Battle of the Lalakaon

Battle of the Lalakaon

date	September 3, 863
place	River Lalakaon, Paphlagonia , Asia Minor
output	Byzantine victory

Parties to the conflict
Byzantine Empire	Emirate of Melitene
Commander
Michael III Petronas Nasar	Omar al-Aqta Karbeas
Troop strength
50,000	20,000

The battle of lalakaon ( ancient Greek Μάχη τοῦ Λαλακάοντος ) or Battle of Po (r) son ( ancient Greek Μάχη τοῦ Πό (ρ) σωνος ) was incorporated on September 3 863 between the Byzantine Empire and the Arabs with their paulikianischen allies in Paphlagonia (in the northwest today's Turkey ). The Byzantine army was led by Petronas , the uncle of Emperor Michael III. (reigned 842-867), led; The emir of Melitene ( Malatya ), Omar al-Aqta (ruled from approx. 838–863) had the supreme command of the Arabs . Some Arabic sources also report a personal presence of the Byzantine emperor.

The Arabs and Paulicians who had penetrated deep into Byzantine territory were captured by the Byzantines near the Lalakaon river. The ensuing battle ended in a complete Byzantine victory and the death of the emir. The outcome of the battle marked the end of the Arab expansion in Asia Minor and allowed the government in Constantinople to take offensive action again on the eastern border of the empire. After the danger to the east of their empire had been removed, the Byzantines' attention was again increasingly directed to what was happening in the west, which subsequently mainly affected the Bulgarian empire .

background

Arab-Byzantine border conflicts

After the rapid Islamic expansion in the 7th century, the Byzantine Empire was essentially limited to Asia Minor , the southern coast of the Balkans and parts of Italy . Since Byzantium continued to be the main enemy of the Arab caliphate , the Arab raids into Asia Minor continued in the 8th and 9th centuries. As the centuries passed, these annual raids took on an almost “traditional” character.

In general, the Byzantines were on the defensive during these centuries and suffered some severe defeats such as the sacking of Amorion , the hometown of the ruling Byzantine dynasty, in 838. However, with the decline in power of the Abbasid Caliphate after 842 and the rise of quasi-independent emirates , the Byzantines were able to do so to regain control of action on the Byzantine border.

In the 850s these independent emirates were that of Malatya (Melitene) under Omar al-Aqta, the Emirate of Tarsus under Ali ibn Yahya ("Ali of the Armenians"), the Emirate of Qaliqala (Theodosiopolis, now Erzurum ) and the Paulicians of Tephrike under their leader Karbeas . Melitene posed a particular problem for Byzantium, as it was located west of the Anti-Taurus Mountains and thus had direct access to Anatolia . The extent of the danger for the Byzantines was revealed in 860: Omar and Karbeas united their forces and plundered deep into western Asia Minor, a little later the troops of Tarsus did the same, while a fleet from Syria plundered the Byzantine port of Attaleia.

Arab invasion 863

In the summer of 863 Omar struck again. He united his troops with Ali to carry out a raid on Cappadocia . It is likely that a Paulikian contingent under Karbeas also participated. According to Theophanes Continuatus , the Arab army numbered 40,000 men. Today's estimates, however, assume 20,000, which was a significant army for this period. The Arabs passed the Cilician Gate and entered Byzantine territory, pillaging along the way and finally reaching a place near Tyana . There the army of Tarsus returned for unknown reasons, the Emir of Melitene decided to move on alone.

According to contemporary writer Ya'qubi, Omar had 8,000 soldiers. On the Byzantine side, Emperor Michael III. to meet his army at Marj al-Usquf ( "Bishop pasture") gathered to the Arab attack, a plateau at Malakopea, north of Nazianzus . The battle was bloody; the Perso-Arab historian at-Tabarī reports that only 1,000 of Omar's soldiers survived. The surviving Arabs were able to escape the Byzantines and continue their raid on the Armeniakon theme until they reached the Black Sea city of Amisos and plundered.

battle

Battle between Byzantines and Arabs. Miniature from the Madrid Illuminated Manuscript of the Skylitz

When Michael heard of the fall of Amisus, he ordered the assembly of a huge force (al-Tabari writes of allegedly 50,000 soldiers) under the command of his uncle Petronas , the Stratēgos of Thrakesion . Al-Tabari writes that the emperor himself took over command of the army, but this does not coincide with Byzantine reports. In view of the negative connotation with which the Byzantine historians of the Macedonian dynasty gave the image of Michael, his omission may be understandable. The assembled forces came from all parts of the Byzantine Empire. Three separate armies marched against the Arabs: a northern one, consisting of the troops of the subjects of Armeniakon , Bukellarion (under Nasar ), Koloneia and Paphlagonia ; a southern one, who had probably already fought against the Arabs on the bishop's pasture, consisting of the groups on the subjects of Anatolicon , Opsikion and Cappadocia as well as those of the Kleisourai of Seleukeia and Charsianon ; and a western part under Petronas, which included the militias of Macedonia , Thrace and Thrakesion as well as the imperial Tagmata .

The Byzantine army succeeded in meeting on September 2nd and encircling Omar's smaller army at a place called Poson (Πόσων) or Porson (Πόρσων) near the Lalakaon. The exact location of the river and the battlefield could not be found; but most historians agree that it was near Halys , about 130 km southeast of Amisos. With the approach of the Byzantine troops, the emir and his men had only one escape route that led to a strategically located hill. During the night both the Arabs and the Byzantines tried to occupy it, the Byzantines emerged victorious from this battle. The next day, September 3, Omar decided to throw all of his troops against the western section of the Byzantine front where Petronas was holding to force a breakout. The Byzantines, however, held their position, giving the other two armies time to maneuver into the rear of the Arabs. The Arabs began to flee, and in panic Omar was slain on the battlefield. Karbeas may also have been among the victims of the battle: although his participation in the battle is not assured, he reportedly died that year.

