The Battle of Pydna

Territory: Pydna Port of Macedonia

Location

Greek port, Pydna, was located on the

Aegaean Sea
It is in the district of Pieria

Events
Many changes in who was ruling them and in their
independence status.
a huge factor on the history of Macedonia.
the area would be named independent while still
naming someone as their overlord. (Alexander I in
the years of 498-458)
rulers would change very often because of the
interest people had in this area.
People living here were starting to want to have a
say on who was coming in and just controlling them

Factions
factions would begin to separate people.
were two main factions that really stood
out in the community of Pydna.
the Greek faction in the town that had
once asked Athens for protection.
was the pro-Macedonian faction that had
begun to get the upper hand of things.
that there may have been other factions
located around Pydna, but they werent
truly large enough to affect things.

First Major Control

the Macedonians took control of Pydna
without support from their allies.
Macedonians then commanded the citizens
to relocate farther away from the port, so
they could control the port without causing
problems with them.
The Battle of Pydna played an important
role in the subsequent political events of
Greece.

Battle of Pydna

recorded to have been fought on June

22, 168 BC.
was part of the Third Macedonian War
the Romans against the Macedonians
Romans had 44,000 men and were
commanded by Perseus of Macedon
Macedonians had 38,000 men and were
under command of Lucius Aemilius
Paullus Macedonicus.
Macedonians were going to fight in
phalanx andwith superior numbers,
which frightened the Romans

Battle of Pydna
This war all began in the year 171 BC
when the Roman Republic declared a war
on Macedonia.
The first action took in the war, was in
168 BC, when Lucius Aemilius Paullus
began moving against Perseus.
Perseus started to feel threatened and
was being attacked, so he moved all the
troops north to the village of Katerini,
which is south of Pydna.
Romans found Perseus troops, they made
camp nearby and planned to attack the
next day

Romans Start Planning and Camp

made camp nearby and planned to attack the
next day.
Not everyone agreed on waiting till the next day.
very few that did agree.
Everyone on the council was afraid that the
Macedonian troops would notice and retreat.
Romans decided it might be better to wait till
tomorrow, because everyone was tired from the
walk.
sent his troops out tired, they would most likely
loose since they had absolutely no energy left.

Full on Battle Time

Romans were happy when they woke to

a battlefield with the Macedonian
troops in it.
Both the Romans and the Macedonians
set up in formation, both very similar in
fashion, and then began moving towards
one another.

Geography
The geography of the area was starting to have an
effect.
Macedonians got put in a type of terrain that
destroyed their formation and gave the Romans the
advantage.
Macedonians where completely unable to do
anything after they fell apart since they liked more
distance combat and not close battle.
allowed the Romans to slide in between the lines
and have close up battle.
favored them, since they mostly relied on swords.

Outcome

Romans just completely destroyed them and killed a large amount.

While putting the majority that were left in prison.
Romans still having achieved victory, later sent forces to pursue the retreating
enemies until it became too dark to do so.

Stats
was too long ago for us to have exact
factual numbers.
rough estimates that we can conclude
from artifacts and other things.
Some of the estimates are,
Macedonians lost around 25,000 people
Romans lost over 1,000 people

New View

End to The Battle of Pydna effected

multiple things for the future.
seen as a triumph of the legion's
tactical flexibility over the more rigid
phalanx
did not end the Third Macedonian War it
might have had an effect on why the
war did end.
effectively destroyed the courage of
Macedonian power.
allowed everyone to see they werent
what everyone thought.
everyone knew how weak they were
when Perseus surrendered to Paulus and
was imprisoned

Gone

Macedonia then completely dissolved and became non-existent to people after

the war.
Four client states of Rome took over the land and made use of it.
region became a province of Rome after the Fourth Macedonian War.

Background
Pydna is located in the land of the nine Muses and the Olympian
Gods.
surrounded with the Mountains of Pieria and the coasts of
Thermaikos Gulf.
geography truly does play a rule in battles.
After the Battle of Pydna, since it became a part of the Pax
Romana the Pierian cities would no longer be exposed to external
dangers and were not threatened by anyone.
caused the area to thrive.
area has been impacted hugely in Christian religion after, Apostle
Paul visited Methoni in 50-51 A.D. came through.