The province was created in 146 BC, after the Roman general Quintus Caecilius Metellus defeated Andriscus of Macedon, the last self-styled King of Macedonia in the Fourth Macedonian War.

[4] During the Republican period, the province was of great military significance, as the main bulwark protecting the Aegean region from attacks from the north.

The Via Egnatia, which crossed the province from west to east was of great strategic importance, providing the main overland link between Rome and its domains in the Eastern Mediterranean.

Macedonia was a central theatre for several campaigns of the civil wars at the end of the Republic, including the Battles of Pharsalus and Philippi.

[15] At its creation, the province of Macedonia encompassed Macedon itself, Paeonia and parts of Illyria, Thessaly to the south, and Epirus to the west.

Scholars disagree on whether or not Achaia was formally incorporated into the province of Macedonia following this defeat,[19] but intermittent interventions in Achaian affairs by the governors are attested.

[20] Sometime after 146 BC, Gnaeus Egnatius initiated the construction of the Via Egnatia, a Roman road, which began at Dyrrhachium on the Adriatic coast opposite the terminus of the Via Appia in Italy, stretched across the Pindus mountains and continued through Macedonia to Thessalonica, and from there to Cypsela, on the east bank of the Hebrus river.

[24] The road was important for military and economic purposes, providing the main overland link between Rome and its domains in the Eastern Mediterranean.

[31] The Scordisci invaded in 141 BC and defeated a Roman army commanded by Decimus Junius Silanus Manlianus[29] or, less likely, Publius Cornelius Scipio Nasica.

The praetor Sextus Pompeius met the forces in battle and was killed, leaving his quaestor Marcus Annius to regroup and drive the Scordisci out, defeating a second invasion with the help of the Thracians.

[33] The Romans dispatched several further commanders, Gaius Caecilius Metellus Caprarius in 113 BC and Marcus Livius Drusus in 112, who inflicted defeats on the Thracians and the Scordisci respectively.

[33] From 110 to 107 BC, Marcus Minucius Rufus campaigned against the Scordisci and the Bessian tribe of Thracians to the east, bringing an end to their raids for about twenty years.

[22] In 101 or 100 BC, Titus Didius conquered an area referred to as the "Caenic Chersonese" (exact location unknown, but some region of the Thracian coast).

[35][36] From 87 BC onwards, Thracian forces allied with Mithridates VI attacked Macedonia, as part of the First Mithridatic War.

[39] Appius Claudius Pulcher had some success in the Rhodope Mountains in 77 BC,[40] but was replaced after his death from illness by C. Scribonius Curio, who was given a force of five legions.

[40][36] Between 73 and 71 BC, Marcus Terentius Varro Lucullus led another force of five legions against the Bessi and entered Moesia, bringing the Greek cities on the west coast of the Black Sea under Roman control and campaigning against the Getae all the way to the mouth of the Danube.

[41][36] These campaigns were intended to secure the northern border so that Macedonia and Greece would no longer be threatened by raids and to put Rome in a better position to confront Mithridates VI in future conflicts.

[36] Efforts to consolidate these enormous conquests continued for decades,[42] often meeting with rebuffs, most notably the two campaigns of Gaius Antonius Hybrida in the north ca.

During this period, one Menedemos came to Caesar as a delegate from "the part of the province that was called free" offering him support; he was subsequently captured by Pompey's forces and executed.

This led Mark Antony to ally with Octavian in the Second Triumvirate and invade Macedonia, defeating Brutus and his forces at the Battle of Philippi in 42 BC.

[57] The establishment of new provinces to the north and the consolidation of Roman control in the Balkans in general led to a decline in the military importance of Macedonia to Rome, as the legions defending the northern border were henceforth based in Dalmatia, Moesia, and Thrace.

[58] Nevertheless, the province continued to provide a vital role in the transport of supplies from Italy to the northern and eastern borders of the Empire, as well as serving as a source of manpower.

Six Roman colonies (coloniae) were established in the Triumviral period: Cassandrea, established in the late 40s BC by the proconsul Quintus Hortensius Hortalus, Philippi (Colonia Iulia Augusta Philippensis) founded by Antony's legate Quintus Paquius Rufus, Dium, Pella, Byllis, and Dyrrhachium.

[60] In the Republican period a cult of "the Roman Benefactors" (Rhomaioi euergetai), the goddess Roma, and Zeus "Eleutherios" ("of freedom") developed in Macedonia.

[64] From the time of the emperor Claudius until the end of the second century AD, the league minted its own coinage, with the thunderbolt, a traditional symbol of Macedon on the reverse.

The reign of Augustus (27 BC–14 AD) began a long period of peace, prosperity and wealth for Macedonia, although its importance in the economic standing of the Roman world diminished when compared to its neighbor, Asia Minor.

With vast arable and rich pastures, the great ruling families amassed huge fortunes in the society based on slave labor.