MACEDONIA IN THE PERIOD OF ROMAN RULE (168 BC to the end of the III century)
1. Territorial partition of Macedonia The Roman conquest of Macedonia (168 BC) marked the end of the Macedonian Empire. The definition of the new status of Macedonia was sanctioned one year later in Amphipolis, where the Consul Aemilius Paulus, in the presence of the Macedonian king Perseus and the Macedonian elite, announced that “the Macedonians will be free, they will own the cities and fields as before, they will abide by their laws and customs and will elect their own magistrates every year.” However, the Macedonians were obliged to pay “a tribute to the Roman people” whose amount was “one half of the tribute that they were paying to the Kings”. Such apparently granted “liberty” was of nominal character, because Macedonia at the same time was divided into four autonomous districts called Merides. The first district, with the capital city of Amphipolis, stretched over the territory between the rivers Nestus and Strymon including also the areas from the east of the river Nestus to the river Hebros, while on the western side of the river Strymon it incorporated the whole territory of Bisaltia including the city Heraclea Sintica. Thessalonica was the capital city of the second district, which bordered with the river Strymon from the east without Heraclea Sinitica and Bisaltia, while on the west it spread up to the river Axios, including the region on the eastern side of the river. The territory between Axios in east and the river Peneus in the west, the Mt. Vermium in the north with the Peonia from the western side of the river Axios including the cities of Edessa and Beroia, belonged to the third area, with Pella as capital. The fourth area with the capital located in Pelagonia, bordered with Epirus, Illyria, and Dardania as well as with the independent regions of Orestis and Dassaretia. Aprart from abolishing the Macedonian Monarchy, Rome instituted measures that provided several prohibitions for Macedonians, including commerce and marital relations among the people of separated areas, as well as extracting of silver and gold from their mines. The main purpose of the territorial division of Ma59