Fourth Macedonian War
The
Fourth Macedonian War (
150 BC -
148 BC) was the final war between
Rome and
Macedon. It came about as a result of the pretender
Andriscus's usurpation of the Macedonian throne, pretending to be the son of
Perseus, the last
King of Macedon, deposed by the Romans after the
Third Macedonian War in
168 BC. Andriscus, after some early successes, was eventually defeated by the Roman general
Caecilius Metellus at the
Battle of Pydna in
148 BC. Macedon then became the first Greek province of Rome.
*
Military history of Greece*
First Macedonian War*
Second Macedonian War*
Third Macedonian WarThe Fourth Macedonian War was the total end of Roman tolerance toward Macedonia. Andriscus a pretender to the throne took control of Macedonia. He was able to because Rome wasn't interfering in that region much. Andriscus raised an army and defeated a small Roman force. He claimed Thessaly and kept making trouble. The Romans sent Quintus Caecilius Metellus to end the instability in that region by making it a permanent part of Rome. He totally destroyed Andriscus's army and crushed all Macedonian resistance. Macedonia was no longer an independent state. Rome made Macedonia and Epirus its first Eastern Province. For his services Metellus gained the cognomen Macedonicus for annexing Macedonia. While Metellus was busy with Macedonia the Greeks lead their own small revolt the Greeks wanted independence for the city-states, and they were unhappy about the Roman annexation of Sparta into the Achaean League. The pro-independence leader Critolaus of Corinth began seizing territory, and Metellus moved south to deal with him, when Metellus was called to Italy to receive his cognomen Lucius Mummius crushed all the Greek City-State leagues and totally pacified the Hellenistic nations. He became known as Archaicus for his deeds in Greece. When the Romans pacified Greece and annexed Macedon they had totally crushed most of the resistance the Republic would ever face.
*
Fourth Macedonian War
