ORDER OF BATTLE // -274 BCE
Battle of Beneventum
Estimated force strength by side, with confidence labels per surviving record.
Forces engaged
2 sides catalogued · combined 40,000–45,000 estimated
Roman Republic
20,000–25,000
Medium-confidence figure
Epirus
20,000
Medium-confidence figure
Battle context
The Battle of Beneventum was the concluding engagement of the Pyrrhic War, fought near Beneventum in southern Italy between the Roman forces under consul Manius Curius Dentatus and the army of Pyrrhus, king of Epirus. Although the result is not recorded in terms of battlefield losses, the battle produced a strategic Roman victory: Pyrrhus was compelled to withdraw first to Tarentum and ultimately back to Epirus, effectively ending his Italian campaign. The outcome confirmed Roman dominance in southern Italy and closed the period of direct Epirote military intervention on the peninsula, leaving Rome's position among the powers of the western Mediterranean substantially stronger than it had been at the war's outset in 279 BCE.
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