Asculum

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As·cu·lum

(ăs′kyə-ləm)

An ancient Roman town of southeast Italy south of present-day Foggia. Pyrrhus of Epirus defeated a Roman force here in 279 bc but suffered a heavy loss of troops.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

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Cole then examines six key battles in which legion battled phalanx: Heraclea (280 BC), Asculum (279 BC), Beneventum (275 BC), Cynoscephalae (197 BC), Magnesia (190 BC), and Pydna (168 BC)--battles that determined the fate of the ancient world.

Legion versus Phalanx

This happened in the battle of Asculum in 279 BC when Greek King Pyrrhus defeated a Roman army in a pitched battle at a cost of more than one third of his army.

Winning battles can be habit-forming

at the battle of Asculum in Apulia, achieved with great losses to King Pyrrhus' elite forces.