Antigonia

(Antigonea)

Pyrrhus the Great razed many a city,
Destroyed temples, toppled statues of kings,
He rivalled death itself,
And surpassed destruction by fire.

But for his wife, Antigonia the fair,
For whom his love was indestructible,
Pyrrhus the Great ordered that a whole city be built,
High up on a mountain, as close as possible to the sun,
In expanses reserved for the gods alone,
Such was his desire to immortalize in the light
The so mortal face of his spouse.

He gave a whole city
The name of his wife who had passed away
In the unrelenting progress of time.
For the first time
He laid foundations,
Built squares where children would frolic,
Dug wells that would never dry up.

So much the old warrior achieved,
So much death's rival accomplished.

Only this time,
In the name of life!