus' family fled north and took refuge with Glaucias of the Taulantians , one of the largest Illyrian tribes. Pyrrhus was raised by Beroea , Glaucias' wife, a Molossian of the Aeacidae dynasty. Cassander marched against Glaucias, defeated his army and captured Apollonia . Glaucias had to promise not to act against Cassander, but he refused to give up Pyrrhus and his family. By 313 BC, Cassander

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1296-559: A regional power to one of the most powerful states in the Mediterranean. Over the next century the failure of the various Kingdoms and city states of the Hellenistic world to put on a united front against Rome resulted in their absorption into the Roman Empire or, in the case of some, the reduction to the status of a Roman client state. By 197 BC, Macedonia and many southern Greek city-states became Roman client states; in 188 BC,

1404-475: A second time. Many of his soldiers did not like their service and mutinied. Aeacides released these soldiers from his army, but as a result his army was too small to achieve anything. When the mutineers arrived in Epirus they caused a rebellion against their absent king and Aeacides was dethroned. Cassander sent one of his generals, Lyciscus, to act as regent to the still underaged Neoptolemus. Epirus in effect became

1512-531: A statement he is alleged to have made following the Battle of Asculum. In response to congratulations for winning a costly victory over the Romans, he is reported to have said: "If we are victorious in one more battle with the Romans, we shall be utterly ruined". The term Pyrrhic Victory has therefore come to signify a victory that was won at such cost that it loses all worth. Pyrrhus and his campaign in Italy provided

1620-408: A vast army and a huge fleet. Faced with this threat, the other Diadochi Lysimachus, Ptolemy, and Seleucus allied against him. The three kings sent embassies to Pyrrhus trying to win him over to their side or at least get him to remain neutral. If the allies won and Pyrrhus remained neutral he would gain nothing. If on the other hand Demetrius would be victorious he could overwhelm Pyrrhus at any time in

1728-480: A veteran of Alexander. Unfortunately for Demetrius, his troops were so fed up with him that they deserted to Pyrrhus and he had to flee. Lysimachus was soon joined by Pyrrhus and they decided to share rulership over Macedonia. Demetrius gathered a new army in Greece and besieged Athens, which had rebelled against the puppet government he had installed. The Athenians called on Pyrrhus for assistance and he marched against Demetrius once more. This caused Demetrius to raise

1836-463: A victory over Lysimachus near Amphipolis . When the Macedonian army heard that their homeland was being overrun by Pyrrhus, they turned on Demetrius. They were fed up with his autocratic rule and grandiose plans and refused to advance any further. Demetrius then led his army against Pyrrhus, probably hoping that his Macedonians would be more willing to fight a foreign invader rather than Lysimachus,

1944-804: Is also found in Bulgaria near the Greek-Bulgarian border. Greek is also spoken worldwide by the sizable Greek diaspora which has notable communities in the United States , Australia , Canada , South Africa , Chile , Brazil , Argentina , Russia , Ukraine , the United Kingdom , and throughout the European Union , especially in Germany . Historically, significant Greek-speaking communities and regions were found throughout

2052-773: Is an Indo-European language, constituting an independent Hellenic branch within the Indo-European language family. It is native to Greece , Cyprus , Italy (in Calabria and Salento ), southern Albania , and other regions of the Balkans , Caucasus , the Black Sea coast, Asia Minor , and the Eastern Mediterranean . It has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning at least 3,400 years of written records. Its writing system

2160-479: Is an Indo-European language, but also includes a number of borrowings from the languages of the populations that inhabited Greece before the arrival of Proto-Greeks, some documented in Mycenaean texts ; they include a large number of Greek toponyms . The form and meaning of many words have changed. Loanwords (words of foreign origin) have entered the language, mainly from Latin, Venetian , and Turkish . During

2268-604: Is later recounted by Plutarch in his Life of Pyrrhus. Antigonus had him cremated with all honours and sent his surviving son Helenus back to Epirus. That same year, upon hearing the news of Pyrrhus's death, the Tarentinians surrendered to Rome. In his Life of Pyrrhus , Plutarch records that Hannibal ranked him as the greatest commander the world had ever seen, though in the Life of Titus Quinctius Flamininus , Plutarch writes that Hannibal placed him second after Alexander

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2376-519: Is protected and promoted officially as a regional and minority language in Armenia, Hungary , Romania, and Ukraine. It is recognized as a minority language and protected in Turkey by the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne . The phonology , morphology , syntax , and vocabulary of the language show both conservative and innovative tendencies across the entire attestation of the language from the ancient to

2484-526: Is spoken by at least 13.5 million people today in Greece, Cyprus, Italy, Albania, Turkey , and the many other countries of the Greek diaspora . Greek roots have been widely used for centuries and continue to be widely used to coin new words in other languages; Greek and Latin are the predominant sources of international scientific vocabulary . Greek has been spoken in the Balkan peninsula since around

