Macedonian Wars

• Series of conflicts between the Roman and Macedonian empires in 211–168 BC

First Macedonian War

• 214–205 BC
• During the Second Punic War, Philip V of Macedon allied himself with Hannibal
• Romans dispatched some forces across the Adriatic sea to seize some Macedonian territory
• Ended with the treaty of Phoenice

Second Macedonian War

• In 204 BC, Ptolemaic king dies, leaving his throne to his six-year-old son
  • Macedon and the Seleucid Empire decide to exploit this opportunity
• In 201 BC, Philip V launches a campaign into Asia Minor
  • After successfuly blockading Philip’s fleet (but still fearing Macedon), Rhodes and Pergamon send an appeal to Rome
    • The Roman senate passes a supportive decree and Marcus Valerius Laevinus is sent to investigate
    • Rhodian ambassadors also persuaded Athens to declare war on Macedon
• Initially, Rome didn’t intend to fight a war against Macedon, but rather to intervene on behalf of its new allies diplomatically
  • Rome gave Philip an ultimatum that he must cease in his campaigns
    • Philip, doubting Rome’s strength, ignored this
  • Believing their honor and reputation was on the line, Romans launched a campaign to Macedon under Titus Quinctius Flaminius
    • Flaminius tried to persuade many Greek city-states to join an alliance with Rome against Macedonia

      

Battle of Cynoscephalae

• 197 BC
• About 26,000 troops on each side
• Decisive Roman victory
• Resulted in the Treaty of Tempea
  • Allied greek states have been freed from Macedonian control
• Rome withdrew all its forces afterwards

Seleucid War

• 192–188 BC
• Rome thought they had left behind a stable peace in Greece, but, in fact, they removed the last check on Seleucid expansion
  • Now not only Greek states, but Philip’s Macedon sought Rome for help against Seleucids
  • Hannibal also became the chief military advisor to the Seleucid empire and that posed a major threat to Rome itself
• A big Roman-Greek army was mobilized under Sicpio Africanus (important character in the Second Punic War) and a campaign launched against Seleucids

Battle of Magnesia

• Roman-Greek army against slightly bigger Seleucid army
• Decisive Roman victory
  • Antiochus (Seleucid king) was forced to cease all military campaigns in Greece
    • This was pretty much the beginning of the end of the Seleucid empire
• This battle marked the end of the Macedonian phalanx’s dominance in warfare

Third Macedonian War

• 172–168 BC
• Perseus, Philip’s son, attempted to restore Macedonian influence
• Perseus was implicated in an asssassination plot against an ally of Rome
  • Thus Rome was re-injected into the war
  • Initially, Rome didn’t do as well as in the Seleucid war

Battle of Pydna

• 168 BC
• Romans under Aemilius Paulus against the Macedonians under Perseus
• Decisive Roman victory
  • Very high casualties in the Macedonian phalanx

Aftermath

• The kingdom of Macedonia was divided into four client republics
• Rome established a permanent presence in Greece