Macedonian Wars of Perseus, minted between 179–172 BC at
Pella or
Amphipolis. during the
Fourth Macedonian War (149–148 BC). The Romans clashed with the Macedonian kingdom in three wars in the early third century BC. After defeating
Perseus in the
Third Macedonian War, Rome abolished the Macedonian monarchy and divided Macedon into four client republics, called , with capitals located at
Amphipolis,
Thessalonica,
Pella, and
Pelagonia, which were members of a federal league, the
League of the Macedonians. Numismatic evidence indicates that the cult of
Roma was introduced at this time, being depicted on coins of
Amphipolis,
Pella, and
Thessalonica in this period.
Thessaly had been separated from the Macedonian monarchy already, following the
Second Macedonian War and a separate
Thessalian League was created with Roman permission in 194 BC, with
Zeus Eleutherius ('of Freedom') and
Athena Itonia as its patron deities. Its coinage superseded that of the individual Thessalian cities and continued until the end of the first century BC. The kingdom was briefly reunited in 150 BC by the pretender
Andriscus (or 'Pseudo-Philip'), leading to the
Fourth Macedonian War. After defeating Andriscus near
Pydna in 148 BC,
Quintus Caecilius Metellus Macedonicus made Macedonia into Rome's fifth
provincia - the first new province since the creation of
Hispania Ulterior and
Citerior in 197 BC. Surviving sources do not explicitly discuss how or why it was decided to convert the region into a permanent province. A number of factors may have been involved, including increased familiarity with territorial expansion, the proven failure of the previous system to maintain the peace, the desire for a new base from which further military expeditions could be undertaken in order to acquire booty and
triumphs, and the desire for further tax revenue. The four republics continued to exist as subdivisions of the province, as did the federal league. The date of the establishment of the province in autumn 148 BC is indicated by the
epoch date of the provincial era, but in practice it may have been a gradual process.
Republican province At its creation, the province of Macedonia encompassed
Macedon itself,
Paeonia and parts of
Illyria,
Thessaly to the south, and
Epirus to the west. Notionally, the northern border ran from
Lissus on the Adriatic coast, eastwards until it reached the
Hebrus river, which formed the eastern border with
Thrace. These borders were only loosely defined and dependent on the military competence of the governors, with
Cicero claiming that "for the governors of Macedonia, the borders were always the same as those marked by swords and shields." The capital was
Thessalonica and the governor held
proconsular status. Two years after the foundation of the new province, in 146 BC, Romans defeated the
Achaean League in the
Achaean War and gained control of the rest of
Mainland Greece. Scholars disagree on whether or not Achaia was formally incorporated into the province of Macedonia following this defeat, but intermittent interventions in Achaian affairs by the governors are attested.
Via Egnatia (Neapolis) Sometime after 146 BC,
Gnaeus Egnatius initiated the construction of the
Via Egnatia, a
Roman road, which began at
Dyrrhachium on the
Adriatic coast opposite the terminus of the
Via Appia in Italy, stretched across the
Pindus mountains and continued through Macedonia to Thessalonica, and from there to
Cypsela, on the east bank of the Hebrus river. This stretch was completed by 120 BC; it followed a pre-existing route, but was a more solid, level road than the previous road, with a width of between three and six metres. A second road from the Adriatic coast at
Apollonia, which joined the main Via Egnatia somewhere inland was added shortly after 120 BC. Later in the second century BC, the eastern end of the road was extended all the way to the
Byzantium. The road was important for military and economic purposes, providing the main overland link between Rome and its domains in the Eastern Mediterranean.
