The defeat at the battle of Callinicus was the first the Romans suffered during the conquest
of Greece, but they were ever tenacious and the Macedonian Wars would continue. King Perseus
was willing to drive the invaders out, while the Roman Republic sent another commander
to the area. The fate of Greece was decided at the battle of Pydna.
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By the end of 169, Rome’s position in Greece appeared precarious, and only the arrival
of the new consul - Lucius Aemilius Paullus in 168 BC breathed fresh life into the floundering
Roman cause in Greece.
The first century Greek biographer Plutarch informs us that this scion of the prominent
Aemilii patrician family did not even want to be consul at this point, as he had already
failed during his run for a second term. However, his previous victories against the Lusitani
and Inguani tribes had not been forgotten. The senate believed him to be the best candidate
on their list to bring order to Greece once again. Eventually, overwhelmed by the constant
requests for him to stand for office, Aemilius was elected and immediately given the Macedonian
command. Plutarch also tells us that after his election as consul for 168, Aemilius went
home to find his daughter in distress. Naturally, the father asked what was the matter. His
daughter, embracing Aemilius with sad tears in her eyes, told the consul that their little
dog was dead. That dog’s name, so the story goes, was Perseus. Possibly apocryphal stories
aside, the force which Aemilius took command of was large: two especially strengthened
Roman and allied legions totalling around 22,000 legionary heavy infantry. The allied
legions now comprised various peoples who, until recently, had been long standing enemies
of Rome, such as the Etruscans and Samnites. Supporting the heavy troops were thousands
more light infantry, including velites, Pergamene troops and Greek allies. 4,000 cavalry also
mounted up in the Roman army, including a thousand of the infamous Numidian cavalry
under their prince Misagenes. With the North African troops also came 22 imposing war elephants.
Perseus meanwhile had around 44,000 foot and 4,000 horse on his side of the field. 21,000
of the infantry comprised the fearsome phalangists with their Sarissa pikes and phalanx formation,
which reached a mile in length. Supporting this moving wall of pikes were light troops,
auxiliaries such as the Thracian javelinmen and Illyrian archers. After advancing into
Thessaly in the summer of 168, Aemilius marched south, meeting Perseus at the foot of mount
Olympus, where he had drawn up his army in a highly defensible position. The Antigonids
were dug in on the west bank of the Elpeus river, just east of the mountain and had easy
access to the nearby town of Dium. With typical Roman grit, it seems like the fact that Perseus
had such a position did not bother the legionaries and, eager to redeem their honour after Callinicus,
urged Aemilius to attack immediately As a retort, Aemilius told his men to mind their
place and underlined the fact that they would fight when and how he told them to.
In order to dislodge Perseus from his defensive position, Aemilius assigned a subordinate
- Publius Cornelius Scipio Nasica, to launch a feint towards the sea with 3,500 allied
infantry and 5,000 legionaries. Under the cover of darkness, he would march through
an unguarded pass in order to surprise Perseus. This might have gotten the jump on Macedon’s
king, but a Cretan auxiliary in the Roman army defected and informed his fellow Greeks
of the Roman plan. Reacting immediately to this alarming news, Perseus sent a general
named Milo with 2,000 Macedonians and 10,000 Thracian mercenaries to oppose the Roman passage.
Though Nasica hadn’t expected this resistance, upon his arrival in the pass he ordered a
charge. The mountain fighting in the narrow defiles and passages was bloody and brutal,
and Nasica himself supposedly came toe to toe with a fearsome Thracian soldier, slaying
him with the pilum javelin. Rome’s legionaries doggedly stabbed and slashed their way through
the mountain pass, routing the Macedonians, who then fled back to the main army and informed
Perseus of the defeat. Realising that the loss of this mountain pass would render his
position vulnerable, the king immediately decamped and marched away from the mountain.
While Aemilius moved through the mountain pass and emerged onto the foothills around
Mount Olocrus, Perseus drew up his army behind a river on the plain below, near the town
of Pydna.
The handpicked field of battle was fantastic for the Macedonian phalanx, and Perseus’
position atop a small ridge and behind the river gave him a distinct advantage. Aemilius
knew this and so did not advance just yet, remaining in his camp on the hills. The general’s
officers, especially Nasica, quickly became restless and wanted to attack immediately.
Stoically, Aemilius smiled and advised Nasica not to be so hasty, informing him of the folly
of attacking a phalanx on such ground. The Romans did not waste their time, and constructed
a marching camp for that night. When darkness had fallen and the soldiers were resting around
the various campfires and sleeping in their tents, the moon suddenly grew dark, its white
colour shifting to a dull red. The superstitious men in the Macedonian camp were deeply affected
and surprised by what was apparently a bad omen. A moon which seemed to bleed red, had
Zeus abandoned them? At the same time, the equally pious Romans did not react as badly,
why was this? A military tribune of the Roman army - Caius Sulpicius Gallus, was a learned
Astronomer. The day before, he approached his general and gained his permission to assembly
the soldiers, informing them that such an event - that we know as a solar eclipse, would
occur on the following night. He urged the soldiers not to see such a thing as an ill
omen, as it was a regular, predictable and natural thing. Therefore, when the eclipse
did occur, the Roman soldiers simply followed their commander in offering sacrifices to
the Greek gods, promising to hold games in Heracles’ honour. The gestures worked and
the Roman soldier’s morale was unaffected.
