The Pyrrhic War was a conflict fought by Pyrrhus of Epirus and his allies against the Roman Republic, supported by its allies, and Carthage. Fought mainly in Magna Graecia and Sicily, Pyrrhus first in
Coin of Pyrrhus minted at Syracuse in 278 BC. The obverse depicts a veiled head of Phtia with oak wreath. The reverse depicts a thunderbolt and the inscription ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΠΥΡΡΟΥ ("of King Pyrrhus"). The claim of kingship did not necessarily imply rule over Sicily itself.