Northern and eastern campaigns Macedonia was of central importance to Roman military strategy in this period as a bulwark against attacks from the north. The
Dardani to the northwest, had initially supported the Romans in their conquest of Macedonia, but after 148 BC, they increasingly came into conflict with the Romans. There were also occasional conflicts with the
Thracians to the east. However, the key enemy of the Romans in this period were the
Scordisci, a
Celtic group that largely supplanted the Dardanians as the most powerful group in the central Balkans. They first invaded Macedonia in 149 BC during the Fourth Macedonian War and had to be driven out by Metellus. In the first years of the province two pretenders attempted to restore the Macedonian kingdom. The first, Alexander, invaded from Thrace in 148 BC and was defeated by Metellus. The second, referred to in the sources as 'Pseudo-Philip' or 'Pseudo-Perseus' also invaded from the east, in 143 or 142, with an army of up to 16,000 men, but was defeated by the
quaestor Tremellus Scrofa. The Scordisci invaded in 141 BC and defeated a Roman army commanded by
Decimus Junius Silanus Manlianus or, less likely,
Publius Cornelius Scipio Nasica. In belated response to this defeat,
Marcus Cosconius launched an attack on the Scordisci in 135 BC, defeating them in Thrace. The delay may have been because Roman attention was focussed on the construction of the Via Egnatia. In 119 BC, the Scordisci invaded again, ravaging the area near
Stobi. The praetor
Sextus Pompeius met the forces in battle and was killed, leaving his quaestor
Marcus Annius to regroup and drive the Scordisci out, defeating a second invasion with the help of the Thracians. Following this set-back, a series of consuls were sent to Macedonia, apparently to settle the threat from the Scordisci decisively. The first of these,
Quintus Fabius Maximus Eburnus arrived in 115 BC but his activities are not attested. In 114 BC, his successor,
Gaius Porcius Cato launched a large-scale invasion, but he was defeated and nearly the whole army was killed. The Romans dispatched several further commanders,
Gaius Caecilius Metellus Caprarius in 113 BC and
Marcus Livius Drusus in 112, who inflicted defeats on the Thracians and the Scordisci respectively. From 110 to 107 BC,
Marcus Minucius Rufus campaigned against the Scordisci and the Bessian tribe of Thracians to the east, bringing an end to their raids for about twenty years. After this, the Romans turned their attention to the eastern border. The Romans defeated some Thracians under an unnamed commander in 104 BC. In 101 or 100 BC,
Titus Didius conquered an area referred to as the "Caenic Chersonese" (exact location unknown, but some region of the Thracian coast). Another unnamed commander defeated the
Maedian Thracians in the east and the Dardanians in the northwest in 97 BC.
Gaius Sentius was defeated by the Maedi in 92 BC and was involved in a conflict with a Thracian king called
Sordinus in 89 BC, only achieving victory after a struggle. From 87 BC onwards, Thracian forces allied with
Mithridates VI attacked Macedonia, as part of the
First Mithridatic War. In that year, Gaius Sentius' legate
Quintus Bruttius Sura repulsed an invasion from the Mithridatic general
Archelaus. In 84 BC a force of Scordisci, Dardianians and Maedi penetrated all the way to
Delphi and sacked the sanctuary, before they were violently expelled by
Lucius Cornelius Scipio Asiaticus (consul 83 BC). (Dobruja), showing the main area of
Scythian habitation in the 3rd-2nd centuries BC and the Greek coastal cities of
Istros,
Tomis,
Callatis,
Dionysoupolis, and
Odessus. In the aftermath of the Mithridatic Wars, the Romans again launched a concerted military effort in the region. Before the war, governors had tended to be
praetors or
propraetors, usually in office for a single year. Henceforth, they were
consuls or
proconsuls and often held command for several years.
Appius Claudius Pulcher had some success in the
Rhodope Mountains in 77 BC, but was replaced after his death from illness by
C. Scribonius Curio, who was given a force of five
legions. He campaigned from 75 to 74 BC, becoming the first Roman commander to lead an army to the
Danube and reduced the Dardanians to submission. Between 73 and 71 BC,
Marcus Terentius Varro Lucullus led another force of five legions against the Bessi and entered
Moesia, bringing the Greek cities on the west coast of the
Black Sea under Roman control and campaigning against the
Getae all the way to the mouth of the Danube. These campaigns were intended to secure the northern border so that Macedonia and Greece would no longer be threatened by raids and to put Rome in a better position to confront Mithridates VI in future conflicts. Efforts to consolidate these enormous conquests continued for decades, often meeting with rebuffs, most notably the two campaigns of
Gaius Antonius Hybrida in the north ca. 62-61 BC, in which he was defeated disastrously by the Dardianians and at the
Battle of Histria by the
Bastarnae. The governorship of
Lucius Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus from 57 to 55 BC is the subject of
Cicero's
In Pisonem, in which Caesoninus is accused of corruption, abuse, and murder of the provincials on a grand scale, as well as shaving sparked another invasion by the Dardianians and Bessi that even placed Thessaloniki under siege, but the speech may not give an accurate picture of Caesoninus' conduct.
