Asculum

American  

[as-kyuh-luhm] / ˈæs kyə ləm /

noun

1. an ancient town in Apulia, SE Italy: Pyrrhus defeated the Romans in 279 B.C.

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Example Sentences

“Another such victory and we shall be utterly ruined,” the Greek King Pyrrhus of Epirus supposedly muttered after his army lost thousands of soldiers while defeating the Romans at Asculum in 279 B.C.

From Washington Post

The phrase, about a victory won at too great a cost, refers to King Pyrrhus of Epirus' subduing of Roman forces in the Battle of Asculum in 279 BC.

From Los Angeles Times

The word pyrrhic comes from the Greek general, Pyrrhus, who defeated the Romans at the Battle of Asculum but lost so many troops that he couldn’t defeat Rome itself.

From Time

But Cheek mentioned that as his team lost the match by about 50 imps, it was a Pyrrhic victory — if much less serious than the original victories by the army of King Pyrrhus of Epirus against the Romans at Heraclea in 280 B.C. and Asculum in 279 B.C.

From New York Times

Pyrrhus of Epirus had, at Asculum, in the year 279, 45,000 infantry against an equal number of Romans, but he had elephants, practically equivalent to artillery.

From Project Gutenberg