Battle of Kynoskephalai
date | Late May / early June 197 BC Chr. |
---|---|
place | Balkan Peninsula , Thessaly , west of the city of Pherai |
output | Victory of the coalition led by the Roman Republic |
Parties to the conflict | |
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Kingdom of Macedonia |
|
Commander | |
Philip V of Macedonia |
|
Troop strength | |
32,400 men: 22,000 Roman legionnaires 2000 Roman cavalrymen 6000 Aetolian infantrymen 400 Aetolian cavalrymen 1200 Athamanian infantrymen 800 Cretan infantrymen |
25,500 men: 16,000 phalangites 2000 peltasts 2000 Thracian infantrymen 2000 Illyrian trallers 1500 mercenaries 2000 cavalrymen |
losses | |
700 dead |
8,000 dead |
The battle of Kynoskephala took place near the mountain range Kynoskephalai (ancient Greek "dog heads") in Thessaly near the city of Thebes ; it was the decisive battle of the Second Macedonian-Roman War . Late May or early June 197 BC The troops of Philip V of Macedonia and the Roman general Titus Quinctius Flamininus met here . Significant Greek contingents also fought on the side of the 32,000-strong Roman army. The Macedonian phalanx suffered a crushing defeat, which forced Philip to make peace with Rome and its allies. This meant the end of the 338 BC. Existing Macedonian hegemony over Greece . At the Isthmian Games in 196 BC. The Greek poleis were declared free and independent by Flamininus.
The battle of Kynoskephalai thus represents a turning point in Greek history, as the foundation stone for the (initially only indirect) rule of the Romans in the Aegean region was laid here, while at the same time the power of the Diadochian state of Macedonia and the Antigonid monarchy was severely shaken. During the peace negotiations, Flamininus opposed the demands of his Greek allies, especially the Aetolian League , for the annihilation of the Macedonian monarchy, since it fulfills an irreplaceable function for the stability of Hellas by protecting against Illyrian and Thracian invaders . Only three decades later did Rome break up the Antigonid monarchy after all.
swell
- Polybios , History Book 18, Chapters 18 to 27, a. u. transfer v. H. Drexler, Zurich [u. a.] 2 1978.
- Titus Livius, Roman History : Latin and German (Book 31/34), edited by HJ Hillen, Munich 2 1986.
literature
- Klaus Bringmann : History of the Roman Republic: from the beginnings to Augustus . Beck, Munich 2002, ISBN 3-406-49292-4 .
- NGL Hammond: The Campaign and the Battle of Cynoscephalae in 197 BC . In: The Journal of Hellenic Studies . Volume 108, 1988, pp. 60-82.
- Renate Johne-Fiedler : Kynoskephalai . In: Johannes Irmscher , Renate Johne (editor): Lexikon der Antike . Bibliographisches Institut, Leipzig 1990, ISBN 3-323-00026-9 .
Web links
- Jonah Lendering: Cynoscephalae (197 BCE) . In: Livius.org (English)