The 3rd Macedonian War and the Beginning of the Roman Period for Meteora
For those who do not know, Aiginion was the name of Kalabaka town during the period between the 5th century BC and the 9th century AD. The town is thousands of years old and has its fair share in the long history of Greece. In the following article, we will try to tell the story of the 3rd Macedonian War and the sacking of Aiginion by the Roman legions of Lucius Aemilius Paullus in the 2nd century BC.
The situation of Greece at that period
The year is 168 BC. The Third Macedonian War has been raging between Rome and Macedonia for the past 3 years. After attempting a series of failed outflanking maneuvers, their armies finally met on the fields of Pydna to fight the most decisive battle of that war, the outcome of which would decide the fate of Greece for the coming centuries.
The last King of the Macedonian Antigonid dynasty, Perseus of Macedon, led his 44,000 men to meet the invading Roman expeditionary force, which consisted of 2 legions, a cavalry force including 22 elephants, and mercenaries. Perseus throws his last cards in a desperate attempt to contain Rome’s expansion in the East and to restore Macedonia’s hegemony in the area.
The Romans had 29,000 men led by the experienced general Lucius Aemilius Paullus, a veteran of the Hispanic campaigns. The fierce engagement took place on the foothills of Mount Olympus near the ancient town of Pydna. Despite some initial setbacks, Perseus was able to successfully engage and defeat the Romans in the battle of Callicinus in 171 BC. Now, on the plains of Pydna, the legendary Macedonian Phalanx had to confront the mighty Roman legions one more time.
The Battle of Pydna
The battle began late in the afternoon of June 22nd with the usual skirmishes between the light infantry of both sides. Soon, the heavy hoplites of the Macedonian phalanx followed and marched forward, engaging the legionnaires with their long spears known as Sarissas. The Romans attempted to meet head-on with the Macedonian heavy infantry, which soon proved to be an almost disastrous decision for them. It was next to impossible for any army of that period to penetrate the forward lines of the Macedonian phalanx with a frontal attack. (1)
The immense pressure on the attacking legions by the Macedonian “wall of spears,” along with the heavy Roman losses, forced them to relinquish ground over time. Aemilius, upon realizing that his center was rapidly collapsing, took action., ordered his agile troops to begin executing a series of maneuvers to draw the phalanx on the rough grounds of the nearby hills to break its cohesion, open gaps, and expose the weak flanks of the phalanx. The Romans could maneuver orderly despite their heavy losses, and the coming evening found the Macedonians utterly defeated. From the original 44,000 Macedonians, 25,000 men were killed, wounded, or captured by the Romans.
The aftermath of the battle
The course of the battle raises many questions, one of the most critical concerning the half-hearted efforts of the better Macedonian cavalry, which allowed the opposition to scatter the phalanx without apparent difficulty. Later, at a crucial moment, when the battle was going badly, the Macedonian cavalry, comprising 4,000 men, failed to intervene to protect the exposed flanks of the phalanx. Such intervention at this point would even have justified its sacrifice.
Perseas has been held responsible for this mistake by some sources, who present him as being defeated before the battle had begun, and suggest that there were many occasions during its course when he could have won. It is possible that the catastrophic negligence of the Macedonian cavalry lay in political motives. The cavalrymen were the sons of the Macedonian aristocratic families, who had become displeased with Perseas because of his political approach, which favored the masses. The concentration of so many infantry forces, composed of ordinary people, gives some clue to Perseas’ feelings towards the masses. This might have been the correct military tactic to fight the Romans, but it brought the King into conflict with those of his own class. Perseas was ill-tempered, which, in all probability, led to a conspiracy, which revealed itself during the most critical phase of the dramatic conflict.
The war with the Romans had taken on an intensely political dimension and an ethnic nature. The Oligarchs of the Greek states, as well as the Macedonian Aristocrats, sided with the Romans to save their fortunes and their privileges. In so doing, they aimed to preserve their benefits. On the other hand, the masses of poor people stood and fought to the end, which is the reason behind the massive number of dead Macedonians in the fields of Pydna. This point of view is reinforced by the fact that the cavalrymen abandoned their King to reorganize the remaining forces and find new ones, probably mercenaries. Perseas was betrayed by his country’s ruling class and was left to be defeated, with disastrous consequences for his country, if not for the entire nation. (1)
The battle of Pydna marked the final destruction of Alexander’s empire and introduced Roman authority over the Near East. (2) On setting out on the return to Rome in 167 BC, the men of Lucius Aemilius Paullus were very displeased with their share of the plunder they took from the heartland of Macedonia. To keep them happy, Paullus was instructed by the Roman Senate to attack and plunder Epirus, even though Epirus had not aided Perseus in any way during the war. The region of Epirus had already been pacified. Still, Paullus ordered the sacking of seventy of its towns, probably intending to set an example for the rest of the Greeks who wished to confront the Roman power directly.
The siege of Aiginion during the 3rd Macedonian War
Following the Senate’s orders, the Roman general marched from the heartland of Macedonia to invade and plunder Epirus. One of the very first towns standing in his way was the ancient town of Aiginion, the present-day town of Kalambaka. The town was strategically placed near all the main access routes to Epirus. From the saved accounts written by the Roman historian Titus Livius, we know that Aiginion was referenced as a town possessing formidable defenses. So formidable they were during that period that in the previous Macedonian War of 197 BC, the Roman general Titus Quinctius Flamininus marched against the small town. However, upon seeing the town’s strong defensive positions, he chose to bypass it, having that opportunity. (3)
As seen in the picture below, the town’s ancient defenses extensively used Meteora rocks to strengthen its position. The town of Aiginion was situated mostly beneath the huge rock complex of Aghia and Alsos rocks on the north and north-east side of where the Byzantine church of the Virgin Mary lies today. The town’s outer walls passed a few dozen meters south of the Byzantine church, forming the first outer defensive perimeter. In total, the town had three defensive lines consisted (a) by the outer wall, (b) the small fortress of Kastraki under the great obelisk-like rock of Adrachti in between the rocks of Aghia and Alsos, having as their last line of defense some prepared positions placed 300 meters up on the massive rock of Aghia (c).
