Macedon's defeat at the Battle of Pydna in 168 BCE signals the end of Antigonid power in Greece.

In 146 BCE, Macedonia is annexed as a province by Rome, and the rest of Greece becomes a Roman protectorate.

The Fourth Macedonian War, the final war between Rome and Macedon, comes about as a result of the pretender Andriscus's usurpation of the Macedonian throne, pretending to be the son of Perseus, the last King of Macedon, deposed by the Romans after the Third Macedonian War in 168 BCE.

Andriscus, after some early successes, is eventually defeated by the Roman general Quintus Caecilius Metellus Macedonicus at the Battle of Pydna in 148 BCE.

Macedonia becomes a Roman province two years later.

Andriscus’ conquest of Thessaly and alliance with Carthage makes the Macedonian situation dangerous.

A second Roman army under the praetor Quintus Caecilius Metellus in 148 defeats the pretender in the Second Battle of Pydna with relative ease and crushes the rebellion.

Andriscus, his brief reign marked by cruelty and extortion, flees to Thrace, whose prince gives him up to Rome.

Rome's conquest of Greece is completed in 27 BCE when the Roman Emperor Augustus annexes the rest of Greece and constitutes it as the senatorial province of Achaea.

Despite their military superiority, the Romans admire and become heavily influenced by the achievements of Greek culture, hence Horace's famous statement: Graecia capta ferum victorem cepit ("Greece, although captured, took its wild conqueror captive").

The epics of Homer inspire the Aeneid of Virgil, and authors such as Seneca the Younger write using Greek styles.

Roman heroes such as Scipio Africanus tended to study philosophy and regarded Greek culture and science as an example to be followed.

Similarly, most Roman emperors maintain an admiration for things Greek in nature.

The Roman Emperor Nero visits Greece in CE 66, and performs at the Ancient Olympic Games, despite the rules against non-Greek participation.

Hadrian is also particularly fond of the Greeks; before he becomes emperor, he serves as an eponymous archon of Athens.