The Battle of Chios (201 BC) was fought between the fleet of Philip V of Macedon against the combined fleet of Rhodes, Pergamum, Byzantium and Cyzicus.

The Cretan War had started in 205 BC when the Macedonians and their pirate and Cretan allies had started attacking Rhodian ships as Rhodes had the richest merchant fleet in the Aegean. The navies of Rhodes' allies Pergamum, Byzantium and Cyzicus joined the Rhodian fleet and then defeated the Macedonian fleet off Chios.

Prelude

With the First Macedonian War over, Philip started to rebuild his fleet to a size that could challenge the fleets of the Rhodians, Pergamese and Ptolemies.Green, Alexander to Actium: The Historical Evolution of the Hellenistic Age, 305 Philip wanted to crush the dominant naval power in the Aegean, his ally Rhodes.Detorakis, ''A History of Crete, 305 He formed alliances with Aetolian and Spartan pirates as well as a few powerful Cretan city states.

Battle

Aftermath