Perseus of Macedon

Perseus was the son of king Philip V of Macedon and a concubine, probably Polycratia of Argos.[1] He therefore feared that the throne might pass on his legitimate younger brother Demetrius, not least due to interference from the Romans, who considered their former hostage Demetrius a true friend. Perseus thus staged a plot to make their father believe that his brother was a traitor, and as a result Philip had Demetrius executed.

Tetradrachm of Perseus, minted between 179–172 BC at Pella or Amphipolis. The reverse depicts Zeus' eagle on a thunderbolt, with the legend ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΠΕΡΣΕΩΣ ("King Perseus").[2]

In 179 BC Philip V of Macedon died and Perseus took the throne. Although his role in killing Demetrius had not endeared him to the Romans, one of his first acts on becoming king was to renew the treaty with the Republic. Yet, Perseus' other actions troubled the Senate. His interference in the affairs of his neighbors, his ousting of the Roman ally Abrupolis from his territories in Thrace, his armed visit to Delphi, his avoidance of the Roman ambassadors to Macedonia, and his dynastic marriages all gave the Romans cause for concern.

Soon Rome and Perseus went to war in the Third Macedonian War (171-168 BC). Although Perseus had some initial success, the war ended with the King's surrender to the Roman general Lucius Aemilius Paullus after his decisive defeat at the Battle of Pydna, and his eventual imprisonment in Rome with his half-brother Philippus and son Alexander.[3] Blaise Pascal mentions in his Pensées (Lafuma 15) that Perseus was blamed for not committing suicide, supposedly after his defeat at Pydna. The Antigonid kingdom was dissolved, and replaced with four republics. Perseus was led as a captive in the triumph of Paullus, then thrown in prison, where - according to Plutarch - after two years, the Romans decided to kill him, and had him kept from sleeping to the point that he died from exhaustion in 166 B.C.[4] Livy, however, writes that he was shown clemency, and kept in good conditions at Alba Fucens for the rest of his life.[5]

In 178 BC, he had married Laodice V, the daughter of Seleucus IV from Syria. One son of Perseus and Laodice, Alexander was still a child when Perseus was conquered by the Romans, and after the triumph of Aemilius Paullus in 167 BC, was kept in custody at Alba Fucens, together with his father. He became a skillful metalworker, learned the Latin language, and became a public notary.[6][7][8]

In 149 BCE, Andriscus, claiming to be Perseus' son, announced his intention to retake Macedonia from the Romans. He broke off the Roman rule for about a year, but was defeated in 148 BCE by the Romans, thereby ending the reign of the last Macedonian king. In 146 BCE, the four republics were dissolved, and Macedon officially became the Roman province of Macedonia.

• History of Macedonia (ancient kingdom)
• Macedonian Wars

• Oliver D. Hoover, Handbook of Coins of Macedon and Its Neighbors. Part I: Macedon, Illyria, and Epeiros, Sixth to First Centuries BC [The Handbook of Greek Coinage Series, Volume 3], Lancaster/London, Classical Numismatic Group, 2016.

Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article Perseus of Macedonia.

• Media related to Perseus of Macedon at Wikimedia Commons