2592-763: Is still used internationally for the writing of Ancient Greek . In Greek, the question mark is written as the English semicolon, while the functions of the colon and semicolon are performed by a raised point (•), known as the ano teleia ( άνω τελεία ). In Greek the comma also functions as a silent letter in a handful of Greek words, principally distinguishing ό,τι ( ó,ti , 'whatever') from ότι ( óti , 'that'). Ancient Greek texts often used scriptio continua ('continuous writing'), which means that ancient authors and scribes would write word after word with no spaces or punctuation between words to differentiate or mark boundaries. Boustrophedon , or bi-directional text,

2700-650: Is the Greek alphabet , which has been used for approximately 2,800 years; previously, Greek was recorded in writing systems such as Linear B and the Cypriot syllabary . The alphabet arose from the Phoenician script and was in turn the basis of the Latin , Cyrillic , Coptic , Gothic , and many other writing systems. The Greek language holds a very important place in the history of the Western world. Beginning with

2808-695: The Aetolian League , hoping to neutralize them before he invaded Epirus. The Aetolians refused battle and retreated into the hills. After ransacking the Aetolians' countryside, Demetrius left a strong force under his best general Pantauchus in Aetolia and marched on Epirus. Meanwhile, Pyrrhus had raised his army and was marching to the rescue of his Aetolian allies. The two armies, on different roads, passed one another and Demetrius started plundering Epirus while Pyrrhus met Pantauchus in battle. Pyrrhus had

2916-495: The Eastern Mediterranean , in what are today Southern Italy , Turkey , Cyprus , Syria , Lebanon , Israel , Palestine , Egypt , and Libya ; in the area of the Black Sea , in what are today Turkey, Bulgaria , Romania , Ukraine , Russia , Georgia , Armenia , and Azerbaijan ; and, to a lesser extent, in the Western Mediterranean in and around colonies such as Massalia , Monoikos , and Mainake . It

3024-516: The Indo-Iranian languages (see Graeco-Aryan ), but little definitive evidence has been found. In addition, Albanian has also been considered somewhat related to Greek and Armenian, and it has been proposed that they all form a higher-order subgroup along with other extinct languages of the ancient Balkans; this higher-order subgroup is usually termed Palaeo-Balkan , and Greek has a central position in it. Linear B , attested as early as

3132-658: The Seleucid Empire was forced to cede most of Asia Minor to Rome's ally Pergamon (Pergamum). In 133 BC Attalus III , the last King of Pergamon (excluding the pretender Eumenes III ), bequeathed the Kingdom and its considerable territories in Asia Minor to Rome in his will. At the destruction of Corinth in 146 BC Rome defeated the city-state of Corinth and its allies in the Achaean League . The league

3240-535: The Wars of the Successors . Pyrrhus probably fought with Demetrius on the right wing, a place of honour, and made a brilliant display of valour among the combatants. Despite these brave efforts, Antigonus lost both the battle and his life. Demetrius, victorious on his wing, managed to escape with 9,000 men, and Pyrrhus continued to serve his brother-in-law as he started rebuilding Antigonus' empire. In 298 BC, Pyrrhus

3348-492: The nominal and verbal systems. The major change in the nominal morphology since the classical stage was the disuse of the dative case (its functions being largely taken over by the genitive ). The verbal system has lost the infinitive , the synthetically -formed future, and perfect tenses and the optative mood . Many have been replaced by periphrastic ( analytical ) forms. Pronouns show distinctions in person (1st, 2nd, and 3rd), number (singular, dual , and plural in

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3456-470: The 3rd millennium BC, or possibly earlier. The earliest written evidence is a Linear B clay tablet found in Messenia that dates to between 1450 and 1350 BC, making Greek the world's oldest recorded living language . Among the Indo-European languages, its date of earliest written attestation is matched only by the now-extinct Anatolian languages . The Greek language is conventionally divided into

3564-654: The Carthaginian "protection," the Mamertines now appealed to Rome to be allowed into the protection of the Roman people. At first, the Romans did not wish to come to the aid of soldiers who had unjustly stolen a city from its rightful possessors. However, unwilling to see Carthaginian power spread further over Sicily and get too close to Italy, Rome responded by entering into an alliance with the Mamertines. In response, Syracuse allied itself with Carthage , imploring their protection. With Rome and Carthage brought into conflict,

3672-642: The Carthaginians at the Battle of the Strait of Messina , with 98 warships sunk or disabled out of 110. While Pyrrhus had been campaigning against the Carthaginians, the Romans had rebuilt their army by calling up thousands of fresh recruits . Near today's Benevento , one of the two Roman Consuls for that year (275 BC), Manius Curius Dentatus , had camped with his men. The other Highness was at that time in Lucania , so Pyrrhus sent against him part of his army, to prevent him from reinforcing Curius, whom Pyrrhus himself

3780-500: The Great . This latter account is also given by Appian . While he was a mercurial and often restless leader, and not always a wise king, he was considered one of the greatest military commanders of his time. Pyrrhus was known for his benevolence. As a general, Pyrrhus's greatest political weaknesses were his failures to maintain focus and to maintain a strong treasury at home (many of his soldiers were costly mercenaries). The concept of

