38

A paradox lies within the various accounts of the 279 BCE Battle of Ausculum. This confrontation, which pitted Rome and its allies to the forces of King Pyrrhus, was famous in Antiquity. Notwithstanding its fame, the outcome of the fight gave way to various and even contradictory accounts, as is evidenced by the comparison between the thirteen literary sources that relate these events. Some of them present the battle as being won by King Pyrrhus, and others as a Roman victory. In spite of these divergent versions, the battle is traditionally considered by the historians as a new success of Pyrrhus against the Romans, after his previous victory in Heraclea one year earlier. A cross-reading of the various versions of this battle leads us to reconsidering the context and the way in which the idea of a Roman defeat in Ausculum may have originated.