The citizens of Aiginion upon hearing the news that the victorious Roman army is marching down from Macedonia to Epirus burning and looting towns on their way and feeling reasonably confident for the strength of their defenses, they decided that their best option they had was to show their determination to resist, hoping that the Roman general would bypass the town like Flamininus did a few decades ago. We can confidently assume that a fierce debate occurred among the citizens of Aiginion. The pro-Roman aristocracy probably wanted to negotiate surrender, while the ordinary people were inclined towards taking their chances of fighting.
The decision to resist was based mostly on their experience of the previous war, and it proved to be a dire miscalculation on their part of the true Roman intentions to set an example for all those who wished to oppose Roman power in the coming years. Aemilius knew very well that if he was to bypass Aiginio, no other settlements and towns would soon follow their example, which would cost him time and men. A few things are known about the actual siege that took place under the rocks of Meteora.
From what is known, Aemilius arrived on the outskirts of the town from the north on his way to Epirus and approached the town from the south. Immediately and without hesitation, the Roman legions attacked with massive force, storming the town’s outer walls and catching the defenders by surprise with their audacity and quick actions. The relatively small contingency force of the town tasked to defend it, around 1,000 men, meant that little could be done to contain the attacking Roman forces on the town’s outer perimeter if they chose to attack. As the Romans climbed the outer walls and one by one took hold of the outer wall’s strongholds, the civilian population and the defenders started to fall back, taking refuge in the safety of the small fortress that constituted their main stronghold. Because the main passage to the fortress from the south side of the town was very narrow and steep, passing in between the rocks of Aghia and Alsos, the Romans concentrated their main effort on attacking the small fortress from the north side, where today Kastraki village is.
The defenders had tried to strengthen that rear side by constructing a deep trench in front of the wall. The Romans crossed it quickly despite the dense volleys of arrows and stones thrown at them and began to climb the walls of the fortress with ladders. In the fierce hand-to-hand battle that ensued, the experienced and well-equipped legionnaires were no match for the ill-equipped garrison of the town, which mainly comprised peasants. Panic spread as the Romans butchered anyone who stood in their way.
Those few still standing gathered all together on the east side of Aghia’s rock, forming a thin line of shields to make their last stance under the steep slopes of the rock’s base. Behind them and a few dozen meters further up, old men, women, and children were desperately attempting to climb the steep, narrow path leading them to the safety of their last defensive positions upon the rock. In their panic and rush, people were pushed and thrown down from the rock, while the last fighters below tried to buy them valuable time.
The survivors, able to reach the safety of Aghia’s rock, sealed the small iron gate they had placed right on the edge of the rock at the end of the path, completely blocking the access to the Romans. Those positions 300 meters up on the rock of Aghia were impregnable to any army, but could also work in the other way around as an inescapable trap for them. From up there, they witnessed the Roman troops burning and looting their homes below. Those who never made it up the rock in time were either killed or taken as slaves by the Roman forces. Aemilius placed a force to lay siege on those who took refuge in the stronghold of the rock, and then he proceeded to Epirus.
Plutarch describes that when Aemilius and his troops finished the plunder of Epirus, more than 150.000 people were taken as slaves, and the amount of gold he brought back to Rome was so great that for many years to come, the citizens of Rome didn’t have to pay any taxes. (4)
The story of what happened next to the survivors of Aeginion who remained trapped and under siege high up on the roc was somehow preserved in the collective memory of the local people. Almost 20 centuries later, Leon Heuzey, a French archaeologist who visited the town of Kalambaka in 1858 to survey the ruins of the ancient town, recalls a story he was told by one of the shepherds after they climbed together the rock of Aghia.
“One of my guides told me in his manner the story of this castle. It’s the legend of the long siege and the eventual famine that spread among the defenders. The provisions had finished, and the trapped people became very desperate. In their last attempt to fool and discourage the enemy, they fed their last remaining goat with whatever they could find to make it look well-fed and fat. Then, they threw that goat down from the cliffs to show that their provisions were endless. But as always, a traitor existed among them. He sent down an arrow with a message informing the enemy of their true dire situation.” (6)
In the coming years after the 3rd macedonian War, the few survivors could rebuild their hometown. Aiginion flourished during the following Roman period, but throughout its long history, it never became a town of significant size. It always remained a relatively small settlement, clustered underneath the monumental rocks of Meteora. Those rock giants that have stood above the town like sleepless guardians for the past 30 centuries have offered their protection and security numerous times to the locals. The rocks of Meteora always ensured that few would survive the perilous times to rebuild their homes and shrines to carry on the legends and stories, from generation to generation, all the way down to modern times.
Book Our 2-Day Tour and Visit this Amazing Site from Athens.
2-Day Meteora Tour from Athens 198 reviews
Let us take care of transportation and hotels as you enjoy the hidden gems of Meteora.- Polybius
- John Foss 2001, THE THIRD MACEDONIAN WAR and THE BATTLE OF PYDNA (168 BC)
- Paul K. Davis, 100 Decisive Battles from Ancient Times to the Present: The World’s Major Battles and How They Shaped History (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999), 51.
- Livy’s History of Rome (32,15,4)
- Plutarch, Aemilius Paullus
- Monuments of our town: From the ancient Aiginion and the Byzantine Stagoi to our modern town (Kalambaka 2002), 21