3888-486: The Greek alphabet since approximately the 9th century BC. It was created by modifying the Phoenician alphabet , with the innovation of adopting certain letters to represent the vowels. The variant of the alphabet in use today is essentially the late Ionic variant, introduced for writing classical Attic in 403 BC. In classical Greek, as in classical Latin, only upper-case letters existed. The lower-case Greek letters were developed much later by medieval scribes to permit

3996-754: The Greek cities in Magna Graecia . The Tarentines asked Pyrrhus to lead their war against the Romans. Pyrrhus was encouraged to aid the Tarentines by the Oracle of Delphi . He recognized the possibility of carving out an empire for himself in Italy . He made an alliance with Ptolemy Keraunos , King of Macedon and his most powerful neighbor, and arrived in Italy in 280 BC. Pyrrhus entered Italy with an army consisting of 20,000 infantry , 3,000 cavalry , 2,000 archers , 500 slingers , and 20 war elephants in

4104-471: The Greek cities in Italy, only Tarentum had not been conquered by Rome. Pyrrhus made his decision and departed from Sicily. As his ship left the island, he turned and, foreshadowing the Punic Wars , said to his companions: "What a wrestling ground we are leaving, my friends, for the Carthaginians and the Romans." While his army was being transported by ship to mainland Italy, Pyrrhus' navy was destroyed by

4212-425: The Greek language are often emphasized. Although Greek has undergone morphological and phonological changes comparable to those seen in other languages, never since classical antiquity has its cultural, literary, and orthographic tradition been interrupted to the extent that one can speak of a new language emerging. Greek speakers today still tend to regard literary works of ancient Greek as part of their own rather than

4320-495: The Greek language was the Cypriot syllabary (also a descendant of Linear A via the intermediate Cypro-Minoan syllabary ), which is closely related to Linear B but uses somewhat different syllabic conventions to represent phoneme sequences. The Cypriot syllabary is attested in Cyprus from the 11th century BC until its gradual abandonment in the late Classical period, in favor of the standard Greek alphabet. Greek has been written in

4428-629: The Greek verb have likewise remained largely the same over the course of the language's history but with significant changes in the number of distinctions within each category and their morphological expression. Greek verbs have synthetic inflectional forms for: Many aspects of the syntax of Greek have remained constant: verbs agree with their subject only, the use of the surviving cases is largely intact (nominative for subjects and predicates, accusative for objects of most verbs and many prepositions, genitive for possessors), articles precede nouns, adpositions are largely prepositional, relative clauses follow

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4536-487: The Greek world with an opportunity to check the advance of Rome further into the Mediterranean. The failure to fully exploit this opportunity while Rome was still only an Italian regional power had immense consequences. The conquest of Magna Graecia by the Romans brought them into direct competition with Carthage, ultimately leading to the First Punic War. Rome's victory in this conflict arguably transformed it from

4644-685: The Greek-Albanian border. A significant percentage of Albania's population has knowledge of the Greek language due in part to the Albanian wave of immigration to Greece in the 1980s and '90s and the Greek community in the country. Prior to the Greco-Turkish War and the resulting population exchange in 1923 a very large population of Greek-speakers also existed in Turkey , though very few remain today. A small Greek-speaking community

4752-533: The Libyan Sea a boundary between themselves and the Greeks. The Greek cities of Sicily opposed making peace with Carthage because the Carthaginians still controlled the powerful fortress of Lilybaeum , on the western end of the island. Pyrrhus eventually gave in to their proposals and broke off the peace negotiations. Pyrrhus' army then began besieging Lilybaeum . For two months he launched unsuccessful assaults on

4860-485: The Mamertine exploits came to the attention of Syracuse, by word of the refugees from the settlements. Hiero II , tyrant of Syracuse, began to gather an army of citizens with which to rid the land of the destroyers of the peace and rescue his Greek kinsmen. Hiero met with the Mamertines when they were nearing Syracuse. Marching out his troops, he first sent his unruly mercenaries forward and allowed them to be butchered by

4968-522: The Mamertines. The faithless part of his army disposed of, Hiero marched his citizen soldiers back to the city where he drilled them to a better fighting condition. Leading his confident army north, he found the Mamertines again at the Longanus River on the plain of Mylae where he easily defeated them, and proclaimed himself king. The Mamertines were not accustomed to large pitched battles and had become reckless after beating Hiero's mercenaries. In

5076-597: The Peloponnese in 272 BC. The Epirote assault on Sparta was thwarted, however, and Pyrrhus was killed during a street battle at Argos . The Latinized Pyrrhus derives from the Greek Pyrrhos ( / ˈ p ɪr ə s / ; Greek : Πύρρος ), meaning flame-like or flammable, derived from the word Pyr ( / ˈ p ɪr / ; Greek : Πύρ ) meaning fire and the suffix -ros ( / ˈ r ə s / ; Greek : ρος ) meaning -able or "pertaining to". According to others,