Only the emir's son managed to escape from the battlefield with a small bodyguard. He fled south to the border area of ​​Charsianon. But he was persecuted and captured by Machairas, the Kleisourarchēs of Charsianon.

consequences

The victory at Lalakaon enabled the empire to concentrate its forces on the First Bulgarian Empire . Depiction of the baptism of Bulgarians in the Chronicle of Constantine Manasses .

A Byzantine army invaded the emirate of Armenia and killed its emir Ali ibn Yahya in either October or November. In a single campaign, the Byzantines had defeated their three most important enemies on the eastern border. In retrospect, the battle was crucial as it permanently broke the power of the Emirate of Melitene. The Byzantine victory at Lalakaon changed the strategic balance in the region and marked the beginning of the Byzantine recapture campaigns of the 10th century.

The significance of the victory did not escape the attention of contemporaries: the Byzantines celebrated it as revenge for the sack of Amorion 25 years earlier. The victorious generals were given a triumphal reception in Constantinople, and ceremonies and games were held. Petronas received the high title of Magistros and Charsianon was raised to the rank of a full-fledged subject.

The end of the threat to the Byzantine eastern border also opened up new opportunities for the empire in the west. Tsar Boris I (ruled 852–889) had negotiated with the Pope and Ludwig the German (ruled 817–876) about a possible conversion of his pagan people to Christianity. The Byzantine government could not accept this extension of Rome's ecclesiastical authority within reach of Constantinople. In 864 the victorious eastern armies were called to Europe and invaded Bulgaria. This demonstration of military strength convinced Boris to turn to the Byzantine missionaries. Boris was baptized and took the name Michael in honor of the Byzantine emperor, which marked the beginning of the Christianization of Bulgaria and incorporated the country into the eastern, Byzantine / Orthodox sphere.

Influence on heroic literature

According to the French Byzantinist Henri Grégoire , the Byzantine victory of Lalakaon inspired one of the oldest acritical (hero) poems: the song of Armouris . Grégoire thinks it is possible that the Byzantine soldier Armouris of the same name in the reality of Emperor Michael III. could represent.

literature

• Nadia Maria El-Cheikh: Byzantium viewed by the Arabs . Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass 2004, ISBN 0-932885-30-6 .
• John Haldon: The Byzantine Wars: Battles and Campaigns of the Byzantine Era. Tempus, Stroud 2001, ISBN 0-7524-1795-9 .
• George L. Huxley: The Emperor Michael III and the Battle of Bishop's Meadow (AD 863). In: Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies 16, 1975, pp. 443-450.
• Romilly Jenkins: Byzantium: The Imperial Centuries, AD 610-1071. University of Toronto Press, Toronto 1987, ISBN 0-8020-6667-4 .
• Eirini-Sofia Kiapidou: Battle of Lalakaon River, 863 . In: Encyclopedia of the Hellenic World, Asia Minor.
• Warren Treadgold: A History of the Byzantine State and Society. Stanford University Press, Stanford 1997, ISBN 0-8047-2630-2 .
• Mark Whittow: The Making of Byzantium, 600-1025. University of California Press, Berkeley / Los Angeles 1996, ISBN 0-520-20496-4 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Jenkins: Byzantium: The Imperial Centuries, AD 610-1071. 1987, p. 163.
2. ↑ El-Cheikh: Byzantium Viewed by the Arabs. Harvard Center for Middle Eastern Studies. 2004, pp. 83-84.
3. ↑ ^{a b} El-Cheikh: Byzantium Viewed by the Arabs. Harvard Center for Middle Eastern Studies. 2004, p. 162.
4. ^ Treadgold: A History of the Byzantine State and Society. 1997, p. 441.
5. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g} Haldon: The Byzantine Wars: Battles and Campaigns of the Byzantine Era. 2001, pp. 83-89.
6. ^ Treadgold: A History of the Byzantine State and Society. 1997, p. 451.
7. ↑ ^{a b} Whittow: The Making of Byzantium, 600-1025. 1996, p. 310.
8. ↑ ^{a b c} Huxley: The Emperor Michael III and the Battle of Bishop's Meadow (AD 863). 1975, p. 448.
9. ↑ ^{a b c d e f} Kiapidou: Battle of Lalakaon River, 863. (English, Chapter 1 ).
10. ↑ ^{a b c} Jenkins: Byzantium: The Imperial Centuries, AD 610-1071. 1987, p. 162.
11. ↑ ^{a b} Huxley: The Emperor Michael III and the Battle of Bishop's Meadow (AD 863). 1975, pp. 448-449.
12. ↑ ^{a b c d} Treadgold: A History of the Byzantine State and Society. 1997, p. 452.
13. ^ Huxley: The Emperor Michael III and the Battle of Bishop's Meadow (AD 863). 1975, p. 449.
14. ^ Huxley: The Emperor Michael III and the Battle of Bishop's Meadow (AD 863). 1975, p. 445.
15. ↑ ^{a b c} Kiapidou: Battle of Lalakaon River, 863. (English, Chapter 2 ).
16. ^ Jenkins: Byzantium: The Imperial Centuries, AD 610-1071. 1987, pp. 162-163.
17. ↑ ^{a b c} Kiapidou: Battle of Lalakaon River, 863. (English, Chapter 3 ).
18. ↑ ^{a b} Whittow: The Making of Byzantium, 600-1025. 1996, p. 311.
19. ↑ Whittow: The Making of Byzantium, 600-1025. 1996, pp. 282-284.
20. ↑ Hans Georg Beck: History of Byzantine Folk Literature. CH Beck, Munich 1971, p. 54.