Third Macedonian War The Third Macedonian War ( 171 – 168 BC ) was a war fought between Rome and King Perseus of Macedon . In 179 BC King Philip V of Macedon died and his talented and ambitious son , Perseus , took his throne . Perseus married Laodike , daughter of King Seleucus IV Keraunos of Asia , and increased the size of his army . He also made alliance treaties with Epirus and several tribes of Illyria and Thrace , as well as enemies of Thracian tribes allied to Rome , such as the Sapaei under Abrupolis . He renewed former connections with some southern Greek city - states ( " poleis " ) . The king announced that he could carry out reforms in Greece and restore its previous strength and prosperity . The Roman leadership began to worry that Perseus would destroy Roman political control in Greece and restore former Macedonian sovereignty over Greek states . King Eumenes II of Pergamon , who hated Macedonia , accused Perseus of trying to violate laws of other states and conditions of peace between Macedonia and Rome . The Romans were afraid for the balance of power in Greece and declared a new war with Macedonia . Perseus won the first struggle : the Battle of Callicinus , where he faced the army of Publius Licinius Crassus . The king offered a peace treaty to the Romans , which was refused . The Romans had problems with discipline in their army , and Roman commanders could not find a way to successfully invade Macedonia . There was a stalemate near Phalanna involving Perseus and Crassus . In 169 BC , consul Quintus Marcius Philippus crossed the Olympus Range and entered Macedonia . However , his army ran out of provisions and retired on a narrow strip of coast near Tempe . Perseus tried to win Eumenes of Pergamon and King Antiochus IV of the Seleucid Empire over to his side but failed . He did , however , succeed in buying the support of the Illyrian king Genthius in the autumn of 169 BC . Perseus was defeated by the legions of the Roman consul Lucius Aemilius Paullus at the Battle of Pydna in 168 BC . This defeat was largely due to the inflexibility of Macedonian phalanx tactics compared to the maniple - based tactics of the Roman legions . In the aftermath of this battle , King Perseus surrendered and was taken to Rome along with members of his court and other prisoners from the leading families of Macedon , including the historian Polybius . In addition , around 300 , 000 Macedonian citizens were enslaved . A number of Macedonian cities and villages were destroyed and their land distributed to the Roman veterans and their Thracian allies . Macedonia itself was divided into four Roman client republics , each of which was required to pay duty to Rome at half the rate previously due to the Macedonian kings . Economic and political contacts between the four republics were restricted . The Third Macedonian war marked the effective end of Hellenistic Macedonia and the monarchy of the Antigonid dynasty , and further enhanced Roman domination of Ancient Greece . Rome later returned to symbolically destroy Corinth in 146 BC in the Fourth Macedonian War , in a manner reminiscent of their destruction of the defanged Carthage in the Third Punic War .