Fourth Macedonian War

Fourth Macedonian War
	Part of Macedonian Wars
Date	150–148 BC
Location	Macedon
Result	Roman victory
Territorial; changes	Roman annexation of Macedon
Belligerents
Roman Republic	Macedon
Commanders and leaders
P. Cornelius Scipio Nasica Corculum; P. Juventius Thalna †; Q. Caecilius Metellus Macedonicus	Andriscus

The Fourth Macedonian War (150 BC to 148 BC) was fought between the Roman Republic and a Macedonian uprising led by the Macedonian pretender to the throne Andriscus. Pretending to be the son of the former king Perseus, who had been deposed by the Romans after the Third Macedonian War in 168 BC, Andriscus sought to re-establish the old Macedonian Kingdom.[1] In the process he destabilised Macedonia and much of the Macedonian world. Anthriscus, after some early successes, was eventually defeated by the Roman general Quintus Caecilius Metellus Macedonicus at the Second Battle of Pydna in 148 BC, and the uprising subsequently collapsed. Two years later Macedonia became a Roman province.

In response, the Achaean League in 146 BC mobilized for a new war against the Roman Empire. This is sometimes referred to as the Achaean War, and was noted for its short duration and its timing right after the fall of Macedonia. Until this time, Rome had only campaigned in Greece in order to fight Macedonian forces, allies or clients. Rome's military supremacy was well established, having defeated Macedonia and its vaunted Phalanx already on three occasions, and defeating superior numbers against the Seleucids in Asia.[2] The Achaean leaders almost certainly knew that this declaration of war against Rome was hopeless, as Rome had triumphed against far stronger and larger opponents, the Roman legion having proved its supremacy over the Macedonian phalanx.[3]

Polybius blames the demagogues of the cities of the league for inspiring the population into a suicidal war. Hellenistic stirrings and the idea of triumphing against superior odds motivated the league into this rash decision. The Achaean League was swiftly defeated, and, as an object lesson, Rome utterly destroyed the city of Corinth in 146 BC, the same year that Carthage was destroyed.[4] After nearly a century of constant crisis management in Greece, which always led back to internal instability and war when Rome pulled out, Rome decided to divide Macedonia into two new Roman provinces, Achaea and Epirus.

References

, Goldsworthy, In the Name of Rome, p. 218
History of Rome – The republic, Isaac Asimov.
Adrian Goldsworthy (2004), In the Name of Rome, p. 218
History of Rome – The republic, Isaac Asimov.

Ancient Roman wars
Wars of the Roman Republic	Roman–Etruscan Wars Roman-Aequian wars Roman–Latin wars Roman–Hernician wars Roman-Volscian wars Samnite Wars Pyrrhic War Punic Wars (First, Second, Third) Illyrian Wars (First, Second, Third) Macedonian Wars (First, Second, Third, Fourth) Roman–Seleucid War Aetolian War Galatian War Roman conquest of Hispania (Celtiberian Wars, Lusitanian War, Numantine War, Sertorian War, Cantabrian Wars) Achaean War Jugurthine War Cimbrian War Servile Wars (First, Second, Third) Social War Sulla's civil wars (First, Second) Mithridatic Wars (First, Second, Third) Gallic Wars Invasions of Britain Caesar's Civil War End of the Republic (Post-Caesarian, Liberators', Sicilian, Perusine, Last)
Wars of the Roman Empire	Germanic wars (Teutoburg, Marcomannic, Alemannic, Gothic, Visigothic) Wars in Britain Boudica's revolt Armenian War Civil War of 69 Jewish–Roman wars Domitian's Dacian War Trajan's Dacian Wars Persian Wars Civil Wars of the Third Century Wars of the Fall of the Western Roman Empire
Military history of ancient Rome

Ancient Greek wars
Mycenaean	Trojan War
Archaic	First Messenian War Lelantine War Second Messenian War First Sacred War Sicilian Wars
Classical	Greco-Persian Wars Aeginetan War Wars of the Delian League Third Messenian War First Peloponnesian War Second Sacred War Samian War Second Peloponnesian War Phyle Campaign Corinthian War Boeotian War Wars of the Theban hegemony Theban–Spartan War Social War (357–355 BC) Third Sacred War Foreign War Expansion of Macedonia Wars of Alexander the Great
Hellenistic	Lamian War Wars of the Diadochi Antigonid–Nabataean confrontations Seleucid–Mauryan war Pyrrhic War Syrian Wars Pyrrhus' invasion of the Peloponnese Chremonidean War Seleucid–Parthian wars Cleomenean War Lyttian War Social War (220–217 BC) First Macedonian War Cretan War Second Macedonian War Roman–Seleucid War Aetolian War War against Nabis Galatian War Third Macedonian War Maccabean Revolt Seleucid Dynastic Wars Fourth Macedonian War Achaean War Mithridatic Wars (First, Second, Third) Last war of the Roman Republic
Military history

Fourth Macedonian War

See also

References

Further reading