In 193 BC the Aetolians, disgruntled that the terms of the peace had deprived them of cities they believed were rightfully theirs, attempted to form a combination with Antiochus and Philip against Rome. In March 192 BC Antiochus announced through his envoy that he was willing to join them in restoring Greek freedom. The Aetolians attempted to seize Chalcis and Demetrias to facilitate Antiochus’ landing, and to occupy Sparta to hold the Achaeans. At Sparta they killed Nabis but their force was annihilated. They also failed with their attempt on Chalcis, but managed to capture Demetrias.
In autumn 192 BC Antiochus landed at Demetrias with ten thousand troops, a relatively small force but he hoped to increase his numbers during his advance. At about the same time Marcus Baebius Tamphilus (cos.181 BC) with a small force crossed from southern Italy to Apollonia. Disturbances favouring Antiochus were quietened at Athens by the presence of Flamininus; and at Corinth, Aegium and Patrae by Marcus Porcius Cato the Elder (234-149 BC; cos.195 BC).
Antiochus marched through Lamia and captured Chalcis, after which the Boeotians and the rest of Euboea went over to him. He then conducted a campaign in Thessaly but had to withdraw before Larissa on the approach of a Roman detachment under Appius Claudius Pulcher (cos.185 BC).
During the winter Baebius met Philip (who by now was disillusioned with Antiochus) and secured his support by agreeing that he should keep any places he captured from the Aetolians and their allies. Philip and Baebius then conducted a campaign in Thessaly that regained most of the towns the Aetolians had taken in the previous year.
In spring 191 BC Manius Acilius Glabrio (cos.191 BC) arrived with reinforcements that increased the Roman army in Greece to about forty thousand men. Antiochus withdrew to Thermopylae. He rebuilt the wall across the pass at its narrowest point and put a palisade and trench in front of it. To prevent the Romans outflanking him by using the mountain trails (by now well known to both sides) he ordered the Aetolians to guard the nearby peaks.
Glabrio attacked the pass and sent the legates Lucius Valerius Flaccus (cos.195 BC) and Cato to take the Aetolians’ strongholds. Flaccus was beaten back from the Rhoduntia and the Tichius, but Cato successfully assaulted the Callidromus stronghold and the sudden appearance of Cato’s troops from behind led to chaos in the enemy’s ranks. Antiochus was easily routed and fled with the remains of his army to Chalcis and from there by sea to Ephesus.
Glabrio occupied Epicnemedian Locris then invaded Phocis and Boeotia, which surrendered. With the region pacified he returned to Thermopylae and blockaded the Aetolians in Heraclea and Naupactus. Finally, after the arrival of Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus (236-183 BC; cos.205, 194 BC) and his older brother Lucius Cornelius Scipio Asiaticus (cos.190 BC), the Aetolians surrendered their weapons.
The Roman fleet commanded by Asiaticus followed Antiochus across the Aegean. In 190 BC the combined Roman-Rhodian fleet defeated the Seleucid fleet at the battles of the Eurymedon and Myonessus. In 190 BC a Roman-Pergamese army inflicted a decisive defeat on Antiochus at Magnesia ad Sipylum in Lydia. In 189 BC in Greece the Aetolians rose and had some success against Philip. Marcus Fulvius Nobilior (cos.189 BC) captured Ambracia, and with the aid of Philip and the Achaeans, stamped out all resistance. The peace treaty at Apamea (188 BC) forced Antiochus to cede most of Asia Minor and he was murdered the following year.
Philip received scant reward from the Romans for his loyalty and support, since he was forced to surrender his conquests in Thessaly, Aetolia and Thrace. He spent the last decade of his life repairing Macedon’s finances and campaigning against non-Greek peoples in the Balkans (184, 183, 181 BC).
His son Demetrius while at Rome as a hostage had gained great popularity with the leading Romans. Perseus, the eldest son, fearing that his father would disinherit him in favour of Demetrius, persuaded Philip to put the latter to death. Philip himself died in 179 BC while pursuing a scheme for directing the Bastarnae against the Dardanians.
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