Ptolemy IV. of Egypt; and a brief naval war did actually begin between Rhodes and Byzantium on account of the heavy dues imposed upon the corn ships at the Bosporus by the latter. Future combinations were foreshadowed by the grouping of allies in this war. Byzantium was joined by Attalus of Pergamus and Achaeus—a cousin of Antiochus, and properly Satrap of Asia Minor, who had assumed the title of king and set up his court at Sardis. The Rhodians were assisted by Prusias, King of Bithynia, whose position gave him the power of blocking one end of the Bosporus and of invading territories of Byzantium in Mysia. Rhodes was thus acting as a champion of the interests of Greek commerce as Athens had done in old days. Her help was asked in two other directions about the same period—in Crete where violent dissensions were raging which ended in the destruction of the town of Lyttos; and in Sinope, which was threatened by Mithradates IV. of Pontus. This was the beginning of the extension of the kingdom of Pontus, and the design was consummated by the next King Pharnaces seizing Sinope and making it his capital. This same year (B.C. 219) witnessed the beginning of the second struggle between Rome and Carthage, one of the far-reaching effects of which was to bring the Romans to Greece and Asia Minor.
It was then a critical period for Greece in many directions. The one important state which was standing aloof from these disturbances, and joined neither Ætolian nor Achæan, was Athens, which a few years before had regained its freedom,
