The Second Macedonian War was fought from 200 to 197 BC, when the Roman Republic and a coalition of former Macedonian client states fought against King Philip V of Macedon in Greece. Following his decisive defeat at the Battle of Cynoscephalae, Philip was forced to abandon all of his possessions in southern Greece, Thrace, and Asia Minor, and Rome became the new hegemon in Greece.
Background[]
In 200 BC, amid the Cretan War, ambassadors from Pergamon, Rhodes, and Ptolemaic Egypt came to Rome and informed the Roman Senate of a secret arrangement between Philip V of Macedon and Antiochus III the Great by which Macedon and the Seleucid Empire would partition Ptolemaic lands between them. This, coupled with Philip V's siege of Abydos in Anatolia in 200 BC, motivated the Senate to advocate for war. The People's Assembly initially refused to return to war so soon after southern Italia had been devastated by the Punic Wars, but Consul Publius Sulpicius Galba Maximus compared the emerging threat to that of Pyrrhus of Epirus and Hannibal before they invaded Italy, so the people were ultimately motivated to support him.
War[]
The mutiny against Tappulus
While the Roman military prepared its lines of supply across the Adriatic Sea, and Philip continued his siege at Abydos, three senatorial emissaries came to Macedon and offered peace if Philip and Antiochus would cease their hostilities against the Greeks and compensate Pergamon for their losses. Antiochus decided to pull out of the war and break his assistance pact with Philip, who brashly rebuffed the Roman envoys and committed to war. The war started with the surrender and mass suicide of Abydos, whose inhabitants refused to live under Philip's rule. In late November 200 BC, Philip returned to Macedonia and learned that 20,000 Romans under Galba had landed at Apollonia, while 50 warships were docked at Corcyra. Philip campaigned into the Peloponnese as Galba raided the Illyrian countryside to prepare for the campaign, sacking Antipatria so thoroughly that it only recovered 700 years later. After failing to invade Macedon through the mountains, the sick and weakly Galba was replaced by Publius Villius Tappulus. Things went even worse for Villius, as he was immediately faced with a mutiny among his legions. 2,000 Punic Wars veterans, having been away from their farms and families for too long, refused to obey orders. The Roman forces were paralyzed for a while, but Villius promised to raise his men's concerns to the senate.
Soon, both the Roman and Macedonian armies had encamped along the Aous River, and Villius was replaced by the patrician Titus Flaminius, a famous philhellene. Flaminius set out for Greece with 3,000 veteran troops and relieved Villius from command before sending an envoy to negotiate with Philip. Philip attempted to bring Flaminius to a compromise, but Flaminius proclaimed that his mission was to liberate all Greek states, and he demanded that Philip relinquish Thessaly. This provoked Philip into breaking off negotiations and preparing for battle. The ensuing Battle of the Aous was a Roman victory, and the Greek allies of Macedon lost confidence in Philip V as a result. As the King returned with his bloodied army to Macedon, many wavering powers now either declared for the Romans or remained neutral, including the Achaean League, Macedon's most powerful ally. The ensuing campaign turned into an indecisive stalemate, and Flaminius was blocked down with a siege at Atrax before retiring for the winter. During this time, Philip recruited youths and old men into the army, preparing for a decisive battle. Flaminius' command was extended, and, in 197 BC, the Romans marched north from Boeotia to attack Philip's withdrawing army in the Battle of Cynoscephalae. The Roman legionaries took advantage of the uneven terrain to outflank the inflexible phalanges, massacring them from all sides after a hard-fought battle. Humiliating peace terms were imposed on Philip at Tempe; he had to evacuate all of Greece, including Thessaly, and give up all of his conquests in Asia Minor and Thrace. He paid a large war indemnity, destroyed his navy, sent his son Demetrius to Rome as a hostage, and, most humiliatingly, became a puppet of Rome.