You could wonder if the Roman actions in the Hellenistic world up to the invasion of Asia Minor in 190 were because of fear and distrust, or because of an urge to shape Asia Minor after their views. Fact is that there was no reason for fear any longer after the relatively easy victories on Phillip and Antiochus, but the distrust and urge remained of course.

The third Macedonian war.

Phillip V had focused the last years of his government on closing his northern borders which had been infiltrated almost non-stop, and on the internal development of Macedon by increasing the exploitation of natural resources like wood and precious metals, and by increasing the agriculture by colonisation. His son Perseus (179-168) continued this policy. The resulting economic bloom enabled Perseus to increase the military power of Macedon, which created suspicion in Rome. The situation became worse when superficial observers reported to Rome that Perseus was sympathising with the lower classes in in Hellas which were in a crisis because of the enormous debts and the proletarisation. This was not the case however. He was also seen, and correctly this time, as the murderer of his younger brother Demetrius, who had gained a good reputation in Rome as an ambassador of Macedon. It costed Pergamum little effort to convince the Roman empire that Macedon was a threat to the whole Hellenistic world. The third Macedonian war (171-167) was a fact.

Pergamum, Rhodes and the Achaean League provided Rome with some troops, but the rest of the Greek cities had been cooled down in their enthusiasm about the freedom and autonomy provided by Rome and were mainly in favour of Perseus. In 168 the consul Aemilius Paullus forced a decision by defeating Macedon during the battle at Pydna. Perseus was internated in Rome, and the royal Macedon was replaced by four federal states which were strictly limited in their contacts with eachother and with Hellas. These four new states were governed by pro-Roman Macedonians. Remarkable is that the senate did not want to exploit the land yet: the royal silver and goldmines were closed for ten years, while the royal taxes on the land did disappear in the Roman treasury but they were halved.

The Roman empire did not have much interest in this specific region, besides supporting a small pro-Roman faction, but what it found was definitely worth the effort: the profit of 150000 prisoners of war who were sold as slave. Hellas remained a free nominal free nation, but just to make sure Rome killed or deported a large number of Greeks. Rhodes, which had been pro-Roman in the past, was punished for its attempts to negotiate between Macedon and Rome and lost all its possessions in Asia Minor which it had gained in 188. Furthermore Delos was placed by the senate under Athenian supervision under the condition that no harbour-charges were asked. The founding of the free port Delos was the end of Rhodes, and the start of increasing unsafeness in the Mediterranean as Rhodes could no longer afford a fleet to clear the Aegean from pirates now it had lost its harbour-charges, while Rome saw no need at that moment to maintain an own fleet in the Aegean.

Chaos and anarchy.

The in 167 installed Macedonian federal states quickly turned into chaos and anarchy as there was no adequate leadership to keep the northern borders closed. Clumsy attempts to restore the national unity resulted in 150 in the actions of a certain Andriscus who called himself the son of Perseus. It costed the Romans little effort to end this resistance during the fourth Macedonian war (149-148). Macedon, Thessaly, and Epirus were now directly placed under Roman supervision: together they formed the province Macedon.