Pyrrhic War
Pyrrhus, a distant relative of Alexander the Great, imagined himself as a successor to Alexander the Great. He was looking to Italy for growth and glory after just confirming his rule via battle in Epirus. According to Plutarch, the fertile soil of Sicily, rather than Italy, was probably the original goal, but the opportunity to combat the burgeoning might of Rome was too good to pass up. The armies of the post-Alexander Macedonian kingdoms were the most modern and well-equipped of the time, with the Epirotes far ahead of their Roman counterparts. Pyrrhus accepted Tarentum's challenge and sailed across the Adriatic with his own soldiers and those pledged by other regional Greek Kings with the understanding that they would be employed overseas.