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Battles: The Battle of Cynoscephalae
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Posted by Acumen on November 5 2004, 03:54 PM
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The Battle of Cynoscephalae is often seen as the classic battle between the best of the pre-Marian legions, the three line manipular legion, and the Macedonian phalanx of Philip II and Alexander the Great. After Cynoscephalae the mantle of Imperial power could be said to have passed out of the hands of the Diadochi (successors of Alexander) into the hands of Rome.
Rome and Macedon were not on good terms during this period. During the Second Punic War, Philip V the King of Macedon, made an alliance with Carthage, mainly because he wanted to annex the Roman protectorate of Illyria. After a separate peace between Rome and Macedon was concluded in 205 B.C. both powers went their own ways, but they would soon meet again. In 202 B.C. while Rome was finishing her war with Carthage Philip V and Antiochus III, King of the Seleucids, made a deal to divide the outer possessions of Egypt, which was weak at the time. In 201 Philip crossed the Hellespont and set out to conquer a few cities on his way to meet to Antiochus, he was defeated by a coalition however and the Aetolian League of Greek cities led by Athens, Pergamum, and Rhodes sent a plea of help to Rome. The Romans were divided at best, since the people were tired of war, but one of the new Consuls, P. Sulpicius Galba, wanted a war. Eventually Galba got his war through deft political maneuvering and at first the Romans sent envoys telling Philip to stop or face the consequences. Philip ignored the warnings and invaded Athenian territory and Thrace. Galba landed in Greece in late 200 and his campaigns were lackluster and ineffective, barely noticeably to Philip. In 199 Galba was replaced by P. Villius Tappula, but he could not make war in winter, in early 198 Tappula was replaced by T. Quictius Flamininus, who would prove to be just the kind of leader Rome needed. Flamininus’ first job was to try to negotiate with Philip, to try to get him to leave Greece peacefully, Philip refused and Flamininus launched an attack on Philip’s position on the Aous River and then Thessaly. In November Flamininus tried once again to negotiate with Philip, once again the talks broke down and war resumed, this time however the pendulum swung in Rome’s favor. As 198 ended Flamininus had managed to bring the Achaean League of cities into Rome’s camp and as a result the Senate named Flamininus commander-in-chief of all Roman-Allied forces. In the spring of 197 Flamininus led his army into Thessaly and after attacking various cities was able to draw out Philip into battle, the two forces met at a place called Cynoscephalae, which is Greek for “Dog’s Head Ridge”.
The Roman-Allied Army of Flamininus was a large collaborative effort on the part of Rome and her allies. Flamininus had brought with him two full Roman legions and 10,000 Italian allies, 4,000 phalangites (Hoplites armed in the Macedonian fashion) and 2,000 psiloi from the Aetolian League, and 2,600 Roman-Allied cavalry. Flamininus also brought along twenty elephants, a gift from King Masinissa of Numidia and a number of superb bowmen from Crete.
The Army of King Philip V of Macedon was typical for this time period. Philip brought to Cynoscephalae 16,000 phalangites, 1,500 mercenary soldiers, 4,000 psiloi, 2,000 Thracian light infantry, 2,000 Illyrians, and 2,000 cavalry.
The battle of Cynoscephalae began in a dense fog. When Philip and his forces had reached Cynoscephalae the heavy fog made it hard to see and as such Philip sent out some light infantry forces to the top of the ridge. Flamininus had also sent out some troops to reconnoiter the area and the velites (Roman light infantry) and cavalry soon encountered the Macedonians, soon after the velites and cavalry found themselves being pushed back, in response they sent word to Flamininus for reinforcements. Flamininus sent some reinforcement cavalry and infantry but these too were soon pushed back by the Macedonian cavalry. Finally the Romans began to retreat from the ridge in an orderly fashion and they returned to the main army, which had positioned itself on the slope of the ridge. By now the fog had cleared and both forces could see each other well. Flamininus now realized that the Macedonian lines had a hole in them where the left wing should be and he ordered the right wing to stay put and told the left to advance on the Macedonians. Philip now realized the danger he was in and he ordered his currently deployed phalangites to simply level their pikes and attack the Romans. They hit the Roman right wing which now began to buckle and move back. Flamininus knowing he had to act fast ordered the right wing to hold its ground and then he personally lead the left wing, with his elephants leading the way against the Macedonians, whose left wing had finally reached the summit, but was not yet in formation. The immediate results were spectacular as the Macedonians crumbled and fell backwards in disarray from the force of the Flamininus’ sudden charge. At this point as the very balance of the battle hung with no one seizing the moment a lone Roman tribune, noticing the dire situation the right wing was in detached twenty maniples to hit the Macedonians in the rear. Because of the tactical restraints of the phalanx they were not able to turn to face the new threat and the formation broke. With the breaking of his right wing Philip’s army dissolved and retreated, Flamininus now followed after the retreating Macedonians but ultimately allowed Philip to retreat. In the aftermath the total number of Macedonian dead numbered 7-8,000 and total numbered captured is 4-5,000 the total Roman-Allied dead is 1,000 with the core two legions taking 700 casualties altogether, whether these numbers can be trusted is unknown but what can be known is that the Macedonians took much heavier casualties then the Romans.
Following the battle of Cynoscephalae the superiority of the Roman legion system over the Macedonian Phalanx was never doubted again. With the defeat at Cynoscephalae Philip V could no longer wage war and called for peace talks with Flamininus. In the ensuing peace talks the Aetolians wanted some of the captured cities and Philip deposed. Flamininus would hear none of it and simply declared that Philip evacuate all of the Greek cities and pay an indemnity of 200 talents. Soon after the peace conference Flamininus after receiving word from the Senate declared all Greek cities in Greece and Asia Minor free from the Macedonians. Philip also had to pay a tribute of 1,000 talents in addition to the original 200 talents. Rome was hailed as liberator by the Greeks and on the field of military matters the Roman legion had proved it’s superiority over the Phalanx once and for all. |
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