Battle of Cynoscephalae

In 197 BC, the Roman general Titus Quinctius Flamininus defeated King Philip V of Macedon at Cynoscephalae, a range of hills in Thessaly whose name means dog's heads. It was the decisive battle of the Second Macedonian War. The two armies, each around 25,000 strong, stumbled into each other in fog on the rough, uneven ground. Philip's right wing charged downhill, and its phalanx pushed the Romans back. But his left wing was still getting into formation when the Romans attacked it, using war elephants to break its ranks. Then an unnamed Roman officer, called a tribune, made a crucial decision. He took about twenty maniples, small flexible units of legionaries, and attacked the victorious Macedonian phalanx from behind. Unable to turn its long pikes around, the phalanx collapsed. The battle showed the advantage of the flexible Roman legion over the rigid Macedonian phalanx, especially on broken ground, and it is often seen as a turning point in ancient military history. Philip was forced to accept peace, giving up his control of Greece.