Third Macedonian War (171-168 BC)
After the Aetolian War (191-189 BC) Philip was allowed to keep his gains and recover his losses. In the mid-180s BC, Rome was besieged with complaints against his encroachments. Rome ordered withdrawal of Macedonian garrisons from Aenus and Maroneia, but his transgressions against Thessalians and others, even the responsibility for a massacre at Maroneia, went unpunished.
Philip’s son Demetrius, taken to Rome as a hostage in 197 BC, was released in 190 BC. His elder brother Perseus (c.46; r.179-168 BC, d.166 BC), the legitimate heir to the Macedonian throne, believed that the Romans were intent on placing the pro-Roman Demetrius on the Macedonian throne. Unable to prove his suspicions, Perseus finally confronted his father with a (forged?) letter that revealed Demetrius’ treasonable aspirations. Faced with this evidence, Philip had Demetrius executed (180 BC). Philip died a year later at Amphipolis.
On his accession Perseus renewed his father’s treaty with Rome while improving Macedonia’s status with neighbouring states. He married Laodice, daughter of Seleucus IV of Syria (r.187-175 BC), and wed his sister Apama to Prusias II of Bithynia (r.182-149 BC). He extended his influence in Thrace and Illyria then began to develop good relations with the Greek states. Eumenes II of Pergamum (r.197-160 BC), jealous over the growing Macedonia prestige, charged Perseus with fostering malice against the Romans.
In 172 BC Eumenes went to Rome and provided the Senate with pretexts for a war with Macedonia. Roman attitude hardened when he claimed that there was an attempt on his life at Delphi on his way back to Pergamum. In 171 BC a Roman army under the consul Licinius (4) landed at Apollonia and aided by Pergamum, Rhodes and the Achaean League they began the Third Macedonian War.
Perseus advanced beyond Tempe and took up position near Larissa. Near a hill called Callinicus the Romans were trounced in a cavalry engagement. Licinius retired northwards west of the Peneus while Perseus marched down the opposite bank. At a second engagement was fought near Phalanna, and Perseus withdrew from Thessaly for the winter. The following year was uneventful, but in 169 BC despite Perseus’ efforts to block the passes from Thessaly, the consul 06Marcius Philippus fought his way into Macedon and the year ended with the two armies facing each other in southern Macedonia.
In 168 BC Perseus bought the support of Genthius (r.181-168 BC), the Illyrian chieftain who reigned at Scodra. The praetor Lucius Anicius Gallus was sent to deal with Genthius, who had mustered an army and a fleet at Lissus. Anicius stormed Scodra, captured the king and marched south to Epirus; this, the Third Illyrian War, had lasted only thirty days.
At about the same time the consul 11Aemilius Paullus (c. 69; fl.193-160 BC), finding that Perseus had established himself in an unassailable position on the Elpeus, sent eight thousand men under 27Cornelius Scipio Nasica (fl.168-141 BC) westwards around the Olympus range to attack Perseus in the rear, forcing Perseus withdraw to a weaker position on a plain at the Leucus River, south of Pydna.
The next day the two armies drew up for battle. Perseus had forty thousand infantry, Paullus had twenty-five thousand; both sides had about four thousand cavalry. Perseus advanced with his phalanx in the centre, mercenaries on his left flank, cavalry on his right. Paulus had two legions in the centre, cavalry on his left flank facing the enemy cavalry, allied Italian light infantry and elephants on his right.
Unable to penetrate the bristle of the phalanx’s pikes, the Romans performed a planned retreat. As the phalanx pushed forward it entered foothills where the ground was more uneven. It lost its cohesion and Paullus ordered the legions into the gaps. At close quarters the longer Roman sword and heavier shield easily prevailed over the short sword and lighter armour of the Macedonians. They were soon joined by the Roman right, which had succeeded in routing the Macedonian left. When he saw that the battle was lost, Perseus fled but was later captured and taken back to Rome.
To deter the Macedonians going to war again their country was divided into four autonomous regions. They kept their freedom but were forced to pay Rome one-half the taxes that they had paid to Philip. The wealth that poured into Rome from Macedonia made it possible from 167 BC to remit the property tax on Roman citizens. The settlement in Illyria was similar: their territory divided into three separate regions, freedom from taxes to towns that had been loyal to Rome and the rest to pay about half of the former royal land tax.
For having aided Perseus the cities of Epirus were plundered and one hundred and fifty thousand of their inhabitants sold into slavery; and for having either shown too much enthusiasm for Perseus or not enough for Rome, the Achaean and Anatolian leagues faced heavy penalties. In addition, the Achaeans had to supply a thousand hostages, one of whom was the historian Polybius.
Rhodes, having done nothing to support Rome in the war, lost its territory on the mainland, and in 166 BC Rome made Delos a free port thereby depriving Rhodes of its income from harbour dues. But Rome’s destruction of the naval power Rhodes removed the major check on piracy in the Mediterranean. Eumenes of Pergamum, an old ally who wished to remove suspicions of disloyalty which had fallen on him, was barred by the Senate from entering Rome.
In 168 BC an embassy under 02Popillius Laenas (cos.172, 158 BC) went to Egypt where he drew a circle in the sand around the Seleucid king Antiochus IV (c.51; r.175-163 BC) and forbade him to leave it until he agreed to make peace and withdraw. In 166 BC, Prusias II of Bithynia (r.182-149 BC) visited Rome and addressed the Senate as ‘Saviour Gods’, an early title long associated with royalty.
In 177 BC the Romans possessed Istria as far as Arsia, but their rule had yet to reach the interior. In 156 BC when the Dalmatae (Illyria) were harrying neighbouring tribes and Greek colonists, the consul 07Marcius Figulus besieged the capital Delminium, a task completed by his successor 27Cornelius Scipio (fl.168-141 BC). Meanwhile, Marcius’ colleague 28Cornelius Lentulus (fl.156-125 BC) had advanced in the north from Aquileia into land of the Pannonii (Illyria).
Fourth Macedonian War (150-148 BC)
In 150 BC an adventurer named Andriscus (fl.152-149 BC), claiming to be an illegitimate son of Perseus, raised an army in Thrace and advanced into Macedonia where he won control of the country after winning two battles (149 BC). By proscribing men of wealth and property he won widespread and enthusiastic popular support. He defeated a hastily assembled Roman force and killed its commander, 02Juventius Thalna; but two more legions led by 03Caecilius Metellus (c.94; fl.148-116/5 BC), defeated Andriscus at Pydna (148 BC).Macedonia now lost its independence entirely; in 146 BC it was declared a Roman province to be governed by a Roman magistrate. It was from this time that the Romans began the construction of the Via Egnatia to link the Adriatic ports of Dyrrhachium and Apollonia to the northern Aegean and Thrace. The road appears to have been built by Gnaeus Egnatius (2), who was one of the first proconsuls of the province.
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