The Battle of Pidna is one of the most famous battles of the Third Macedonian War. It took place in 168 BC, becoming decisive and determining that Macedonia would completely and completely submit to Rome. It is noteworthy that the absolutely exact date of the battle (June 22) is known due to the fact that on the eve of the lunar eclipse took place.
Third Macedonian War
The battle of Pidna in the Third Macedonian War was one of the decisive battles. This confrontation began as early as 171 BC. A few years earlier, King Philip V died, succeeded by his ambitious son Perseus. He increased the size of the army, found several loyal allies.
At the same time, the oligarchic circles of the Greek states with which he began to establish contact maintained Rome. Therefore, Perseus had to turn to the Democrats for support. He openly stated that he planned to restore the former power of his country.
Rome was bothered by these statements, in the Eternal City they were afraid of losing their influence in Greece. Then the king of Pergamon Eumenes II declared that Perseus violated the Roman-Macedonian peace agreement and declared war. The Macedonian king at that moment made an unforgivable mistake, having missed the moment when it was possible to pull most Greek policies to his side. The Roman diplomats, on the contrary, made the Greeks begin to expose auxiliary units to them.
War development
At the same time, the war began for Perseus successfully. Under Larisson he defeated Crassus' army, but again lost a lot of time while listening to Marcius Philippe, who claimed that Rome did not want a bloody war and offered negotiations. As a result, time was lost, the Romans managed to retreat to the sea.
Then Perseus himself proposed peace, but was refused. At that time, everything was completely dysfunctional in the Roman army, because of disciplinary problems the generals could not invade Macedonia for a long time. Perseus managed to defeat another Roman army in Illyria and tried to defeat Pergamum, but to no avail.
Invasion of macedonia
Finally, in 169 BC, Marcius Philip invaded Macedonia. But by this time his soldiers were so tired that he was forced to dodge the decisive battle.
In 168 BC, Roman troops were led by Lucius Emilius Paul, whom everyone knew as an incorruptible and firm-willed commander. He managed to return discipline to the army, pushing Perseus back.
On the eve of the decisive battle
On the eve of the general battle, Lucius sent a separate detachment to the coast, which consisted of 120 cavalrymen and more than eight thousand foot soldiers, to force Perseus to leave his position. Thus, he sought to convince the Macedonians that the Romans would attempt to cross the river. By night, Scipio led the troops to the mountains to attack Perseus from the rear.
It was possible to prevent this thanks to the Roman deserter, who ended up in the camp of Perseus. To block the driveway, the Macedonians sent 12 thousand soldiers. But they failed to fulfill their mission, as a result of a clash with the Romans, they were forced to return to their camp. Then the king led the troops north, settling in the Katerini area, not far from Pidna. It was at these positions that the Macedonian phalanx was in the best conditions for battle.
The Roman forces continued unification, and Perseus directed all his forces to repel the attack from Sicily. The Romans discovered that the Macedonian forces were ready for defense. They are located to the west of the main forces of Perseus in the area of Mount Olokrus. On June 21, a lunar eclipse took place, which all Macedonians considered a bad omen. They were sure that this portended the death of their king.
The battle of Pidne began immediately the next day - June 22.
At the beginning of the battle
Now you know the date of the Battle of Pidne. According to the initial arrangement, 29,000 Roman soldiers participated in the confrontation, which included even two legions. At the same time, 24.5 thousand were foot soldiers.
From the side of the Macedonians, 44 thousand soldiers participated in the Battle of Pidna, of which 21 thousand were considered phalangists. The cavalry forces were approximately equal - 4 thousand on each side.
The Romans immediately placed their two legions in the center, and the allied forces were located on the flanks, among which were Greeks, Italians and Latins. During the battle, the legion formed three lines, which were located strictly in a checkerboard pattern. The cavalry was placed on the wings of this structure, and 22 fighting elephants took part in the battle on the right flank.
Macedonian positions
The Macedonian army at the Battle of Pidne (148 BC) was located in the center along with a detachment of three thousand elite fighters. The Flanks were guarded by the Thracian infantry and mercenaries, and the Macedonian cavalry was also built on them.
Perseus formed the most powerful contingent on the right flank, where he himself commanded the heavy cavalry.
Army rapprochement
In fact, the battle of Pidna (148 BC) began around 15 hours local time. The armies began an active rapprochement. The enemy looked so menacing that panic began in the ranks of the Romans. The phalanx simply swept the forward units, they planned to begin to retreat towards Olkor.
One of the decisive moments of the battle was that the consul turned his attention to the Macedonian phalanx. It turned out that she was moving forward with gaps, very unevenly. He gave orders to parts of his legions to act independently of each other and to wedge into small phalanx breaks in small detachments in order to attack at the first opportunity.
The legionnaires who stood in the first two lines were armed with short swords and shields. They began to slip past the peak of the Macedonians, taking the melee, in which they had a definite advantage. Perseus quickly drew attention to the fact that the course of the battle was changing before our eyes. He takes part in the head of the cavalry to leave the battlefield. By that time, the Macedonian army was already practically defeated, the losses amounted to about 20 thousand people killed and 11 thousand more wounded. The battle of Pidne (148 BC) did not last long, about an hour, but left an important mark in world history. In addition, the persecution of the retreating parts of the Macedonians continued until complete dusk.
Perseus himself hastily fled from the battlefield, the Romans overtook him and captured. At the same time, the Macedonian king was saved in order to have the greatest effect upon his triumphant return to Rome.
The battle once again proved the power and strength of the Roman legion in front of the Macedonian phalanx. First of all, due to its maneuverability. At the same time, some historians are still convinced that the battle was primarily lost due to the fact that Perseus himself did not take part in it, and numerous gaitars took wait-and-see positions and as a result decided not to attack the enemy at all.
Battle results
The main outcome of the battle of Pidna is the subjugation of Macedonia. After this triumphant success, the Roman consul Emilius Paul went with the army to Perseus' former allies. First of all, it was Aipre and Illyrius. He destroyed about 60 epirus settlements, sold 150 thousand people into slavery, practically completely devastating these lands.
Macedonia was forcibly divided into four districts, which began to form unions of cities. Each of them was completely independent, had the right to mint coins, but at the same time was deprived of the opportunity to maintain economic and political contacts with their neighbors.
Tsarist officials were evicted to Italy, if someone tried to return, he was immediately punished with the death penalty. The inhabitants of the districts were obliged to send to Rome an annual tribute, which was half of what they were obliged to pay to the previous king.
Illyria was also divided into several districts, arranged on the principle of Macedonia. In Greece, the Romans punished everyone who supported Perseus. For example, about a thousand Achaeans were transported to Rome as hostages. After the final suppression of the anti-Roman uprising, Macedonia became one of the Roman provinces. In fact, the date of submission to Macedonia coincides with the battle of Pidna.