5184-555: The Ptolemies, by marrying Arsinoe II , the sister of Ptolemy II Philadelphus . He also made a large donation to the Aetolians , Pyrrhus's main allies in Greece. Pyrrhus felt threatened enough to make an alliance with Antigonus Gonatas. In 284 BC, Lysimachus invaded Pyrrhus's half of Macedonia with a huge army. Unable to stand against Lysimachus's superior army Pyrrhus retreated and linked up with Antigonus Gonatas. Lysimachus started

5292-477: The Roman province of Lucania . There are conflicting sources about casualties. Hieronymus of Cardia reports the Romans lost about 7,000 while Pyrrhus lost 3,000 soldiers, including many of his best; Dionysius gives a bloodier view of 15,000 Roman dead and 13,000 Epirot. Several tribes, including the Lucanians , Bruttii , Messapians , and the Greek cities of Croton and Locri , joined Pyrrhus. He then offered

5400-516: The Romans a peace treaty which was eventually rejected. Pyrrhus tried to wrest Campania from the Romans, but was thwarted in this by the reinforced army of Laevinus. He then boldly marched on Rome itself, but found its defences too formidable. Meanwhile, the Romans had made peace with the Etruscans and had recalled Tiberius Coruncanius , the other consul, who was marching his army southwards from Etruria towards Rome. Pyrrhus now faced three armies;

5508-606: The Syracuse/Mamertine conflict escalated into the First Punic War . Once the scale of the conflict had escalated beyond them, the Mamertines were lost to the historical record and their fate is lost, swallowed up in the larger events of the Punic wars. After the First Punic War, however, their name was not quite forgotten in the ancient world since "Mamertine wine" from the vineyards of north-eastern tip of Sicily

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5616-404: The acute during the late 20th century, and it has only been retained in typography . After the writing reform of 1982, most diacritics are no longer used. Since then, Greek has been written mostly in the simplified monotonic orthography (or monotonic system), which employs only the acute accent and the diaeresis. The traditional system, now called the polytonic orthography (or polytonic system),

5724-402: The ancient language; singular and plural alone in later stages), and gender (masculine, feminine, and neuter), and decline for case (from six cases in the earliest forms attested to four in the modern language). Nouns, articles, and adjectives show all the distinctions except for a person. Both attributive and predicative adjectives agree with the noun. The inflectional categories of

5832-412: The art of war. These have since been lost, although, according to Plutarch, Hannibal was influenced by them, and they received praise from Cicero . Pyrrhus was married five times: his first wife Antigone bore him a daughter called Olympias and a son named Ptolemy in honour of her stepfather . She died in 295 BC, possibly in childbirth, since that was the same year her son was born. His second wife

5940-610: The back of Pyrrhus' Epirot army, guaranteeing the security of Rome itself. In the end, the Romans lost 6,000 men and Pyrrhus 3,500 including many officers. Pyrrhus later famously commented on his victory at Asculum, stating, "If we are victorious in one more battle with the Romans, we shall be utterly ruined". It is from reports of this semi-legendary event that the term Pyrrhic victory originates. In 278 BC, Pyrrhus received two offers simultaneously. The Greek cities in Sicily asked him to come and drive out Carthage , which along with Rome

6048-518: The battle, Hiero captured the Mamertine leaders and the remnants fled back to the safety of Messina. Hiero had restricted the Mamertine activity and placed them in a dire situation. When Hiero returned to besiege their base at Messina in 265 BC, the Mamertines called for help from a nearby fleet from Carthage , which occupied the harbour of Messina. Seeing this, the Syracuse forces retired, not wishing to confront Carthaginian forces. Uncomfortable under

6156-413: The bulk of the army of Epirus with him, probably 20,000–25,000 men, while Pantauchus commanded but a detachment of Demetrius' army consisting of around 11,000 men. The fighting was heavy, and according to the sources Pantauchus and Pyrrhus sought out one another. Pantauchus challenged Pyrrhus to individual combat, and Pyrrhus accepted. After hurling spears at each other they fought it out with swords. Pyrrhus

6264-466: The capital of his kingdom to Ambracia . In 292 BC, he went to war against his former ally and brother-in-law Demetrius by invading Thessaly while Demetrius was besieging Thebes . Demetrius responded immediately; he left the siege to his son Antigonus Gonatas and marched back north at the head of a large army. Pyrrhus, outnumbered, withdrew to Epirus. While he was back in Epirus, Pyrrhus suffered another setback. His second wife, Lanassa , daughter of

6372-457: The city, until finally he realized he could not mount an effective siege without blockading it from the sea as well. Pyrrhus then requested manpower and money from the Sicilians in order to construct a powerful fleet. When the Sicilians became unhappy about these contributions he had to resort to compulsory contributions and force to keep them in line. These measures culminated in him proclaiming

6480-504: The cunning of Pyrrhus and the strong resistance of the Epirotes, failed. However a second wave frightened the elephants – possibly with flaming arrows – causing them to rush against the Epirotes. The latter left the battlefield in disorder, and Pyrrhus had no choice but to withdraw from the battle. After this inconclusive battle, Pyrrhus decided to end his campaign in Italy and return to Epirus which resulted in

