With this force Pausistratus seized by surprise Tendeba, in the territory of Stratonice, a place exceedingly convenient for his purpose, without the knowledge of the king's troops who had held it.

A reinforcement of one thousand Achaean foot and one hundred horse, called out for the same expedition, came up at the very time, under a commander called Theoxenus.

Dinocrates, the king's general, with design to recover the fort, marched his army first to Tendeba, and then to another fort called Astragon, which also stood in the territory of Stratonice.
Then, calling in all the garrisons, which were scattered in many different places, and the Thessalian auxiliaries from Stratonice itself, he led them on to Alabanda, where the enemy lay.

The Rhodians were no way averse from a battle, and the camps being pitched near each other both parties immediately came into the field.

Dinocrates placed five hundred Macedonians on his right wing, and the Agrians on his left; the centre he formed of the troops which he had drawn together out of the garrisons of the forts; these were mostly Carians; and he covered the flanks with the cavalry, and the Cretan and Thracian auxiliaries.