Battle of Demetrias

Battle of Demetrias
Part of the Byzantine-Latin Wars
Map of the Byzantine Empire and the Latin states in southern Greece c. 1278
Date 1272/1273 or 1274/1275 Location Demetrias (modern Volos, Greece) 39°21′0″N 22°56′30″E / 39.35000°N 22.94167°E / 39.35000; 22.94167 Result Byzantine victory
Belligerents
Byzantine Empire	Lordship of Negroponte Venetian Crete
Commanders and leaders
Alexios Philanthropenos (WIA) John Palaiologos	Guglielmo da Verona † Fillippo Sanudo (POW)
Strength
50–80 ships	30–62 ships
Casualties and losses
heavy	very heavy

The Battle of Demetrias was a sea engagement fought at Volos in Greece in the early 1270s between a Byzantine fleet and the assembled forces of the Latin barons of Euboea (Negroponte) and Crete. The battle was fierce, and initially in favour of the Latins, but the timely arrival of Byzantine reinforcements tipped the scale, resulting in a crushing Byzantine victory.