Roman–Seleucid War Polyxenidas (Ancient Greek: Πολυξενίδας) the Rhodian, was a general and admiral who was exiled from his native country and entered the service of Antiochus III the Great.
We do not hear anything of his operations in the ensuing campaign in 191 BC, but when Antiochus III, after his defeat at the Fourth Battle of Thermopylae, withdrew to Asia, Polyxenidas was again appointed to command the king's main fleet on the Ionian coast.
The superiority of numbers, however, decided the victory in favour of the allies; thirteen ships of the Syrian fleet were taken and ten sunk, while Polyxenidas himself, with the remainder, took refuge in the port of Ephesus.
Here he spent the winter in active preparations for a renewal of the contest; and early in the next spring of 190 BC, having learnt that Pausistratus, with the Rhodian fleet, had already put to sea, he conceived the idea of surprising him before he could unite his forces with those of Livius.
The ensuing Battle of Myonessus near Teos terminated in the total defeat of Polyxenidas, who lost 42 of his ships, and made a hasty retreat with the remainder to Ephesus.