BATTLE // -167 BCE
Battle of Pydna
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Significance
The Battle of Pydna, fought in 168 BC between Roman Republic forces under Lucius Aemilius Paullus and Scipio Nasica and the Macedonian army of Perseus, decided the outcome of the Third Macedonian War and terminated the Antigonid dynasty. Macedonian casualties of some 31,000 against a Roman force of between 28,600 and 37,000 indicate the scale of the defeat suffered by Perseus. The Antigonid line, whose royal authority traced back to Antigonus Monophthalmus, one of Alexander the Great's Diadochi successors, ceased to exist as a political institution following the battle. The result accelerated Roman ascendancy in the Hellenistic world, removing the last major Macedonian power capable of contesting Roman influence in the eastern Mediterranean.
Tactics
The battle is characterized in the sources as a contest between the Roman legion's manipular system and the Macedonian phalanx. The manipular formation's flexibility proved decisive against the relative rigidity of the Antigonid phalanx, though the overview does not detail specific maneuvers, terrain use, or dispositions beyond this systemic contrast.
Forces & casualties
Troop strength
- Roman Republic28,600–37,000medium
- Macedon30,000medium
Both sides were near-evenly matched in numbers
Casualties
- Macedon31,000medium103% loss rate
Commanders (3)
Macedon
Roman Republic
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