6588-404: The early 19th century that was used for literary and official purposes in the newly formed Greek state. In 1976, Dimotiki was declared the official language of Greece, after having incorporated features of Katharevousa and thus giving birth to Standard Modern Greek , used today for all official purposes and in education . The historical unity and continuing identity between the various stages of

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6696-618: The epics of Homer , ancient Greek literature includes many works of lasting importance in the European canon . Greek is also the language in which many of the foundational texts in science and philosophy were originally composed. The New Testament of the Christian Bible was also originally written in Greek. Together with the Latin texts and traditions of the Roman world , the Greek texts and Greek societies of antiquity constitute

6804-452: The following periods: In the modern era, the Greek language entered a state of diglossia : the coexistence of vernacular and archaizing written forms of the language. What came to be known as the Greek language question was a polarization between two competing varieties of Modern Greek: Dimotiki , the vernacular form of Modern Greek proper, and Katharevousa , meaning 'purified', a compromise between Dimotiki and Ancient Greek developed in

6912-581: The future. Pyrrhus's personal enmity against Demetrius might have played an additional role in his decision to join the allies. In 288 BC, the allied kings began their campaigns against Demetrius. Ptolemy sailed against Demetrius's Greek allies with a large fleet. Lysimachus invaded upper Macedonia from Thrace. Pyrrhus waited until Demetrius had marched against Lysimachus and then invaded southern Macedonia. Demetrius must have thought that Pyrrhus would not renege on his treaty, because western and southern Macedonia fell without opposition. Meanwhile, Demetrius had won

7020-446: The garrison of Rome, Laevinus from the south and Curuncanius from the north. Not wanting to be caught between three armies Pyrrhus withdrew to Tarentum, where he wintered his troops. When Pyrrhus invaded Apulia (279 BC), the two armies met in the Battle of Asculum , where Pyrrhus won a costly victory. The consul Publius Decius Mus was the Roman commander, and while his able force was ultimately defeated, they almost managed to break

7128-493: The greatest general of his time, if he lived long enough. Antigonus had grown too powerful and the other successors, Seleucus , Lysimachus , Ptolemy and Cassander , had united against him. Lysimachus and Seleucus, reinforced by two of Cassander's armies, had concentrated their forces in Asia Minor and marched on Antigonus. Both armies met at Ipsus in Phrygia . The Battle of Ipsus was the largest and most important battle of

7236-432: The head of an army, but not willing to fight a civil war, he agreed to rule Epirus together with Neoptolemus. Soon both kings started to plot against one another. Pyrrhus was informed of a plot against his life and decided to strike first. He invited Neoptolemus to a dinner and had him murdered. The act does not appear to have been unpopular as Epirus' nobility seem to have been devoted to him. In 295 BC, Pyrrhus transferred

7344-556: The house! The disarmed man falls at my feet and calls me Lord and Great King." Pyrrhus of Epirus Pyrrhus ( / ˈ p ɪr ə s / PIRR -əss ; ‹See Tfd› Greek : Πύρρος Pýrrhos ; 319/318–272 BC) 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 ( Malalas also called him toparch ) of Epirus . He

7452-439: The infinitive entirely (employing a raft of new periphrastic constructions instead) and uses participles more restrictively. The loss of the dative led to a rise of prepositional indirect objects (and the use of the genitive to directly mark these as well). Ancient Greek tended to be verb-final, but neutral word order in the modern language is VSO or SVO. Modern Greek inherits most of its vocabulary from Ancient Greek, which in turn

7560-467: The late 15th century BC, was the first script used to write Greek. It is basically a syllabary , which was finally deciphered by Michael Ventris and John Chadwick in the 1950s (its precursor, Linear A , has not been deciphered and most likely encodes a non-Greek language). The language of the Linear B texts, Mycenaean Greek , is the earliest known form of Greek. Another similar system used to write

7668-446: The loss of essentially all the gains he had made in Italy. Only the city of Tarentum remained under the dominion of the Epirotes. His western campaign had taken a heavy toll on his army as well as his treasury. Despite (or perhaps because of) this, Pyrrhus went to war yet again. The realm of his rival king Antigonus Gonatas of Macedon was the most obvious target. Pyrrhus raised an army from his Epirote garrisons, Gallic mercenaries and

7776-588: The membership of Greece and Cyprus in the European Union, Greek is one of the organization's 24 official languages . Greek is recognized as a minority language in Albania, and used co-officially in some of its municipalities, in the districts of Gjirokastër and Sarandë . It is also an official minority language in the regions of Apulia and Calabria in Italy. In the framework of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages , Greek

7884-833: The mercenaries named themselves the Mamertines after the Oscan war-god Mamers . The Mamertines held the town of Messina for over 20 years. They changed it from a bustling town of farmers and traders to a raiding base. The Mamertines became pirates on land and sea. Taking advantage of the war-weary Sicilians, they looted the nearby settlements and captured trade ships on the strait, carrying their plunder back to their base. They captured prisoners and demanded tribute. During this period, they struck coins featuring their name and images of their gods and goddesses. Their exploits made them rich and powerful. They began travelling further inland, even as far as Gela , and demanding tribute. The Mamertine presence did not go unchallenged forever. In around 270 BC,

