The Third Macedonian War

-The Greeks accepted the Romans as temporary overlords.
   -Just a stopgap until their main enemies could be driven off and they could gather enough strength to "Make Greece Great Again"!
-179 BC- Philip V of Macedonia dies.
   -Had 2 sons: Demetrius and Perseus.
      -Demetrius had been sent to Rome as a hostage, and had developed a pro-Roman worldview growing up.
      -Perseus, the new king, was scared that the Romans would use Demetrius to overthrow Perseus' rule in order to make Macedonia a puppet kingdom of Rome.
         -Before Philip V died, Perseus was able to convince him that Demetrius was in cahoots with the Romans.
-Perseus began testing Roman patience by expanding his territory, making political alliances, and marrying Laodice V (daughter of Seleucus IV (son of Antiochus III and king of the Seleucid Empire as of 175 BC)).
   -Pergamon was scared of this situation since they were stuck in the middle of the growing tension between the Romans and the Seleucids, so they begged Rome to protect them.
      -Finally, Rome had had enough when it was believed that Perseus was behind the latest Illyrian uprisings against Roman domination.
-Rome moved its troops first to Illyria to quell the rebellions, and then finally in 171 BC Rome declared war on Macedonia and invaded.
   -The first battle was a minor one, but Rome lost due to poor leadership noob stuff and thus caused many Greek cities to side with Macedonia, believing them to be more the more powerful empire.
      -For the next 2 years, instead of attacking major strategic points, the Romans just raided random cities, going hogwild with rape and pillage.
         -As a result, lots of slaves and treasure were sent back to Rome.
-This made the Greeks see the Romans as barbarians, and Roman popularity was at an all-time low in the region.
-168 BC- the new Roman consul tried to re-organize the legions so that they weren't just loose cannons running wrecking havoc in Illyria.
   -Battle of Pydna- huge battle between the Romans and the Macedonians.
      -It was a brutal slaughter- Macedonia lost about 25,000 troops, Rome only about 1000.
      -King Perseus himself was captured during this battle as well.   Afterwards, he was sent back to Rome and paraded around in chains, and then was banished to live out his days in the tiny Roman town of Alba Fulcens (near modern-day Avezzano, Abruzzo), where he became a metalworker and public notary.  Thus, he was the last of the Antigonid dynastic rulers (starting with Alexander the Great's general Antigonus I Monophthalmus in 306 BC.
-Macedonia was broken up and split into 4 puppet republics who could only trade with Rome.
-On the way home, the Roman legions passed through Epirus.
   -Initially, they agreed to be paid off to spare the cities from any trouble, but once they were paid they didn't give a fuck and went nuts with rape and pillage.
      -150,000 people were taken as slaves, and those who weren't enslaved were either killed or left broken.
         -This showed the Greeks that the Romans were a barbaric, warlike folk who were not to be fucked around with.