Which battle in 275 BCE ended King Pyrrhus’s invasion of Italy?

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The battle in 275 BCE that ended King Pyrrhus’s invasion of Italy was the Battle of Beneventum.

Roman forces under the consul Manius Curius Dentatus defeated Pyrrhus of Epirus near Beneventum in southern Italy. The engagement was originally known as the Battle of Arusian Fields, but the Romans renamed the nearby settlement Maleventum, meaning “bad event,” as Beneventum, meaning “good event,” after their victory.

Pyrrhus had intervened in Italy on behalf of Tarentum and other Greek communities. He won costly victories at Heraclea in 280 BCE and Asculum in 279 BCE, but his army suffered losses that he could not easily replace. Those campaigns produced the expression “Pyrrhic victory,” meaning a success gained at ruinous cost.

After Beneventum, Pyrrhus withdrew from Italy and returned to Epirus. Rome subsequently completed its conquest of the Greek cities of southern Italy.

Source: Wikipedia · fact-checked Sept. 2026

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