7992-441: The modern period. The division into conventional periods is, as with all such periodizations, relatively arbitrary, especially because, in all periods, Ancient Greek has enjoyed high prestige, and the literate borrowed heavily from it. Across its history, the syllabic structure of Greek has varied little: Greek shows a mixed syllable structure, permitting complex syllabic onsets but very restricted codas. It has only oral vowels and

8100-522: The name's actual meaning is "fiery, red-coloured", and was especially used to denote red hair. Pyrrhos was also used as an alternate name for Neoptolemus , son of Achilles and the princess Deidamia in Homeric Greek mythology . In c. 319 BC, Pyrrhus was born to prince Aeacides of Epirus , and Phthia , a Thessalian noblewoman, the daughter of the Thessalian general Menon . Aeacides

8208-399: The noun they modify and relative pronouns are clause-initial. However, the morphological changes also have their counterparts in the syntax, and there are also significant differences between the syntax of the ancient and that of the modern form of the language . Ancient Greek made great use of participial constructions and of constructions involving the infinitive, and the modern variety lacks

8316-536: The objects of study of the discipline of Classics . During antiquity , Greek was by far the most widely spoken lingua franca in the Mediterranean world . It eventually became the official language of the Byzantine Empire and developed into Medieval Greek . In its modern form , Greek is the official language of Greece and Cyprus and one of the 24 official languages of the European Union . It

8424-706: The older periods of Greek, loanwords into Greek acquired Greek inflections, thus leaving only a foreign root word. Modern borrowings (from the 20th century on), especially from French and English, are typically not inflected; other modern borrowings are derived from Albanian , South Slavic ( Macedonian / Bulgarian ) and Eastern Romance languages ( Aromanian and Megleno-Romanian ). Greek words have been widely borrowed into other languages, including English. Example words include: mathematics , physics , astronomy , democracy , philosophy , athletics , theatre, rhetoric , baptism , evangelist , etc. Moreover, Greek words and word elements continue to be productive as

8532-472: The rearguard. 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. During the confused Battle of Argos in the narrow city streets, Pyrrhus was trapped. While he was fighting an Argive soldier,

8640-469: The self-proclaimed king of Sicily Agathocles of Syracuse , deserted him. She claimed that she, a daughter of a Greek king, could no longer bear to share her home with barbarian women. She fled to Corcyra with her dowry, offering it and herself to Demetrius. He accepted, sailed to the island and took possession of both Corcyra and Lanassa. After returning to his army in mainland Greece, Demetrius planned to invade Epirus. In 289 BC, he invaded Pyrrhus' allies,

8748-859: The siege. The Athenians thanked Pyrrhus by erecting a bust to him and allowing him into the city for the celebrations. However, they did not allow his army to enter the city, probably fearing Pyrrhus would install a garrison and make himself overlord of Athens. Pyrrhus made the most of the situation and advised the Athenians never to let a king enter their city again. Pyrrhus and Demetrius made peace once more but, like all previous agreements, it did not last. When Demetrius, in 286 BC, invaded Asia in order to attack Lysimachus's Asian domains, Lysimachus requested that Pyrrhus invade Thessaly and from there attack Demetrius' garrisons in Greece. Pyrrhus agreed, probably in order to keep his fractious Macedonian troops busy and less likely to rebel and also to gain an easy victory over

8856-403: The soldier's old mother, who was watching from a rooftop, threw a tile which knocked him from his horse and broke part of his spine, paralyzing him. Whether he was alive or not after the blow is unknown, but his death was assured when a Macedonian soldier named Zopyrus, though frightened by the look on the face of the unconscious king, hesitantly and ineptly beheaded his motionless body. This story

8964-437: The stressed vowel; the so-called breathing marks ( rough and smooth breathing ), originally used to signal presence or absence of word-initial /h/; and the diaeresis , used to mark the full syllabic value of a vowel that would otherwise be read as part of a diphthong. These marks were introduced during the course of the Hellenistic period. Actual usage of the grave in handwriting saw a rapid decline in favor of uniform usage of

9072-488: The support of Ptolemy I Soter . During what came to be known as the Pyrrhic War , Pyrrhus fought Rome at the behest of Tarentum , scoring costly victories at Heraclea and Asculum . He proceeded to take over Sicily from Carthage but was soon driven out, and lost all his gains in Italy after the Battle of Beneventum in 275 BC. Pyrrhus seized the Macedonian throne from Antigonus II Gonatas in 274 BC and invaded

9180-491: The throne. This time Glaucias was unable to help him. Pyrrhus travelled to the Peloponnese and served his brother-in-law Demetrius Poliorcetes who had married his sister Deidamia, and who was campaigning against Cassander in southern Greece. In 302 BC, Demetrius took his army to Asia Minor to support his father Antigonus Monophthalmus. Pyrrhus impressed Antigonus for he is reputed to have said that Pyrrhus would become

