Battle of Sebastopolis

Battle of Sebastopolis Part of the Arab–Byzantine Wars Date 692 Location Sebastopolis Result Umayyad victory Belligerents Umayyad Dynasty Byzantine Empire Commanders and leaders Muhammad ibn Marwan Leontios, Neboulos

Arab–Byzantine wars Early conflicts Mu'tah Dathin Firaz Muslim conquest of the Levant al-Qaryatayn Bosra Ajnadayn Marj Rahit Fahl Damascus Maraj-al-Debaj Emesa Yarmouk Jerusalem Hazir Aleppo Iron Bridge Germanicia Muslim conquest of Egypt Heliopolis Alexandria Nikiou Muslim conquest of North Africa Sufetula Vescera Carthage Umayyad invasions of Anatolia and Constantinople 1st Constantinople Sebastopolis Tyana 2nd Constantinople Nicaea Akroinon Arab–Byzantine border warfare Kamacha Abbasid invasion of 782 Kopidnadon Krasos Abbasid invasion of 806 Anzen and Amorium Mauropotamos Faruriyyah Lalakaon Bathys Ryax Sicily and Southern Italy 1st Syracuse 2nd Syracuse 1st Malta 3rd Syracuse Campaigns of Leo Apostyppes and Nikephoros Phokas the Elder 1st Taormina Garigliano Campaigns of Marianos Argyros 2nd Taormina Rometta Straits of Messina George Maniakes in Sicily 2nd Malta Naval warfare and raids Phoenix Muslim conquest of Crete Thasos Damietta Ragusa Kardia Gulf of Corinth Cephalonia Stelai Euripos Thessalonica Byzantine Reconquest Campaigns of John Kourkouas Campaigns of Sayf al-Dawla Marash Raban Andrassos Campaigns of Nikephoros Phokas Crete Antioch & Alexandretta Campaigns of John Tzimiskes Orontes Apamea Campaigns of Basil II Azaz

The Battle of Sebastopolis was fought at Sebastopolis (mostly identified with Elaiussa Sebaste in Cilicia but also with modern Sulusaray) in 692 between the Byzantine Empire and Umayyads under the caliphate of Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan. The battle ended the peace that had existed between the two powers since 680.

The Umayyad army was led by Muhammad ibn Marwan. The Byzantines were led by Leontios and included a "special army" of 30,000 Slavs under their leader, Neboulos. The Umayyads, incensed at the breaking of the treaty, used copies of its texts in the place of a flag.^[1] Though the battle seemed to be tilting to the Byzantine advantage, the defection of upwards of 20,000 Slavs ensured a Byzantine defeat.^[2][3][4] One source states that the Emperor Justinian II massacred the remaining Slavs, including women and children, at the Gulf of Nicomedia,^[3] but modern scholars do not consider it a reliable account.^[4]

Notes

Sources

• Hendy, Michael F. (2008). Studies in the Byzantine Monetary Economy C. 300-1450. Cambridge University Press. 
• Lilie, Ralph-Johannes (1976), Die byzantinische Reaktion auf die Ausbreitung der Araber. Studien zur Strukturwandlung des byzantinischen Staates im 7. und 8. Jhd. (in German), Munich: Institut für Byzantinistik und Neugriechische Philologie der Universität München 
• Stratos, A.N. (1980), Byzantium in the Seventh Century, Volume V: Justinian II, Leontius and Tiberius, 685–711, Amsterdam: Adolf M. Hakkert, pp. 34–38, ISBN 90-256-0852-3