Third Macedonian War Begins; Macedonian Success at Callinicus

By 171 BCE, the accumulation of incidents—Perseus’s maneuvers in Thessaly, his courting of Greek states, and frictions with allies—had thickened into war [14]. The Roman coalition reassembled its pieces: legions through Apollonia, allied contingents from the Aetolians and Thessalians, Pergamene ships staging in the Aegean. The theater was familiar: Olympus to the north, the Vale of Tempe to the east, Pydna and the Pierian plain to the south of Macedon proper.

In the early campaigning, Macedon struck cleanly at Callinicus. Details in our sources are spare, but the meaning is clear: Perseus’s army could deliver tactical punishment to Roman-led forces [14]. The news from Thessaly carried the muffled thud of pikes driving shields, the cheer rising from Macedonian files, and the flatter notes of Roman horns signaling withdrawal. It also carried a lesson: this war would not be a replay of 197 in miniature.

The geography of the opening moves mattered. Roman columns probed along the Elpeus River line and toward Larisa; Macedonian forces operated across the plains where the phalanx could generate power. Towns like Dion, Larisa, and Tempe reported alternating banners—blue Macedonian and Latin-lettered Roman—across their gates. In councils from Pharsalus to Demetrias, Greek leaders recalculated their bets.

Roman commanders adjusted. Reports from Callinicus sharpened their appetite for leadership that could turn a campaign with method rather than bravado. Perseus, for his part, read Roman caution as opportunity. He reinforced positions, tested supply lines, and tried to keep the war where his pike files could stand shoulder to shoulder without tripping on stones.

The early Macedonian success did not break the coalition. It stiffened it. The Senate, remembering Cynoscephalae and the power of terrain, prepared to send a general whose reputation was for discipline and tactical clarity. The name was Lucius Aemilius Paullus [6]. The sound of the campaign changed from probe and parry to a drumbeat toward a decisive test.

Callinicus mattered because it bought Perseus time and persuaded doubters in Greek councils that Macedon was not yet a broken sword. It also reminded Rome that a phalanx unhinged by terrain is weak, but a phalanx properly grounded can still bite [14].