9288-422: The tombs of the Macedonian kings at Aegae. In 272 BC, Cleonymus , a Spartan of royal blood who was hated among fellow Spartans, asked Pyrrhus to attack Sparta and place him in power. Pyrrhus agreed to the plan, intending to win control of the Peloponnese for himself, but unexpected strong resistance thwarted his assault on Sparta . On the retreat he lost his firstborn son Ptolemy , who had been in command of

9396-529: The troops he had brought back from Italy and marched east into Macedon. He won an easy victory at the Battle of the Aous and took most of Macedon. Antigonus managed to hold on to a number of coastal cities. He then waited for an opportunity to reclaim his kingdom while Pyrrhus was already looking for another war to fight. Furthermore, Pyrrhus made himself very unpopular in Macedon by allowing his Gauls to plunder

9504-488: The weakened Antigonids. He quickly defeated Antigonus Gonatas , Demetrius's son, who ceded Thessaly to him in order to make peace. Pyrrhus's Greek Empire was now at its zenith: he ruled an enlarged Epirus, half of Macedonia, and Thessaly. In 285 BC, Demetrius was defeated by Seleucus. This freed the hands of Lysimachus who decided to get rid of his co-ruler in Macedonia. He first isolated Pyrrhus from his traditional ally

9612-700: Was Lanassa, daughter of King Agathocles of Syracuse (r. 317–289 BC), whom he married in about 295 BC; the couple had a son, Alexander . His third wife was the daughter of Audoleon , King of Paeonia . His fourth wife was the Illyrian princess Bircenna , who was the daughter of King Bardylis II ,(r. c. 295–290 BC) who bore Pyrrhus' youngest son, Helenus. His fifth wife was the daughter of Ptolemy Keraunos , whom he married in 281/280 BC. Greek language Greek ( Modern Greek : Ελληνικά , romanized :  Elliniká , [eliniˈka] ; Ancient Greek : Ἑλληνική , romanized :  Hellēnikḗ )

9720-459: Was a cousin of Olympias , making Pyrrhus a second cousin to Alexander the Great . He had two sisters: Deidamia and Troias. In 319/318 BC, Arrybas, Aeacides' father and the regent of Epirus, died leaving Epirus to the joint kings Aeacides and Neoptolemus . Aeacides supported Olympias in her fight against Cassander and marched on Macedon. In 317 BC, when Pyrrhus was only two, Olympias requested Aeacides' support yet again and he marched on Macedon

9828-515: Was a distinct dialect of Greek itself. Aside from the Macedonian question, current consensus regards Phrygian as the closest relative of Greek, since they share a number of phonological, morphological and lexical isoglosses , with some being exclusive between them. Scholars have proposed a Graeco-Phrygian subgroup out of which Greek and Phrygian originated. Among living languages, some Indo-Europeanists suggest that Greek may be most closely related to Armenian (see Graeco-Armenian ) or

9936-568: Was also used as the official language of government and religion in the Christian Nubian kingdoms , for most of their history. Greek, in its modern form, is the official language of Greece, where it is spoken by almost the entire population. It is also the official language of Cyprus (nominally alongside Turkish ) and the British Overseas Territory of Akrotiri and Dhekelia (alongside English ). Because of

10044-557: Was also used in Ancient Greek. Greek has occasionally been written in the Latin script , especially in areas under Venetian rule or by Greek Catholics . The term Frankolevantinika / Φραγκολεβαντίνικα applies when the Latin script is used to write Greek in the cultural ambit of Catholicism (because Frankos / Φράγκος is an older Greek term for West-European dating to when most of (Roman Catholic Christian) West Europe

10152-610: Was dangerously ill, invaded Macedonia. His original intention was merely to raid and pillage, but with Demetrius unable to lead his forces he met almost no opposition. Pyrrhus penetrated as far as the old Macedonian capital of Aegae before Demetrius was well enough to take the field. Since Demetrius commanded a superior force, Pyrrhus had no choice but to retreat. Demetrius, just as restless as Pyrrhus, planned to invade Asia and reclaim his father's old domains. He first made peace with Pyrrhus granting him his holdings in Macedonia while holding on to Corcyra and Leucas, then he started to raise

10260-508: Was designed as a measure against the Italian peoples of Lucania , the Tarentines grew nervous and attacked the Romans in Thurii, driving the Roman garrison from the city and sinking several Roman warships. Tarentum was now faced with a Roman attack and certain defeat, unless they could enlist the aid of greater powers. Rome had already made itself into a major power, and was poised to subdue all

10368-416: Was dissolved and Rome took formal possession of the territoires which constitute modern day Greece, re-organising these territories into province of Macedonia . Finally, in 63 BC, Pompey Magnus delivered the final coup de grace to the already much reduced Seleucid Empire, deposing its last ruler and absorbing its territories into the new Roman province of Syria . Pyrrhus wrote memoirs and several books on

