The Enslavement of 150,000 Epirots

After the defeat of the Illyrian king, Lucius Anicius, the commander in Illyria, paced garrisons in the Illyrian cities. Then he marched on Epirus with the rest of his army to suppress the rebellion there. All the cites, except for four (Passaron, Tecmon, Phylace and Horreum), surrendered. Passaron was the first of these cities which was attacked. Its two leaders were the men who had incited Epirus to side with Perseus and told the inhabitants that death was preferable to servitude. A young noble stood against them and encouraged the people to drive the two men out of the city, which then surrendered.

At Tecmon the city leader was killed and this city surrendered as well. The other two cites fell after a siege. When Epirus was pacified and detachments were sent to various cities for wintering, Lucius Anicius returned to Scodra (the capital of Illyria) where five commissioners had arrived from Rome. Here he summoned the leaders from all around Illyria to a conference. In agreement with the commissioners, he announced that the Roman garrisons were going to be withdrawn from all the cities so that the Illyrians could be free. Some of the cities had deserted Caravantius, the brother of Gentius, and gone over to the RomansThe Roman Republic was a form of government of Rome and the era of the classical Roman civilization when it was run through public representation of the Roman people. Beginning with the overthrow of the Roman Kingdom (traditionally dated to 509 BC) and ending in 27 BC with the establishment of the Roman Empire, Rome's control rapidly expanded during this period - from the city's immediate surroundings to hegemony over the entire Mediterranean world.Romans. They were, therefore, exempted from paying a tribute. Other cities which had rebelled when Gentius was still in power were also granted this exemption. The three cities which had resisted the longest were to pay half of the tribute they paid to Gentius. Lucius Anicius also declared that Illyria was to be split into three cantons.

Aemilius went to Epirus on his way back to Rome. The senate gave his army permission to plunder the cities in Epirus which had supported Perseus. Centurions were sent to tell all the cites that they had come to remove to the Roman garrisons because the Epirots were to be free. The leaders of each city were summoned and told to bring the silver and gold in their towns to a designated place and that Roman cohorts had been ordered to visit all the cities. Troops were sent to seventy cities. This was coordinated so that they would reach each city on the same day. The precious metals were collected in the morning and at 10 am and then the soldiers were ordered to sack the cities. The city walls were demolished. The booty was enormous and part of the proceeds from its sale was given to the men of the army, 400 denarii to the cavalrymen and 200 to the foot soldiers. In addition to this, 150,000 people were enslaved. The troops resented that they were not given a share of the booty from the royal palace of Perseus “as though they had not taken any part in the Macedonian war.” Aemilius then sailed back to Italy with his army. A few days later Lucius Anicius, who had been meeting the representatives of the rest of the Epirots, told them that the senate wanted to hear the case of some of their leaders and ordered these men to follow him to Italy. He then waited for return of the ships which had been used to transport the army from Macedonia and returned to Italy.

• Outline of the Third Macedonian War (171–168 BC)
  

  Third Macedonian War (171–168 BC)

  The Third Macedonian War (171–168 BC) was a war fought between the Roman Republic and King Perseus of Macedon. In 179 BC King Philip V of Macedon died and was succeeded by his ambitious son Perseus. He was anti-Roman and stirred anti-Roman feelings around Macedonia. View Historic Battle »

  Background: The Romans felt that it was clear that he was making preparations for war and that it would not be long before he would take up arms.

  Preparations for war and diplomatic missions: Two legions were assigned for Macedon and the number of men for each was be 6,000 instead of the usual 5,200. The troops of Italian allies were 16,000 infantry and 800 cavalry.

  First year of the war (171 BC): Meanwhile, Publius Licinius had marched from Epirus on the west coast of Greece through arduous mountain passes and through Athamania, a kingdom allied with Perseus.

  Second year of the war (170 BC): The people of Coronea put themselves under the protection of the Roman senate, which decreed the restoring to freedom of the captives.

  Third year of the war (169 BC): The Macedonian War was assigned to Quintus Marcius and the command of the fleet to the praetor Quintus Marcius Figulus. The troops allocated for Greece were 6,000 Roman infantry, 6,000 Latin infantry, 250 Roman cavalry and 300 allied cavalry there.

  Fourth year of the war (168 BC): They reported that the Romans had advanced towards Macedon, but the travel on the pathless mountains had resulted in more peril than profit. Perseus was still holding his country and the two forces were very close to each other.

  Aftermath: The Romans also used their victory to increase their control over the whole of Greece by supporting the pro-Roman factions around Greece. Their supporters had come to the conference from all over Greece.

  The enslavement of 150,000 Epirots: After the defeat of the Illyrian king, Lucius Anicius, the commander in Illyria, paced garrisons in the Illyrian cities. Then he marched on Epirus with the rest of his army to suppress the rebellion there.

---

Related Articles

First Macedonian War (214–205 BC)

Was fought by Rome, allied (after 211 BC) with the Aetolian League and Attalus I of Pergamon, against Philip V of Macedon, contemporaneously with the Second Punic War (218–201 BC) against Carthage. View First Macedonian War (214–205 BC) »

Second Macedonian War (200–197 BC)

Fought between Macedon, led by Philip V of Macedon, and Rome, allied with Pergamon and Rhodes. The result was the defeat of Philip who was forced to abandon all his possessions in southern Greece, Thrace and Asia Minor. View Second Macedonian War (200–197 BC) »

Third Macedonian War (171–168 BC)

In 179 BC King Philip V of Macedon died and was succeeded by his ambitious son Perseus. He was anti-Roman and stirred anti-Roman feelings around Macedonia. He was suspected of preparing for war against Rome by the Romans and their most important ally in the east, Eumenes II of Pergamon. View Third Macedonian War (171–168 BC) »

Fourth Macedonian War (150-148 BC)

The Fourth Macedonian War (150 BC to 148 BC) was fought between the Roman Republic and a Greek uprising led by the Macedonian pretender to the throne Andriscus. Pretending to be the son of former king Perseus, who had been deposed by the Romans after the Third Macedonian War in 168 BC, Andriscus sought to re-establish the old Macedonian Kingdom. View Fourth Macedonian War (150-148 BC) »

 

RESOURCES
This article uses material from the Wikipedia article "Third Macedonian War (171–168 BC)", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0.