The Cretan War was fought by King Philip V of Macedon, the Aetolian League, many Cretans, and Spartan pirates against the forces of Rhodes and later Attalus I of Pergamum, Byzantium, Cyzicus, Athens, and Knossos. The Macedonians had just concluded the First Macedonian War and Philip, seeing his chance to defeat Rhodes, formed an alliance.
About Cretan War (205–200 BC) in brief
The Cretan War was fought by King Philip V of Macedon, the Aetolian League, many Cretans, and Spartan pirates against the forces of Rhodes and later Attalus I of Pergamum, Byzantium, Cyzicus, Athens, and Knossos. The Macedonians had just concluded the First Macedonian War and Philip, seeing his chance to defeat Rhodes, formed an alliance. In 202 BC, Rhodes and her allies PerGamum, CyZicus, and Byzantine combined their fleets and defeated Philip at the Battle of Chios. Just a few months later, Philip’s fleet defeated the Rhodians at theBattle of Lade. By the end of 205 BC, the Rhodes had been significantly weakened by these raids, and Philip saw his chance. to go forward with the second part of his military plan, during the course of which he plundered the Cyclades and Rhodian territories. He achieved this by sending his agent Heracleides to burn the boat-sheds of Rhodes, where he succeeded in burning 13,000 of the Rhodian vessels. He also sent his agent Dazzerus on a large razzia through the Aegean Sea, during which he captured a large number of Rhodian ships. The battle was won by Philip, who was able to consolidate his position as the major power in the Balkans. He then turned his attentions eastwards to the Aegesis and built a large fleet. He hoped to take advantage of Rome’s preoccupation with Carthage, and hoped to seize control of the Greek world.
He knew that his ambitions would be aided by an alliance with Crete and began pressing the Cretsans to attack Rhodian assets. He convinced the AETolians and Spartans to take part in the piracy by luring them with the promise of vast loot from the Spartans, and also persuaded them to join him in his war against Rhodes. The war ended in 205 BC with the signing of the Treaty of Phoenice, under the terms of which the Macedonian were not allowed to expand westwards. The treaty also prohibited Philip from expanding westward into Illyria or the Adriatic Sea, so the king turned his attention eastwards. He was now opposed by no major Greek power other than Rhodes. Philip saw two ways of shaking Rhodes’ dominance of the sea: piracy and war. Deciding to use both methods, he encouraged his allies to begin pirate attacks against Rhodian Ships. This left the Cretian cities with no major allies, and the largest city of Crete,Knossos, joined the Rhodies. The Romans warned him, however, to withdraw or face war with Rome. After suffering a defeat at the hands of the Pergamese fleets, Philip withdrew, but not before attacking the city of Abydos on the Hellespont. The Romans declared war on Macedon and Philip withdrew from the war. After a long siege and most of its inhabitants committed suicide.
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