Niketas Chalkoutzes and his entourage escape during a battle between the Byzantines and the Arabs. Miniature from the Madrid Skylitzes
Date
964–965
Location
Cilicia
Result
Byzantine victory
Territorial changes
Cilicia reconquered by the Byzantine Empire
Belligerents
Hamdanid Dynasty
Abbasid Caliphate
Byzantine Empire
Hamdanid Rebels
Commanders and leaders
Sayf al-Dawla
Ali ibn Hamdan
Nikephoros Phokas
Niketas Chalkoutzes
John Tzimiskes
Leo Phokas
Ibn az-Zayyat
Hibat Allah
Marwan al-'Uqayli
Rashiq ibn Abdallah al-Nasimi
Dizbar
Naja al-Kasaki
Strength
70,000 in 961
40,000 in 964
v
t
e
Arab–Byzantine wars
Early conflicts
Mu'tah
Balqa
Firaz
Dathin
The Levant
Marj Rahit
al-Qaryatayn
Bosra
Ajnadayn
Yaqusa
Marj al-Saffar
Sanita-al-Uqab
Damascus
Maraj-al-Debaj
Fahl
Marj ar-Rum
Emesa
Yarmouk
Laodicea
Jerusalem
Hazir
1st Aleppo
Iron Bridge
2nd Emesa
Germanicia
Egypt
Heliopolis
Babylon Fortress
Alexandria
Nikiou
Darishkur
Bahnasa
North Africa
Sufetula
Vescera
Mamma
Carthage
Tabarka
Anatolia & Constantinople
1st Constantinople
Sebastopolis
Tyana
2nd Constantinople
Nicaea
Akroinon
Border conflicts
Kamacha
Asia Minor (782)
Kopidnadon
Krasos
Asia Minor (806)
Anzen
Amorium
Mauropotamos
Faruriyyah
Lalakaon
Bathys Ryax
Sicily and Southern Italy
1st Syracuse
Messina
Butera
Enna
2nd Syracuse
1st Malta
3rd Syracuse
Caltavuturo
Campaigns of Leo Apostyppes & Nikephoros Phokas the Elder
1st Milazzo
2nd Milazzo
1st Taormina
Garigliano
Campaigns of Marianos Argyros
2nd Taormina
Rometta
Straits of Messina
George Maniakes in Sicily
2nd Malta
Naval warfare
Phoenix
Keramaia
1st Crete
2nd Crete
Thasos
Damietta
Ragusa
Kardia
Gulf of Corinth
Cephalonia
Euripos
Thessalonica
3rd Crete
4th Crete
Tyre
Byzantine reconquest
Campaigns of John Kourkouas
Campaigns of Sayf al-Dawla
Marash
Raban
Andrassos
Campaigns of Nikephoros II
5th Crete
Aleppo
Cilicia
Antioch
Campaigns of John I
Alexandretta
Syria
Campaigns of Basil II
Orontes
2nd Aleppo
Apamea
Azaz
The Byzantine conquest of Cilicia was a series of conflicts and engagements between the forces of the Byzantine Empire under Nikephoros II Phokas and the Hamdanid ruler of Aleppo, Sayf al-Dawla, over control of the region of Cilicia in southeastern Anatolia. Since the Muslim conquests of the 7th century, Cilicia had been a frontier province of the Muslim world and a base for regular raids against the Byzantine provinces in Anatolia. By the middle of the 10th century, the fragmentation of the Abbasid Caliphate and the strengthening of Byzantium under the Macedonian dynasty allowed the Byzantines to gradually take the offensive. Under the soldier-emperor Nikephoros II Phokas (r. 963–969), with the help of the general and future emperor John I Tzimiskes, the Byzantines overcame the resistance of Sayf al-Dawla, who had taken control of the former Abbasid borderlands in northern Syria, and launched a series of aggressive campaigns that in 964–965 recaptured Cilicia. The successful conquest opened the way for the recovery of Cyprus and Antioch over the next few years, and the eclipse of the Hamdanids as an independent power in the region.
and 20 Related for: Byzantine conquest of Cilicia information
Phokas, resulting in the recapture of the island. 964–965: ByzantineconquestofCilicia 964–975: Sustained Byzantine offensive in the East, under Nikephoros...
Following its conquest in 1045, and in the midst ofByzantine efforts to further repopulate the Empire's east, Armenian immigration into Cilicia intensified...
Cilicia (/sɪˈlɪʃə/) is a geographical region in southern Anatolia, extending inland from the northeastern coasts of the Mediterranean Sea. Cilicia has...
Greco-Roman period that had lasted about a millennium. Shortly before the conquest, Byzantine (Eastern Roman) rule in the country had been shaken, as Egypt had...
(963) Siege of Rometta (963–965) – Muslim conquestof Sicily Siege of Rome (964) Siege of Tarsus (965) – ByzantineconquestofCilicia Siege of Mopsuestia...
time permanently except Cilicia and most of the Levantine coasts later reconquered, to the Muslim conquests: by the 640s, Cilicia formed the border (Al-Awasim)...
warring Byzantine and Sasanian empires, and were concluding their conquestof Sasanian Persia with their defeat of the Persian army at the Battle of Nahāvand...
recovery of Byzantine control over Cilicia. In 1137, the emperor conquered Tarsus, Adana, and Mopsuestia from the Principality of Armenian Cilicia, and in...
resurgence of the Byzantine Empire during the 10th century. In the east, Nikephoros completed the conquestofCilicia and retook the islands of Crete and...
The Muslim conquestof Sicily began in June 827 and lasted until 902, when the last major Byzantine stronghold on the island, Taormina, fell. Isolated...
Cilicia is the Latin and English language name of a region of southern Anatolia and the northern Levant from the 2nd millennium BC. The region was part...
Danishmend Emirate of Melitene and reconquered all ofCilicia, while forcing Raymond of Poitiers, Prince of Antioch, to recognise Byzantine suzerainty. In...
fallen to the Arabs. The Byzantines also faced Arab attacks through Libya against the Exarchate of Africa, against Cilicia, which controlled the southern...
province of the Byzantine Empire from 390, until its conquest by the Muslim armies in 634–636. Palaestina Secunda, a part of the Diocese of the East,...
The Byzantine Empire under the Amorian dynasty (or Phrygian dynasty) ruled from 820 to 867. The Amorian dynasty continued the policy of restored iconoclasm...
took only one of his many cities. The Seljuk Sultan made an alliance with all nations surrounding him. The King of Armenian Kingdom ofCilicia promised him...
Global Information