Download Battle of Pydna

PYDNA
Third Macedonian War, 168 B. C.
The Roman victory at Pydna in 168 B.C. brought a final end to the empire of Alexander
the Great. In addition to establishing Rome as the primary power in the Mediterranean and Near
East, the battle proved the superiority of the more maneuverable Roman legions armed with the
short sword over the Macedonian phalanx equipped with spears.
In 338 B.C., the Macedonians under King Philip II gained control of the Greek city-states
with their victory at Chaeronea (51). Philip's son Alexander participated in the battle, and he
assumed command of the Macedonian-Greek army two years later when his father was
assassinated. Over the next decade, Alexander earned the title of "the Great" when he defeated
Persia and spread his empire eastward.
During this time Alexander had perfected a tactical formation that his father had
developed called the phalanx, a tight group of soldiers armed with twelve- to fourteen foot-long
pikes known as sarissas. Supporting the sarissas units were highly mobile light infantry and
cavalry troops who exploited the enemy flanks or breaches of their lines.
Alexander's phalanxes achieved victory after victory and provided the avenues for the
spread of Greek civilization and culture throughout the Near East. When Alexander died in 323
B.C. at the age of thirty-three, the Macedonian-Greek army remained strong, and their culture
continued to greatly influence the region, but the heirless empire began to erode.
While Greece waned, other empires arose. Rome on the Italian peninsula and Carthage in
North Africa began to vie for power. A hundred years after the death of Alexander, the
Macedonians, led by King Philip V, sided against Rome and provided aid to Hannibal and his
Carthaginians in 215-205 8.C. At the end of the war, many of the Greek city-states signed
separate peace agreements with Rome, and no significant battle took place between the
Macedonians and Romans. Rome finally defeated the Carthaginians at Zama in 202 B. C. (11)
A second conflict between Macedonia and Rome began in 200 B.C., when Philip allied
with Syria against Rome. The Roman army marched into Greece and soundly defeated Philip's
army at Cynoscephalae in 197 B.C. Following his loss, Philip had to give up his goal of uniting
the Greek states, and for a while he supported Rome in their renewed war with Carthage.
Philip died in 179 s.C., leaving the Macedonian throne to his son Perseus. When Perseus
forged alliances to again unite the Greek states, the Romans saw the actions as a threat to their
own claims in the region. In 171 s.c., the two kingdoms began fighting what became known as
the Third Macedonian War.
Shortly after the conflict began, Perseus repulsed a Roman invasion at Larissa on the east
coast of Adriatic, but he did not exploit his advantage. Perseus unsuccessfully attempted to gain
allies by treaty and cash payment to strengthen his army, but the delay only allowed the Romans
to become stronger. In 168 B.C., Rome placed Lucius Aemilius Paulus in command of an
expedition against Macedonia. Much debate occurred in Rome regarding the size of Paulus's
army and how he should conduct his campaign. Paulus finally announced that anyone wanting to
accompany his army could do so; others should stand aside and be quiet.
In early summer of 168 B.c., Paulus arrived in Macedonia from the Gulf of Salonika with
about 25,000 men. These soldiers were organized into four legions armed with shields and short,
double-edged swords. Each legion, thoroughly trained, had the ability to break into smaller
groups known as cohorts or maniples. These much more maneuverable legions had proven
successful in defeating the Macedonian phalanx at Cynoscephalae thirty years earlier, but
Perseus had done nothing since then to modernize his army. The Macedonian leader felt that if
the phalanx had been good enough for Alexander the Great, it would be sufficient for him to
achieve victory.
Perseus had the advantage of numbers with his army of 40,000 infantry and 4,000
cavalry. Paulus was aware of his enemy's numerical superiority and conducted several flanking
maneuvers and a move against the Macedonian supply lines in order to force the Macedonians to
move to a location that favored a Roman attack. The Romans finally forced Perseus to move
toward Pydna near the Leucus River, where the Macedonians took up a position on a plain facing
the Roman legions, who were situated on low hills to their west.
On the afternoon of June 22, 168 B.c., the larger Macedonian phalanxes advanced against
the Roman legions. Initially, the Macedonians experienced success as they pushed back the
Romans. However, when the plain gave way to hills and gullies, the phalanxes became
disorganized. The more maneuverable legions broke into small groups and advanced within
sword range, which negated the strength of the Macedonian formation and their long spears.
When the phalanxes came apart, the Roman swordsmen slaughtered the enemy. By the
end of the day, more than 20,000 Macedonians lay dead on the field, and another 10,000 were
captured as prisoners. Fewer than a hundred Romans were killed in the fight and only 400 were
wounded. Perseus briefly escaped with his cavalry, but the Romans captured him and sent him to
Italy, where he eventually died in captiviry. Paulus took control of Macedonia and the city-states,
where he jailed or executed Greek leaders, even those who had previously supported Rome.
Except for a brief, unsuccessful revolt in 149-148 B.c., the Greeks never again challenged Rome.
With their victories at Pydna over the Greeks and at Zama over Carthage, Rome was now
the only significant military power in the Near East. The Battle of Pydna ended the last vestiges
of the empire of Alexander the Great. It did not, however, conclude the influence of the Greeks.
While Rome dominated the region for future centuries, the Romans continued to adopt elements
of Greek culture, engineering, and philosophy in their daily lives. Pydna elevated Rome to the
pinnacle of power, but the Roman victory also allowed the winners to benefit from Greek
knowledge and capabilities to make their empire even greater.