With both leaders engaging one another in a dangerous staring contest, it would take
a spark for the flames to ignite. Said spark came in the form of a misbehaving mule. In
order to fill up jugs of water for the thirsty Roman soldiers, who wore heavy armour, a small
train of mules was led down to a stream below the foothills by lighter troops. Like the
stubborn creatures they are, one of the parched pack animals supposedly scented the water
and bolted away from its handlers. The water-gatherers ran after it, and discovered that a group
of Perseus’ Thracian troops were doing the same. Moreover, the enemy was attempting to
steal their mule. The irritated, frustrated and scorching Roman soldiers were not going
to give up that mule, and a brawl broke out over the animal. Runners on both sides went
to get help, while the mule probably just ran off. Perseus saw an opportunity to draw
the Romans down from the uneven foothills of Mount Olocrus, and marched his entire army
out of the camp and straight towards the brawl at the stream. The Romans could see what was
going on from their camp, and they were furious, demanding angrily to be allowed to march out
and fight. Aemilius risked mutiny if he refused and so, gave the signal to form up. After
only allowing his legions a brief amount of time to form up, he swiftly commanded the
advance, aiming to save the men at the stream.
At that moment, the marching phalangists were given the order to lower their pikes. In unison,
the first five ranks held their sarissae horizontally, and the ranks behind kept them at a 45 degree
angle. Then, they advanced. Against the barely armoured Roman light troops, whose main job
was to skirmish at a distance, the phalangists met almost no serious resistance, and simply
tore through the enemy ranks. Valiantly trying to buy the Romans more time, an auxiliary
tribal leader named Salvius obtained his unit’s standard and threw it into the phalanx. This
galvanised the pressured soldiers, and they furiously tried to get it back. This resulted
in massive casualties, but slowed the advance of the phalanx and allowed some men to escape.
Aemilius’ main force was now closing in, and the swarm of velites and other skirmishers
threw their missiles at the phalanx, mostly to no effect. The legionary heavy infantry,
having witnessed the slaughter of their more lightly armoured comrades, became frightened
and began to slow down. They saw the sheer size of the steamroller that approached them
and their morale started to wane. Aemilius had to act right now, otherwise his shortsword
armed men were going to be slaughtered on the flat ground. So, the general ordered an
immediate withdrawal and ceded the plains to Perseus, moving for the foothills once
again. Owing to the phenomenal discipline of the Roman legions, the retreat was carried
out successfully, and Aemilius now had some breathing room to attack. Wheeling his horse
to the right flank, he ordered the wing of 34 elephants to charge forward, with a mass
of cavalry behind them.
The Thracian and mercenary skirmishers immediately in the path of this charge were ideal troops
for dealing with elephants, but they were exhausted and failed to concentrate enough
missiles. The elephant vanguard caught them on a bad day, and they carved a bloody hole
into Perseus’ left wing. The cavalry then streamed around the elephants and mopped up
those that were left, leaving the agema on the leftmost edge of the phalanx completely
exposed. The victorious Roman right wing chased the retreating skirmishers, and then slowly
began to reform slightly behind Perseus’ line. Throughout this battle on the edge of
the field, the phalanx had been pursuing the withdrawing legions into the foothills and
onto rough ground. With the infantry screen already gone, the rightmost legionary unit
swung inward and drove into the phalanx’s vulnerable left. At the same time, gaps gradually
began to open in the phalanx due to the increasing uneven terrain. Aemilius took full advantage
of this, riding up and down the line, shouting at his men to attack. Whether or not he was
heard, the Roman centurions knew what they were doing, and led their men into the now-exposed
arteries of the Macedonian phalanx. The pressure now began to mount. Fighting in unfavourable
close quarters combat and hit on the flank, the phalanx began to slowly fragment. Aemilius,
who had retreated to a position of command on the heights, saw small streams of Antigonid
troops fleeing from the rear of the infantry block. The coup de grâce was delivered by
the now-regrouped Roman right flank. The elephants and cavalry now charged at the disintegrating
army of Perseus’ and utterly routed it. Last to fall were the 3,000 elite agema of
Perseus. Not a single one of these valiant men fled and they fought to the last men,
while their king fled on his horse. One of the greatest phalanxes ever had been crushed,
and Alexander the Great’s military legacy was finally buried, the legion would rule
the field of battle from this point on.
20,000 of Perseus’ troops were killed and 11,000 more were captured, including Perseus
himself. This man, who was to be the final Antigonid king, was captured after hiding
his crown, removing his royal robes and taking refuge in a temple on Samothrace. When brought
before Aemilius, Perseus wept pitifully, much to the Roman general’s disgust. Given the
‘title’ of Macedonicus by the senate, the victorious general was voted a triumph
and rode through Rome on his chariot. The treasures of Macedon and his victorious troops
marched behind him. Finally, Perseus followed them in chains, still sobbing. The Antigonid
line, which descended from the revered one-eyed general of Alexander the Great, was extinguished,
and the Macedonian kingdom was forever gone.
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