 Hence, when Alexander, king of Epirus, who had been invited to Italy by the Tarentines, subsequently became hostile to that people, he avenged himself by taking Heraclea, and, as already mentioned, transferred to the Thurians the general assemblies that had previously been held there.During the war of Pyrrhus with the Romans, Heraclea was the scene of the first conflict between the two powers, the consul Laevinus being totally defeated by the Epirot king in a battle (subsequently called the Battle of Heraclea) fought between the city of Heraclea and the river Siris, 280 BCE.Heraclea was certainly at this time in alliance with the Tarentines and Lucanians against Rome; and it was doubtless with the view of detaching it from this alliance that the Romans were induced shortly afterwards (278 BCE) to grant to the Heracleans a treaty of alliance on such favorable terms that it is called by Cicero "prope singulare foedus".