The legendary king of Epirus met his end by a simple roof tile
After years of campaigning across Italy and Greece, King Pyrrhus of Epirus sought to seize control of Argos. Instead of a glorious battlefield death, his life ended in chaotic urban combat, brought down by a projectile thrown from a rooftop during a botched retreat through the city gates.
In 272 BC, the ambitious King Pyrrhus of Epirus attempted to intervene in a local political dispute in Argos. His arrival was the culmination of a failed campaign that had already seen him attempt to besiege Sparta and lose his son, Ptolemy, in a skirmish against Spartan forces. By the time Pyrrhus reached Argos, he found his rival, the Macedonian king Antigonus Gonatas, already positioned to defend the city. Despite initial attempts to maintain a neutral stance, the Argives eventually allowed Pyrrhus to infiltrate their city under cover of darkness.
The operation quickly descended into disaster. Pyrrhus’s war elephants struggled to navigate the narrow city gates, creating a bottleneck that alerted the defenders. As the Argives, supported by Spartan and Macedonian reinforcements, launched a counter-offensive, the fighting spilled into the streets. At dawn, Pyrrhus ordered a withdrawal, but a miscommunication led his son Helenus to march reinforcements into the city, causing a fatal collision between the incoming and retreating Epiriote troops. Amidst the resulting confusion, a large elephant collapsed, further obstructing the exit.
During the final struggle, an Argive soldier wounded the king with a spear. As Pyrrhus attempted to retaliate, a woman watching from above struck him with a roof tile. Whether he died instantly from the impact or was finished off while dazed on the ground by a Macedonian soldier named Zopyrus remains a subject of historical debate. Regardless of the exact mechanism of his demise, his death marked the total collapse of Epiriote resistance. Antigonus Gonatas secured the surrender of Pyrrhus’s remaining army, cementing his own status as the dominant power in Greece and the unchallenged ruler of Macedon.
Source: Battle of Argos
