This system was successful in maintaining Roman hegemony for nearly two decades, but broke down when Andriscus, a Greek who bore a resemblance to Perseus, claimed to be the former king's son and re-established the Macedonian Kingdom with Thracian troops.

[3] Soon after the end of the war with Carthage, a victorious Rome received multiple requests for assistance from a number of Greek polities and city-states which were afraid of Philip's ambition.

[4] In the aftermath of this conflict, tensions developed between Rome and the Seleucid Empire, whose ambitious monarch, Antiochus III the Great, aimed to attain hegemony over Greece.

The ensuing Third Macedonian War of 171-168 BC was hard-fought, but ended in a complete Roman victory and Perseus' surrender and imprisonment, establishing Rome's position as the sole hegemonic power in the Greek world.

[11] Macedon also suffered from impoverishment, due to the fiscal restrictions imposed on it and the looting of treasuries by victorious Roman troops at the end of the Third Macedonian War in 168 BC.

[14][15][16] Some regulations were relaxed; for instance, the Macedonians were allowed to use their mines again from 158 BC, but resentment continued, including over those restrictions that remained, as well as the division of Macedon, leaving the situation ripe for the rise of pretenders to the old Antigonid throne.

[17][12][18] Around 154/153 BC, a Greek named Andriscus, who bore a resemblance to the Antigonids, began claiming that he was Philip, a now-obscure son of Perseus, and had been reared in secrecy by a foster family.

[29][28] Teres held a coronation ceremony for Andriscus, crowning him with a diadem, gave him a hundred troops, and introduced him to other Thracian leaders, including one Barsabas, who agreed to accompany him on his campaign to reclaim the Macedonian throne.

[34] His victories gained him the loyalty of the Macedonians; the people longed for monarchy and were willing to accept a ruler, and were eager to get rid of the artificial divisions and factional strife of the client republics.

Eckstein puts this view down to the fact that Polybius and the Greeks were part of a deep-rooted republican society, and could not comprehend the Macedonian longing for a hallowed monarchical past.

They and the remnants of the pro-Roman Macedonian forces resisted him for some time, until Rome finally decided to send a legate, Scipio Nasica Corculum, to assess the situation.

[38] It has been suggested that there is a possibility that he was sent before news of Andriscus' campaigns became widely known, and that he was simply sent to dissuade any Greek sympathy for Carthage, which Rome was planning to attack.

[39] Whatever the case, Scipio's attempts at diplomacy failed, probably because the Romans were unwilling to accept Andriscus' demand to be recognized as king of a unified Macedon.

[41] Still, the Roman commander informed the Senate that direct military intervention would be needed to stop the pretender, as the situation was getting dire, with Andriscus already having conquered significant parts of Thessaly.

[42] In response to Scipio's report, the Senate appointed a praetor, Publius Juventius Thalna, to command a legion and settle the situation with military force.

On the other hand, Attalus II Philadelphus of Pergamon remained a staunch Roman ally; he had no intention of seeing a strong and revived Macedonia as a neighbour.

[40] Fears of Roman reprisal prompted defections in Macedon; Andriscus began to take harsh and cruel measures against any pro-Roman elements, conducting acts of terrorism and repression against them.

[54][55][56] To protect himself from both offensives, and to prevent the loss of Macedon's seaboard, the king took up a defensive position at Pydna, where the Roman commander engaged him in battle.

He fled to Thrace and began raising another army there, but Metellus pursued him swiftly, forcing Andriscus into a new battle before his raw levies were fully prepared.

[65] After settling subsequent affairs in Greece and Macedon, the victorious praetor later returned to Rome in 146 BC, where he was given the agnomen Macedonicus and granted a triumph.

[54] The Senate realized that the settlement of 168 BC could no longer sustain itself; the extent of support that Andriscus' uprising had won among the Macedonians demonstrated both the fragility of indirect control and the need for a thorough reorganization of Macedonia.

[15] Doubts have been expressed as to whether Metellus could have had the time to organize Macedonia into a province, and it has instead been suggested that it was one of the consuls of 146 BC, Lucius Mummius, who reorganized Macedon with the help of a decemviral commission while settling the affairs of Greece.

In their view, what changed after the Fourth Macedonian war was the fact that from then on, a Roman praetor and his legion were permanently stationed in Macedonia; naturally, they gradually took on more administrative and bureaucratic roles, leading to an informal provincialization.