Perseus

PERSEUS pûr’ sĭ əs (Περσεύς). The son of Philip III of Macedonia. He succeeded to the throne in 178 b.c. and was the last king of Macedonia. He was defeated at the Battle of Pydna by Aemilius Paulus in 168 b.c. and died in captivity at Rome. Macedonia became a Rom. province. 1 Maccabees 8:1, 5 records that the conquest of Perseus was part of the “fame of the Romans” that Judah heard about and that caused him to try to make an alliance with the Romans.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915)

pur’-sus, pur’-se-us (Perseus): In 1 Macc 8:5 the conquest of "Perseus, king of the Citims" (the Revised Version (British and American) "king of Chittim") was part of the "fame of the Romans" which reached the ears of Judas. This Perseus, the son and successor of Philip III of Macedonia, came to the throne in 178 BC and was the last king of Maccedonia. In 171 BC began the war with Rome which ended in his disastrous defeat and capture at Pydna, 168 BC (to which 1 Macc 8:5 refers), by L. Aemilius Paulus. Macedonia soon became a Roman province. Perseus was led to Rome to grace the triumph of his conqueror, by whose clemency he was spared, and died in captivity at Rome (Polyb. xxix. 17; Livy xliv. 40 ff).

Kittim or Chittim, properly of the people of the town of Citium in Cyprus, then signifying Cyprians, and extended by Jewish writers (Ge 10:4; Nu 24:24; Isa 23:1; Jer 2:10; Eze 27:6; Da 11:30; Josephus, Ant, I, vi) to include the coasts of Greece generally, is here applied to Maccdonia. In 1 Macc 1:1 Macedonia (or Greece) is called "the land of Chittim."