Civil wars campaign, 48 BC. campaign, 42 BC. Macedonia was one of the main arenas of the civil wars at the end of the Roman Republic. When
Julius Caesar crossed the
Rubicon in 49 BC, starting
Caesar's Civil War, his opponents, led by
Pompey abandoned Italy and retreated to Macedonia with five legions. Around two hundred
Senators set themselves up in Thessalonica as a Senate in exile and raised a further legion from veterans in Macedonia and Crete. At the beginning of 48 BC, Caesar crossed the Adriatic and besieged Pompey at Dyrrhachium. During this period, one Menedemos came to Caesar as a delegate from "the part of the province that was called free" offering him support; he was subsequently captured by Pompey's forces and executed. After several months, Pompey broke out of Dyrrhachium and headed southeast toward Thessaly. On the march he was met by another Macedonian, Acornion of Dionysiopolis, who came offering an alliance with
Burebista, the king of
Dacia. However, this offer had come too late to be of use to Pompey. Caesar decisively defeated him at the
Battle of Pharsalus in August 48 BC and he fled for
Egypt. On taking control of the province, Caesar separated it from Greece to the south for the first time. This division was reversed after his death in 44 BC, but would be revived in the Imperial period. After the
assassination of Julius Caesar in 44 BC, the assassins, led by
Brutus and
Cassius, also fled east. Caesar's former lieutenant,
Mark Antony passed a law requiring the governor,
Quintus Hortensius Hortalus to hand the province over to Antony. Instead, he chose to place the province under Brutus' control - a move that was recognised by the Senate in 43 BC. This led Mark Antony to ally with
Octavian in the
Second Triumvirate and
invade Macedonia, defeating Brutus and his forces at the
Battle of Philippi in 42 BC. After Philippi, Macedonia fell within the territories assigned to Mark Antony and it was governed by his
legates until
war broke out between Octavian and Antony in 32 BC and Antony was defeated in 31 BC at the
Battle of Actium, after which Macedonia and the rest of the Eastern Mediterranean came under Octavian's control, marking the beginning of the
Principate.
Principate under
Hadrian (ruled 117–38), showing the
senatorial province of Macedonia in southeastern Europe Following Actium, Octavian entrusted Macedonia to the proconsul
M. Licinius Crassus, grandson of
Crassus the triumvir, who led a campaign into the north that lasted until 27 BC, finally subjugating the whole region south of the Danube, for which he was granted a triumph. In the
Augustan Settlement of 27 BC, provinces were divided into two categories: imperial provinces, which fell were governed by
legates appointed by the Emperor, and senatorial provinces, which continued to be governed by senators who had previously served as consuls or praetors. Most of the provinces with a large military presence on the borders of the empire were Imperial provinces, but Macedonia was anomalous in being a senatorial province despite its military significance. The territories south of
Thermopylae and the
Ceraunian Mountains now became the separate province of
Achaia. This province included the territory which would become the province of
Epirus (later
Epirus Vetus) under Emperor
Trajan.
Moesia was split off as a separate military command some time before 10 BC, and had become a separate province by AD 6. Territories to the northwest of Macedonia in Illyricum were separated off into the provinces of
Dalmatia and
Pannonia. In AD 15, complaints about the corruption of the governors led
Tiberius to convert Macedonia and Achaia into imperial provinces, under the control of the governor of Moesia, but
Claudius made them both Senatorial provinces once more in AD 44 In the same year, the portion of Macedonia between the Hebrus and
Nestus rivers in the east and the island of
Thasos were handed over to the newly created province of
Thrace. The establishment of new provinces to the north and the consolidation of Roman control in the
Balkans in general led to a decline in the military importance of Macedonia to Rome, as the legions defending the northern border were henceforth based in Dalmatia, Moesia, and Thrace. Nevertheless, the province continued to provide a vital role in the transport of supplies from Italy to the northern and eastern borders of the Empire, as well as serving as a source of manpower.
Organisation The cities of the province had a range of different statuses. Six
Roman colonies (
coloniae) were established in the Triumviral period:
Cassandrea, established in the late 40s BC by the proconsul Quintus Hortensius Hortalus, Philippi (
Colonia Iulia Augusta Philippensis) founded by Antony's legate
Quintus Paquius Rufus,
Dium,
Pella,
Byllis, and Dyrrhachium. These communities were settled with veterans who became or remained
Roman citizens. Local inhabitants of these communities were not expelled, but they did not receive citizenship of the new colonies or of Rome, except perhaps for some members of the local elite. Some scholars have suggested that these
coloniae formed "double communities," with the old Greek city-state (
polis) and the new
colonia existing side-by-side. This now seems unlikely, but has not been disproven.
Stobi was a
municipium.
Amphipolis,
Thessalonica,
Abdera, and
Maroneia held the status of 'free cities' (
civitates liberae), and
Edessa was probably an 'allied city' (
civitas foederata). In the Republican period a cult of "the Roman Benefactors" (
Rhomaioi euergetai), the
goddess Roma, and
Zeus "Eleutherios" ("of freedom") developed in Macedonia. This cult is first attested in 95 or possibly 119 BC, but probably dates back to the establishment of the province. It endured in the Imperial period. The
Roman Imperial cult was introduced under Augustus, with numismatic and epigraphic evidence attesting to the worship of
Julius Caesar as
Divus Julius following Actium. Under
Tiberius, cults of Augustus and of
Livia are attested as well, while divine honours for
Caligula and subsequent emperors are attested during their own lifetimes. minted by the Macedonian League, early 3rd century AD The cities of Macedonia were arranged into the League of the Macedonians (Greek:
koinon ton Makedonon), with its seat at
Beroea. This league was a continuation of an institution first attested under
Philip V. From 27 BC, they used their own "Macedonian
era," in which the years were counted from the Battle of Actium in 31/30 BC. In the Imperial period, its main duties related to the Imperial cult, especially the organisation of games in honour of the emperors. It also hosted a local version of the
Olympic games, and from AD 229, games in honour of
Alexander the Great. From the time of the emperor
Claudius until the end of the second century AD, the league minted its own coinage, with the thunderbolt, a traditional symbol of Macedon on the reverse. In the third century AD, the league continued to mint coinage, but with new types, relating to athletic competition. Through this institution, Macedonian identity and loyalty to the Roman emperor were closely aligned. There was a separate civic league for the
Thessalians.
