Conflict with Rome

Main article: Macedonian Wars

Further information: Cretan War (205–200 BC), Punic Wars, and Macedonian–Carthaginian

Treaty

The Kingdom of Macedonia (orange) under Philip V (r. 221–179 BC), with

Macedonian dependent states (dark yellow), the Seleucid Empire (bright
yellow), Roman protectorates (dark green), the Kingdom of Pergamon (light green), independent
states (light purple), and possessions of the Ptolemaic Empire (violet purple)

In 215 BC, at the height of the Second Punic War with the Carthaginian

Empire, Roman authorities intercepted a ship off the Calabrian coast holding a Macedonian
envoy and a Carthaginian ambassador in possession of a treaty composed by Hannibal declaring
an alliance with Philip V.[174] The treaty stipulated that Carthage had the sole right to negotiate
the terms of Rome's hypothetical surrender and promised mutual aid in the event that a resurgent
Rome should seek revenge against either Macedonia or Carthage. [175] Although the Macedonians
were perhaps only interested in safeguarding their newly conquered territories in Illyria, [176] the
Romans were nevertheless able to thwart whatever grand ambitions Philip V had for the Adriatic
region during the First Macedonian War (214–205 BC). In 214 BC, Rome positioned a naval
fleet at Oricus, which was assaulted along with Apollonia by Macedonian forces.[177] When the
Macedonians captured Lissus in 212 BC, the Roman Senate responded by inciting the Aetolian
League, Sparta, Elis, Messenia, and Attalus I (r. 241–197 BC) of Pergamon to wage war against
Philip V, keeping him occupied and away from Italy.[178]

The Aetolian League concluded a peace agreement with Philip V in 206 BC, and the Roman
Republic negotiated the Treaty of Phoenice in 205 BC, ending the war and allowing the
Macedonians to retain some captured settlements in Illyria.[179] Although the Romans rejected an
Aetolian request in 202 BC for Rome to declare war on Macedonia once again, the Roman
Senate gave serious consideration to the similar offer made by Pergamon and its ally Rhodes in
201 BC.[180] These states were concerned about Philip V's alliance with Antiochus III the Great of
the Seleucid Empire, which invaded the war-weary and financially exhausted Ptolemaic Empire
in the Fifth Syrian War (202–195 BC) as Philip V captured Ptolemaic settlements in the Aegean
Sea.[181] Although Rome's envoys played a critical role in convincing Athens to join the anti-
Macedonian alliance with Pergamon and Rhodes in 200 BC, the comitia centuriata (people's
assembly) rejected the Roman Senate's proposal for a declaration of war on Macedonia.
[182]
 Meanwhile, Philip V conquered territories in the Hellespont and Bosporus as well as
Ptolemaic Samos, which led Rhodes to form an alliance with Pergamon, Byzantium, Cyzicus,
and Chios against Macedonia.[183] Despite Philip V's nominal alliance with the Seleucid king, he
lost the naval Battle of Chios in 201 BC and was blockaded at Bargylia by the Rhodian and
Pergamene navies