Battles of the Greek and Roman Worlds: A Chronological Compendium of 667 Battles to 31 BC from the Historians of the Ancient World by John Drogo Montagu

Author:John Drogo Montagu [John Drogo Montagu]
Language: eng
Format: epub

PHALANNA (171) – Third Macedonian War

The Romans, having reaped and gathered all the harvests around Crannon to the south of Larissa, moved to the fields of Phalanna [Falanna] north of the city. Perseus, learning that the enemy were scattered and vulnerable, fell on them without warning with a small detachment. After seizing about 1,000 waggons and 600 men, he attacked a guard detachment consisting of about 800 Romans under a tribune, Lucius Pompeius. This officer withdrew his men to a hill where they were besieged with missiles and were completely surrounded but refused to surrender. The consul, on being told about this, proceeded to the assistance of the beleaguered men with his cavalry and light troops, followed by the legions. The enemy were routed, but when they tried to escape they ran into their own phalanx in a confined space and blocked its path. The phalanx had been summoned earlier by Perseus but it arrived too late. It has been said that 8,000 of the enemy were killed and nearly 3,000 taken prisoner against more than 4,000 dead on the Roman side. Although these figures seem to be inflated, the outcome dismayed Perseus to the extent that he decamped and withdrew into Macedonia.

Livy, 42: 65–66

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