In the Macedonian wars Chios was beseiged by Philippos the King of Macedonia, who, however, did not manage to conquer it. In the naval battle that took place very close to Chios the allied fleet (Chios, Rhodes, Pergamum, and Byzantium) defeated the Macedonian one. Right from the beginning of the Wars of Antiochus (192-180 B.C.), Chios had a friendly attitude towards the Romans. So, when, in 191 B.C. the Roman fleet arrived at the coastlines of the Minor Asia with C. Livius Salinator being the Captain, it used Chios for supply (first from the harbor of Fana and then the port of Chios). After the naval battles of Korikios and Nionissos, the Roman fleet arrived in Chios, since it was very famous for the quality of services its dockyards offered, so they could have their damaged ships repaired. Antiochus the Great III, the king of Seleucids, was really furious because of the friendly attitude the island had towards the Romans and sent 15 piratical ships under the command of the pirate Nicandros. The pirates destroyed and looted the coastline of Chios. The Romans favored Chios a lot when the war was over (the treaty of Apameias 188 B.C.), offering it the prerogative of being free and tax-free.

In 86 B.C. Chios was conquered by the Pontiacs and their King Mithridatis. The king, extremely annoyed by the friendly Chian attitude towards the Romans imposed a fine of two thousand talents. Since the inhabitants didn’t have that amount of money, they had no other choice but to collect all the women’s jewels as well as everything valuable from the temples. After destroying a great part of the island, they forced the inhabitants to move to Kolchida of the Black Sea. King Mithridatis brought people from the tribe of Pontiacs to inhabit the island and he changed the name of the island from Chios to Vereniki because he wanted to honor his wife. A year later, in 85 B.C. the Roman fleet under the command of Leukios Lucullus defeated the Pontiac army on the island and according to the treaty of Dardanos all the exiled Chians had to be set free and to return to their homeland. The Romans once again helped the island to have its freedom and its autonomy. It was also determined that the Romans residents in Chios would obey to the local laws of Chios and would be brought to trial, if needed, to the local courts.

Many Roman businessmen of that time came to live in Chios during that period. The excellent climate of the island, its geographic position, the trade and naval development attracted many Romans to come and live in Chios. Their main occupation was the trade but there were others too whose occupation was the agriculture and particularly the viniculture. The Roman Leukios Nasios who lived in the First century B.C. is a typical example of a businessman who later was regarded as one of the greatest benefactors of the island. He had a grandstand built in the senile and he granted twelve thousand drachmas to the Municipality to support it financially. Therefore, the Chians decided to honour him by putting up a statue.

Although the island had its autonomy, the Roman victories on the coastline of the Minor Asia made some Roman sovereigns extremely greedy. For example, Gaios Oueris, ambassador of Cilicia, stole the finest masterpieces of Art from the city and the temple of Apollo Faneou in 80 B.C. Around 80 B.C. Cicerones visited the island of Chios as well as Erodes the Great in 12 A.D..

During the Roman Civil War between Gnaios Pompios and Julius Caesar (48 B.C.), Chios helped the former by sending ships. The island chose that way to show its gratitude to Gnaios Pompios because he had sent away the pirates.

During Augustus’s kingdom (31 B.C.-14 A.D.) the worship of the emperor was established. The first years of his ruling a terrible earthquake happened which caused terrible damaged to the island. The Chians addressed to the emperor to ask for financial support and he agreed to offer his help.

In the early imperial years Chios was in a financial decline. The public buildings remained abandoned for more than seventy years and the island couldn’t pay the taxes it owed to the Romans. The reform of Augustus according to which the autonomous cities were banned to mint silver and gold coins was one of the factors that contributed in that decline. It even affected the trade and the shipping of the island which suffered a great damage.

To make matters even worse, the Roman legions when coming back from the east brought to the island infectious diseases such as plague. Besides that, the barbarian raids of the Goths (276 A.D.) worsened the situation on the island. In contradiction to what has already been mentioned the writer Eithikos Istrios mentions that Chios was famous for its natural and artificial beauties as well as its products, especially white mastic. The mastic was used for pharmaceutical products and for adding an excellent fragrance to the wine.