The Battle of Pydna / Pydna Port of Macedonia

John Sommers

The Battle of Pydna has had one of the biggest effects on the history of Rome. The Greek
port, Pydna, was located on the Aegaean Sea. It is in the district of Pieria, which has had many
changes in who was ruling them and in their independence status. The Port had a huge factor on
the history of Macedonia. Over the years, the area would be named independent while still
naming someone as their overlord. For example, Alexander I in the years of 498-458. These
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. This led to
factions, that would begin to separate people. There were two main factions that really stood out
in the community of Pydna. One was the Greek faction in the town that had once asked Athens
for protection and the other one which was the pro-Macedonian faction that had begun to get the
upper hand of things. It is said that there may have been other factions located around Pydna, but
they werent truly large enough to affect things. Eventually, 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.
(1,2)

The Battle of Pydna is recorded to have been fought on June 22, 168 BC. It was part of
the Third Macedonian War. It was a war with the Romans against the Macedonians. The Romans
had 44,000 men and were commanded by Perseus of Macedon. While the Macedonians had
38,000 men and were under command of Lucius Aemilius Paullus Macedonicus. The

Macedonians were going to fight in phalanx and with superior numbers, which frightened the
Romans. 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. Later, after the
Romans found Perseus troops, they made camp nearby and planned to attack the next day. Not
everyone agreed on waiting till the next day. Actually there were very few that did agree.
Everyone on the council was afraid that the Macedonian troops would notice and retreat. Finally,
the Romans decided it might be better to wait till tomorrow, because everyone was tired from the
walk. If he sent his troops out tired, they would most likely loose since they had absolutely no
energy left. The 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. The geography of the area was starting to
have an effect, the Macedonians got put in a type of terrain that destroyed their formation and
gave the Romans the advantage. This Macedonians where completely unable to do anything after
they fell apart since they liked more distance combat and not close battle. It allowed the Romans
to slide in between the lines and have close up battle, which favored them, since they mostly
relied on swords. This led to the Romans just completely destroying them and killing 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.
(3)

The war was too long ago for us to have exact factual numbers. There are rough estimates
that we can conclude from artifacts and other things, which lead us to certain numbers. Some of
the estimates are, Macedonians lost around 25,000 people and the Romans lost over 1,000
people. The end to The Battle of Pydna effected multiple things for the future. It showed that
seen as a triumph of the legion's tactical flexibility over the more rigid phalanx. Even though it
did not end the Third Macedonian War it might have had an effect on why the war did end. It
effectively destroyed the courage of Macedonian power and allowed everyone to see they
werent what everyone thought. Soon after everyone knew how weak they were when Perseus
surrendered to Paulus and was imprisoned. 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. Many years later, the region became a province of Rome after the Fourth Macedonian War.
(3)

Pydna is located in the land of the nine Muses and the Olympian Gods. It is surrounded
with the Mountains of Pieria and the coasts of Thermaikos Gulf. They say 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. This eventually caused the area to thrive. This area has been impacted hugely in
Christian religion after, Apostle Paul visited Methoni in 50-51 A.D. came through.
(4)

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http://www.livius.org/articles/place/pydna/
http://www.pydnatravel.com/html/ancient_pydna.html
http://militaryhistory.about.com/od/battleswarsto1000/p/pydna.htm
http://www.greece.com/destinations/Macedonia/Pieria/