king of EPIRUS, was the son of Pyrrhus and Lanassa, the daughter
of the Sicilian tyrant Agathocles. He succeeded his father in B. C.
272, and continued the war which his father had begun with Antigonus Gonatas, whom he
succeeded in driving from the kingdom of Macedon. He was, however, dispossessed of both
Macedon and Epirus by Demetrius, the son of Antigonus; upon which he took refuge amongst the
Acarnanians. By their assistance and that of his own subjects, who entertained a great
attachment for him, he recovered Epirus. It appears that he was in alliance with the
Aetolians. He married his sister Olympias, by whom he had two sons, Pyrrhus and Ptolemaeus,
and a daughter, Phthia. On the death of Alexander, Olympias assumed the regency on behalf of her sons, and married Phthia to
Demetrius. There are extant silver and copper coins of this king. The former bear a youthful
head covered with the skin of an elephant's head, as appears in the one figured below. The
reverse represents Pallas holding a spear in one hand and a shield in the other, and before
her stands an eagle on a thunderbolt. (Justin, 17.1, 26.2, 3, 28.1;
Plb. 2.45, 9.34; Plut. Pyrrh. 9.)