This MedLibrary.org supplementary page on Third Macedonian War is provided directly from the open source Wikipedia as a service to our readers. Please see the note below on authorship of this content, as well as the Wikipedia usage guidelines. To search for other content from our encyclopedia supplement, please use the form below:
Related Sponsors
| Third Macedonian War | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Macedonian Wars | |||||||||
|
|||||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||||
| Roman Republic, with the Eumenes II (Pergamum) | Macedon | ||||||||
| Commanders | |||||||||
| Lucius Aemilius Paullus Macedonicus | Perseus of Macedon | ||||||||
|
|||||
|
|||||
 |
It has been suggested that Agathagetus be merged into this article or section. () |
The Third Macedonian War (171 BC - 168 BC) was a war fought between Rome and King Perseus of Macedon. In 179 BC King Philip V of Macedon died and his talented and ambitious son, Perseus, took his throne. Perseus married Laodike, daughter of King Seleucus IV Keraunos of Asia, and increased the size of his army. He also made alliance treaties with Epirus and several tribes of Illyria and Thrace, as well as enemies of Thracian tribes allied to Rome, such as the Sapaei under Abrupolis. He renewed former connections with some Greek city-states (poleis). The king announced that he could carry out reforms in Greece and restore its previous strength and prosperity.
The Roman leadership began to worry that Perseus would destroy Roman political control in Greece and restore former Macedonian sovereignty over Greek states. King Eumenes II of Pergamon, who hated Macedonia, accused Perseus of trying to violate laws of other states and conditions of peace between Macedonia and Rome. The Romans were afraid for the balance of power in Greece and declared a new war with Macedonia. Perseus won the first struggle: the Battle of Callicinus, where he faced the army of Publius Licinius Crassus. The king offered a peace treaty to the Romans, which was refused. The Romans had problems with discipline in their army, and Roman commanders could not find a way to successfully invade the territory of Macedonia.
There was a stalemate near Phalanna involving Perseus and Crassus. In 169 BC, consul Quintus Marcius Phillipus crossed the Olympus Range and entered Macedonia. However, his army ran out of provisions and retired on a narrow strip of coast near Tempe. Perseus tried to win Eumenes of Pergamon and King Antiochus IV of the Seleucid Empire over to his side but failed. He did, however, succeed in buying the support of the Illyrian king Genthius in the autumn of 169 BC.
Perseus was defeated by the legions of the Roman consul Lucius Aemlius Paullus at the Battle of Pydna in 168 BC. 44 0000 Macedonian troops were defeated because of non-flexible Macedonian phalanx tactics against Roman manipulative phalanx tactics, King Perseus was deposed and, along with his dignitaries, taken to Rome. Around 300 000 Macedonian citizen were taken into slavery, lots of Macedonian cities and villages were destroyed and land was given to Roman settlers ( ex-legionnaires) and Thracian allies. Macedonia was divided into four Roman client republics. These republics had to pay duty to Rome, but it was less than previously, thanks to Perseus. Economical and political contacts between Macedonian and Greek states were reduced. Additionally, the Romans took hundreds of prisoners from the leading families of Macedon, including the historian Polybius. That was the end of Hellenistic Macedonia and the monarchy of the Antigonid dynasty, although Rome later returned to symbolically destroy Corinth in 146 BC (see the Fourth Macedonian War), similar to their destruction of the defanged Carthage in the Third Punic War.
See also
Wikipedia content modification information:
- This page was last modified on 5 November 2008, at 22:29.
Wikipedia Authorship and Review
Wikipedia content provided here is not reviewed directly by MedLibrary.org. Wikipedia content is authored by an open community of volunteers and is not produced by or in any way affiliated with MedLibrary.org.
Wikipedia Usage Guidelines
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article on "Third Macedonian War".
The URL for this specific entry is:
All Wikipedia text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. (See Copyrights for details). Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.