Publius Sulpicius Saverrio (consul 279 BC)
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Publius Sulpicius Saverrio was Roman consul in 279 BC. A patrician, his consular colleague was Publius Decius Mus.[1] Assigned with Mus to the Pyrrhic War in southern Italy, the two consuls fought a joint battle against Pyrrhus at Asculum.[1] With around 40,000 men against Pyrrhus' similarly sized forces, the consuls were defeated after two days of fighting.[2] Via Plutarch, Pyrrhus reported Roman losses of around 6,000 and Epirote losses of 3,505: he then famously claimed that another such victory would ruin him, giving rise to the modern phrase "Pyrrhic victory".[3]
Saverrio's father was the consul of the same name in 304 BC.[4] He was also the grandfather of Publius Sulpicius Galba Maximus, consul in 211 and 200 BC.[5]
Magistrates of the Roman Republic reports no known magistracy other than the consulship of 279 BC.[6]