10476-514: Was distracted by his war against Antigonus Monophthalmus , one of the most powerful of the Diadochi . Fearing an invasion from Asia Minor , where Antigonus was building up his forces, he shifted his attention from west to the east. Aeacides took advantage of the situation and returned to Epirus. He appears to have regained popularity and raised a large army. Cassander sent an army under his brother Philip who defeated Aeacides in two battles. Aeacides

10584-415: Was left to deal with. He set out at night in order to reach his enemy secretly. However, the dense vegetation of the area caused problems for his men, who finally arrived at daylight, when they were tired and impossible to pass unnoticed. As a result the attack was repulsed, with Pyrrhus losing half of his elephants. The next day the Romans took the initiative of the attack. Their initial attack, thanks to

10692-500: 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 phrase " Pyrrhic victory " was coined. Pyrrhus became king of Epirus in 306 BC at the age of 13, but was dethroned by Cassander four years later. He saw action during the Wars of the Diadochi and regained his throne in 297 BC with

10800-599: Was one of the two great powers of the Western Mediterranean . At the same time, the Macedonians , whose King Ptolemy Keraunos had been killed by invading Gauls , asked Pyrrhus to ascend the throne of Macedon. Pyrrhus decided that Sicily offered him a greater opportunity, and sailed his army there. In 278 BC, soon after disembarking his army in Sicily, he lifted the Carthaginian Siege of Syracuse . Pyrrhus

10908-666: Was probably fighting a war in Illyria to the north. According to Pausanius, "Pyrrhus was roaming around as usual". The Greek city of Tarentum , in southern Italy , fell out with Rome due to a violation of an old treaty that specified Rome was not to send warships into the Tarentine Gulf . In 282 BC, the Romans installed garrisons in the Greek cities of Thurii (on the western end of the Tarentine Gulf), Locri , and Rhegium , and sent warships to Thurii. Although this

11016-650: Was proclaimed king of Sicily. He was already making plans for his son Helenus to inherit the kingdom of Sicily and his other son Alexander to be given Italy. In 277 BC, Pyrrhus captured Eryx , the strongest Carthaginian fortress in Sicily. This prompted the rest of the Carthaginian-controlled cities to defect to Pyrrhus. In 276 BC, Pyrrhus negotiated with the Carthaginians. Although they were inclined to come to terms with Pyrrhus, supply him money and send him ships once friendly relations were established, he demanded that Carthage abandon all of Sicily and make

11124-461: Was still known and enjoyed in the 1st century. It was the favourite of Julius Caesar and it was he who made it popular after serving it at a feast to celebrate his third consulship. Even centuries after the Mamertine occupation, the inhabitants of Messina were still called Mamertines. In his novel Salammbô , Gustave Flaubert writes of the Greeks singing the 'old song of the Mamertines': "With my lance and sword I plough and reap; I am master of

11232-508: Was taken hostage to Alexandria , under the terms of a peace treaty made between Demetrius and Ptolemy I Soter . There, he married Ptolemy I's stepdaughter Antigone (a daughter of Berenice I of Egypt from her first husband Philip —respectively, Ptolemy I's wife and a Macedonian noble). In 297 BC, Cassander died and Ptolemy, always looking for allies, decided to help restore Pyrrhus to his kingdom. He provided Pyrrhus with men and funds and sent him back to Epirus. Pyrrhus returned to Epirus at

11340-580: Was under the control of the Frankish Empire ). Frankochiotika / Φραγκοχιώτικα (meaning 'Catholic Chiot') alludes to the significant presence of Catholic missionaries based on the island of Chios . Additionally, the term Greeklish is often used when the Greek language is written in a Latin script in online communications. The Latin script is nowadays used by the Greek-speaking communities of Southern Italy . The Yevanic dialect

11448-508: Was wounded in the last battle and died soon after. In 307 BC, Glaucias invaded Epirus and put Pyrrhus on the throne. Pyrrhus was only eleven years old, so his guardians ruled in his stead until he came of age. When he was seventeen he travelled to the court of Glaucias in Illyria to attend the wedding of one of Glaucias' sons. While he was in Illyria the Molossians rose in rebellion, drove out Pyrrhus' supporters, and returned Neoptolemus to

11556-508: Was wounded, but in return wounded his opponent twice, in the thigh and in the neck. Pantauchus' bodyguards had to carry him away. Emboldened by their king's victory, the Epirotes resumed their attack and broke Pantauchus' army, and took 5,000 prisoners. The army then honoured Pyrrhus by bestowing the surname of 'Eagle' upon him. Demetrius, upon hearing of Pyrrhus's victory, marched back to Macedon. Pyrrhus released his prisoners and marched back to Epirus. In 289 BC, Pyrrhus, learning that Demetrius

11664-673: Was written by Romaniote and Constantinopolitan Karaite Jews using the Hebrew Alphabet . In a tradition, that in modern time, has come to be known as Greek Aljamiado , some Greek Muslims from Crete wrote their Cretan Greek in the Arabic alphabet . The same happened among Epirote Muslims in Ioannina . This also happened among Arabic-speaking Byzantine rite Christians in the Levant ( Lebanon , Palestine, and Syria ). This usage

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