[2][3] They appear several times in Livy's accounts of the events concerning the Third Macedonian War (171–168 BC), which was fought between the Roman Republic and the Kingdom of Macedonia under Perseus.
[6] The tribe inhabited Penestia, an inland region in southeastern Illyria, located around the Black Drin valley north of Lake Ohrid.
The Penestae were bordered by the Dassaretii and Parthini to the south, the Dardani to the north (from which they were separated by the Skardon (or Scardus) Mountains).
[10][11][12] In Livy's accounts of the Third Macedonian War, which was fought between the Roman Republic and the Kingdom of Macedon in the years 171–168 BC, the Penestae are not considered part of the realm of the Illyrian king Gentius.
[7] The Macedonian king aimed also to capture Oaeneum, another Penestian town strategically located on the route to the territory of the Labeatae and the Illyrian kingdom of Gentius.
Proceeding on the way to Oaeneum he captured also Draudacum and eleven other strongholds, mainly without undertaking battles; nevertheless he succeeded in taking 1,500 Roman soldiers prisoner.
The Macedonian victorious army returned to Stuberra, from where Perseus immediately sent envoys to Genthius to inform him about the great successes he achieved that year, and to urge the Illyrian king to join Macedon against Rome.