Battle of Pydna

In June 168 BCE a Roman army under the consul Lucius Aemilius Paullus destroyed the army of Perseus, king of Macedon, on a plain near Pydna in northern Greece. The battle ended the Third Macedonian War and, with it, the Antigonid dynasty that had ruled Macedon since the wars among Alexander's successors. It has often been cited as the classic demonstration of the flexible Roman legion overcoming the rigid Macedonian pike phalanx.

Rome declared war on Perseus in 171 BCE after a series of his actions alarmed the Senate. The early fighting went the Romans' way, but by the end of the first year Perseus had won a victory at Callinicus and recovered most of his losses. He then dug in behind the river Elpeus in a position the Romans could not attack directly. In 168 BCE command passed to Aemilius Paullus, an experienced soldier and one of that year's consuls.

Paullus sent a detachment of some 8,200 infantry and 120 horsemen under Publius Cornelius Scipio Nasica, apparently towards the coast, but at night it turned inland and crossed the mountains to come down behind the Macedonians. A Roman deserter warned Perseus, who sent 12,000 men to block the route; they were beaten and fell back. Perseus withdrew north to open ground south of Pydna, well suited to his phalanx. The Romans camped in the foothills nearby.

An eclipse of the moon darkened the eve of the battle. Plutarch writes that the Macedonians read it as foretelling their king's downfall, while Paullus, reportedly aware that eclipses recur at regular intervals, still made the customary sacrifices.

Ancient and modern figures vary. The Romans and their allies, including Italians, Greeks and Numidians, numbered somewhere between about 28,600 and 37,000, with 3,400 cavalry and 22 elephants. Perseus had begun the war with 43,000 men, but by the day of battle, having detached troops to guard his rear against the Roman fleet, he probably had around 30,000, including more than 20,000 phalanx soldiers.

The fighting began on the afternoon of 22 June, perhaps after a skirmish between Roman foragers and Thracians in Perseus's army. The phalanx advanced, and Paullus later admitted that the wall of long pikes alarmed him. Allied troops tried in vain to hack through it, and the Romans fell back towards rougher ground. As the phalanx followed into the foothills, its ranks began to open. Paullus pushed small units of legionaries into the gaps, where their swords and heavier shields gave them the advantage at close quarters. The Roman right wing, where the elephants were posted, routed the Macedonian left, and the phalanx collapsed.

Perseus left the field with his cavalry, which had hardly fought; the survivors later accused him of cowardice, though one ancient writer claimed he had been wounded early on. His 3,000-strong royal guard fought to the last. The main clash lasted about an hour, followed by a pursuit until dark. The Roman historian Livy reported figures of up to 20,000 Macedonian dead, and about 11,000 were captured.

Perseus soon surrendered, was led in chains in Paullus's triumph at Rome, and was afterwards held prisoner in Italy, at Alba Fucens. The kingdom was abolished and divided into four republics that were heavily restricted in their dealings and trade with one another; in time Macedonia became a Roman province. In 167 BCE Paullus was ordered to punish Epirus, some of whose people had aided Perseus, and according to ancient accounts 70 towns were sacked and 150,000 people enslaved.

Pydna marked the end of Macedon as an independent power, one of the great kingdoms of the Hellenistic world, and carried the power of the Roman Republic further into the Greek east.

Our 200 BCE map shows Antigonid Macedon before its fall, and our 100 BCE map shows Macedonia as part of Roman territory.