 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. Philip convinced the Cretans, who had been involved in piracy for a long time, the Aetolians, and the Spartans to take part in the piracy. The lure for these nations was the promise of vast loot from captured Rhodian vessels. He sent the Aetolian freebooter Dicaearchus on a large razzia through the Aegean, during the course of which he plundered the Cyclades and Rhodian territories. Additionally, Philip sought to weaken the Rhodians' naval capacity through subterfuge. He achieved this by sending his agent, Heracleides, to Rhodes where he succeeded in burning 13 boat-sheds.