Late Antiquity (and therefore the northwestern boundary of Macedonia Prima) is shown too far south-east and is actually situated south of the present-day town of
Bitola,
North Macedonia. The reforms of
Diocletian around AD 293 saw provinces replaced by
dioceses and
praetorian prefectures as the first order subdivision of the Roman Empire and provinces began to be split into smaller units. The province of Macedonia was initially part of the
Diocese of Moesia, but subsequently became part of a new
Diocese of Macedonia (administered from Thessaloniki), one of three dioceses comprising the
praetorian prefecture of Illyricum (administered from
Sirmium until 379, then from Thessaloniki). Meanwhile, the province of Macedonia was divided into a number of smaller provinces. •
Macedonia Prima ("First Macedonia"), encompassing most of the
Kingdom of Macedonia, coinciding with most of the modern Greek region of
Macedonia, and had
Thessalonica as its capital. •
Macedonia Salutaris ("Wholesome Macedonia"), also known as
Macedonia Secunda ("Second Macedonia"), partially encompassing
Pelagonia and containing the whole of
Paeonia. The province mostly coincides with the present-day
North Macedonia. The town of
Stobi located to the junction of the
Crna Reka and
Vardar rivers, the former capital of Paeonia, became the provincial capital. •
Thessalia encompassed the area of
ancient Thessaly, in the south of
ancient Macedonia and was subdivided into Thessalia Prima and Thessalia Secunda. •
Epirus Nova ("New Epirus") or
Illyria Graeca or
Illyris proper, which was established by Diocletian, was the first province to be divided off.
Dyrrachium (or
Epidamnus) was the capital. The region of
Epirus Nova corresponded to a portion of
Illyria that was then "partly Hellenic and partly
Hellenized". When the Prefecture of Macedonia was divided between the
Western and
Eastern Empires in 379, the Macedonian provinces were included in
Eastern Illyricum. With the permanent division of the Empire in 395, Macedonia passed to the
Eastern Empire. Jewish communities were present in the Balkans during this period of administrative reform.
Koine Greek-speaking Jews, part of the broader
Hellenized diaspora, are attested in cities such as
Stobi,
Naissus, and
Salona—all located within the reorganized provinces of
Illyricum and Macedonia. These Jewish populations appear to have practiced Judaism aligned with
Jerusalem-based traditions, independent from the
Babylonian halakhic centers of the east. Archaeological evidence from Stobi, including a synagogue with Greek mosaic inscriptions, points to a well-integrated but culturally distinct Jewish presence. These communities were likely affected by the same urban reforms and diocesan realignments as other provincial groups, and their continued presence through Late Antiquity suggests a degree of local autonomy and adaptation within imperial religious frameworks.
Economy of Thasos from Roman-controlled Macedonia. It was minted between 148 and 80 BC. Obverse shows Dionysos and reverse shows Herakles. The reign of
Augustus (27 BC14 AD) began a long period of peace, prosperity and wealth for Macedonia, although its importance in the economic standing of the Roman world diminished when compared to its neighbor,
Asia Minor. The economy was greatly stimulated by the construction of the
Via Egnatia during 130s and 120s BC, the installation of Roman merchants in the cities, and the founding of Roman colonies. The Imperial government brought, along with its roads and administrative system, an economic boom, which benefited both the Roman ruling class and the lower classes. With vast arable and rich pastures, the great ruling families amassed huge fortunes in the society based on slave labor. The improvement of the living conditions of the productive classes brought about an increase in the number artisans and craftspeople to the region. Stonemasons, miners, blacksmiths, etc. were employed in every kind of commercial activity and craft. Greek people were also widely employed as tutors, educators and doctors throughout the Roman world. The export economy was based essentially on agriculture and livestock, while iron, copper, and gold along with such products as timber, resin, pitch, hemp, flax, and fish were also exported. Another source of wealth was the kingdom's ports, such as
Thessalonica and
Cassandreia. == List of Roman governors ==