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During the siege of Sardis in 213, Bôlis betrayed Sôsibios, counsellor to Ptolemy IV, and delivered the usurper Achaios to Antiochos III. The image of the Cretan mercenary that has been traditionally attached to him must be revisited. In fact Bôlis was also a military expert, sent on a special mission, who knew how to analyze the political situation and context. The affair in question sheds a revelatory light on the secret diplomacy of States, its agents and means, and also on the official and symbolic expression of the power that manifested itself during the punishment of Achaios. In the Greco-Anatolian context, it is clear that the myth of the satyr Marsyas, punished by Apollo for his hubris, was used by the Seleucid power.