The Battle of Cos was fought in , or as late as 255 BC, between an

Antigonid The Antigonid dynasty (; grc-gre, Ἀντιγονίδαι) was a Hellenistic dynasty of Dorian Greek provenance, descended from Alexander the Great's general Antigonus I Monophthalmus ("the One-Eyed") that ruled mainly in Macedonia. History ...

fleet and a

Ptolemaic Ptolemaic is the adjective formed from the name Ptolemy, and may refer to: Pertaining to the Ptolemaic dynasty * Ptolemaic dynasty, the Macedonian Greek dynasty that ruled Egypt founded in 305 BC by Ptolemy I Soter * Ptolemaic Kingdom Pertaining ...

fleet. Antigonus II Gonatas led his forces to victory, possibly over Patroclus, admiral of Ptolemy II. It has been widely assumed that the battle severely damaged Ptolemaic control of the Aegean, but this has been contested After the battle, Antigonus dedicated his flagship to

Apollo Apollo, grc, Ἀπόλλωνος, Apóllōnos, label=genitive , ; , grc-dor, Ἀπέλλων, Apéllōn, ; grc, Ἀπείλων, Apeílōn, label=Arcadocypriot Greek, ; grc-aeo, Ἄπλουν, Áploun, la, Apollō, la, Apollinis, label= ...

. The date of the battle is uncertain, although it must fall within the period 262-256 BC. Hammond dates it as late as 255 BC, but it is now increasingly placed in 261 BC. The Battle of Cos is proposed by modern scholars as one of three possible naval battles—along with the

Battle of Amorgos The Battle of Amorgos was one of the naval battles of the Lamian War (323–322 BC), fought between the Macedonian navy under Cleitus the White and the Athenian navy under Euetion. Although few details are known, it was a clear Athenian defeat ...

(322 BC) and the Battle of Salamis (306 BC)—that provided the occasion for the erection of the statue of the

Nike of Samothrace The ''Winged Victory of Samothrace'', or the ''Nike of Samothrace'', is a votive monument originally found on the island of Samothrace, north of the Aegean Sea. It is a masterpiece of Greek sculpture from the Hellenistic era, dating from the beg ...

.James Henry Oliver. Demokratia, the gods, and the free world: Morals and law in ancient Greece. Ayer Publishing, 1979. . p.149.

References

Cos Cos Cos Cos Cos History of the Dodecanese Kos Ancient Aegean Sea 3rd century BC in Greece Cos Cos {{AncientGreece-battle-stub