12. The Famous General Who Was Killed by a Crone With a Roof Tile
Pyrrhus of Epirus (319 – 272 BC) was a general and statesman who started off as a tribal king, before becoming king of Epirus in the western Balkans. A distant relative of Alexander the Great, Pyrrhus earned a reputation as a brilliant general, fighting throughout the Hellenistic world, and was a particularly formidable enemy of both the kingdom of Macedon and a rising Rome. His costly victories against both gave rise to the term “pyrrhic victory” – a win that comes at such a high price, that it amounts to a de facto defeat.
After a career that saw him fighting in Epirus, Illyria, Egypt, and Italy, Pyrrhus’ end came in 272 BC, when he took sides in an internal dispute in the southern Greek city of Argos. There, an old woman threw a tile from a roof that hit Pyrrhus in the head, knocking him off his horse and snapping his spine. Whether or not he survived the fall, his fate was sealed when an enemy soldier rushed in and beheaded the Epirote king.