The Battle of Callinicus (Greek

Greek language

Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...

: H μάχη του Καλλίνικου) was fought in 171 BC

171 BC

Year 171 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Crassus and Longinus...

 between Macedon

Macedon

Macedonia or Macedon was an ancient kingdom, centered in the northeastern part of the Greek peninsula, bordered by Epirus to the west, Paeonia to the north, the region of Thrace to the east and Thessaly to the south....

 and Rome

Rome

Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...

 to the city "​​Kalliniko", near Larissa

Larissa

Larissa is the capital and biggest city of the Thessaly region of Greece and capital of the Larissa regional unit. It is a principal agricultural centre and a national transportation hub, linked by road and rail with the port of Volos, the city of Thessaloniki and Athens...

. The Macedonians were led by their king, Perseus of Macedon

Perseus of Macedon

Perseus was the last king of the Antigonid dynasty, who ruled the successor state in Macedon created upon the death of Alexander the Great...

, while the Roman force was led by Consul

Consul

Consul was the highest elected office of the Roman Republic and an appointive office under the Empire. The title was also used in other city states and also revived in modern states, notably in the First French Republic...

 Publius Licinius Crassus

Publius Licinius Crassus (consul 171 BC)

Publius Licinius Crassus was Roman consul for year 171 BC, together with Gaius Cassius Longinus.He was the son of Gaius Licinius Varus, possibly related to the Gaius Licinius Varus who was consul in 236 BC and who was still alive in 219 BC...

. The Macedonians were victorious. The battle is notable for the prevalent role of cavalry and light infantry as a combined 'task force'. Livy

Livy

Titus Livius — known as Livy in English — was a Roman historian who wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people. Ab Urbe Condita Libri, "Chapters from the Foundation of the City," covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome well before the traditional foundation in 753 BC...

 describes

Ab Urbe condita (book)

Ab urbe condita libri — often shortened to Ab urbe condita — is a monumental history of ancient Rome written in Latin sometime between 27 and 25 BC by the historian Titus Livius. The work covers the time from the stories of Aeneas, the earliest legendary period from before the city's founding in c....

 this battle at 42.58-60, and according to his account, the heavy infantry

Heavy infantry

Heavy infantry refers to heavily armed and armoured ground troops, as opposed to medium or light infantry, in which the warriors are relatively lightly armoured. As modern infantry troops usually define their subgroups differently , 'heavy infantry' almost always is used to describe pre-gunpowder...

 were not engaged in this battle. Furthermore, his description provides a rare account of the dynamics of light infantry fighting with cavalry, although this may well be narrative rhetoric on Livy's behalf.

Macedon

Livy tells us that the main parts of Macedonian line consisted of several mmixed groups of cavalry and light infantry: Perseus' Agema

Agema

In ancient Macedonia, the Agema, meaning literally "the guards", were the elite guards.They were hypaspists and asthetairoi, and later argyraspids . In the eastern Diadochi States they were the infantry guards of the King...

 and sacred cavalry held the centre; Thracian native cavalry and light infantry held flanked him on the left while Macedonian cavalry and Cretans flanked his right. This three piece centre was flanked on either side by King's Cavalry. This line was preceded by slingers

Sling (weapon)

A sling is a projectile weapon typically used to throw a blunt projectile such as a stone or lead "sling-bullet". It is also known as the shepherd's sling....

 and javelin-men.

Rome

The Romans similarly deployed large forces of cavalry and light infantry. The Roman line was held by volunteer cavalry in the centre, flanked on the right by cavalry and velites

Velites

Velites were a class of infantry in the Polybian legions of the early Roman republic. Velites were light infantry and skirmishers who were armed with a number of light javelins, or hastae velitares, to fling at the enemy, and also carried short thrusting swords, or gladii for use in melee...

under the consul's brother Caius, and on the left by Greek light infantry and cavalry. Behind this Stood Gauls and Cyrtian allies on the right and Thessalian cavalry on the left.

Battle

The battle began with a furious charge from Perseus' cavalry against the Greeks and volunteer cavalry in the Roman line. Though this pushed the Roman forces back, a complete rout was prevented by the steady Thessalian cavalry holding the ground behind these Roman forces. On the Roman right, Caius Crassus faced Cotys in a vicious cavalry-light infantry battle, graphically described by Livy:
Satisfied with the defeat of most of the deployed Roman forces, Perseus took his general Euander's advice and had his forces retire before engaging the remaining heavy infantry.

Aftermath

Between 42.60-61 Livy describes the various moods of the Romans and Macedonians as a result of the battle.