Battle of Lalakaon
The Levant Egypt North Africa Anatolia & Constantinople Border conflicts Sicily and Southern Italy Naval warfare Byzantine reconquest The Battle of Lalakaon (Greek: Μάχη τοῦ Λαλακάοντος), or Battle of Poson or Porson (Μάχη τοῦ Πό(ρ)σωνος),[1] was fought in 863 between the Byzantine Empire and an invading Arab army in Paphlagonia (modern northern Turkey).Byzantine historians report that Umar, enraged that the sea blocked his advance, ordered it to be lashed, but modern scholars consider this account was most likely inspired by a similar story about Xerxes during the Greco-Persian Wars.[15][16][17] When Michael learned of the fall of Amisos, he assembled a huge force—al-Tabari claims 50,000 men—under his uncle Petronas, who held the post of Domestic of the Schools (commander-in-chief of the Byzantine field army) and Nasar, the strategos (military governor) of the Bucellarian Theme.The Byzantines hailed them as revenge for the sack of Amorium 25 years earlier, the victorious generals were granted a triumphal entry into Constantinople, and special celebrations and services were held.[28][30] Al-Tabari reports that the news of the deaths of Umar and Ali al-Armani—"strong defenders of Islam, men of great courage who elicited enormous praise among the frontier districts where they served"—provoked an outpouring of grief in Baghdad and other cities, culminating in riots and looting.Although private donations and volunteers for the holy war began to gather at the border, "the central authorities [were not] prepared to send a military force against the Byzantines on their own account in those days" because of ongoing internal turmoil in the Abbasid Caliphate.[31] The removal of the eastern threat and increasing Byzantine confidence also opened up opportunities in the west, where the Bulgarian ruler Boris (r. 852–889) had been negotiating with the Pope and Louis the German (r. 817–876) for the conversion of himself and his people to Christianity.[1][30][32] According to the French Byzantinist Henri Grégoire, the Byzantine successes against the Arabs, which culminated in the Battle of Lalakaon, inspired one of the oldest surviving acritic (heroic) poems: the Song of Armouris.[33] A battle in the Byzantine epic cycle around Digenis Akritas is also reminiscent of the events at Lalakaon, as the eponymous hero surrounds an Arab army near Malakopeia.
Arab–Byzantine warsMadrid SkylitzesPaphlagoniaAsia MinorAbbasid CaliphateEmirate of MelitenePaulician principality of TephrikeByzantine EmpireUmar al-AqtaKarbeasMichael IIIPetronasMu'tahDathinThe LevantMarj Rahital-QaryataynAjnadaynYaqusaMarj al-SaffarSanita-al-UqabDamascusMaraj-al-DebajMarj ar-RumYarmoukLaodiceaJerusalem1st AleppoIron Bridge2nd EmesaGermaniciaHeliopolisBabylon FortressAlexandriaNikiouBahnasaNorth AfricaSufetulaVesceraCarthageTabarkaAnatoliaConstantinople1st ConstantinopleSebastopolis2nd ConstantinopleNicaeaAkroinonKamachaAsia Minor (782)KopidnadonKrasosAsia Minor (806)AmoriumMauropotamosFaruriyyahBathys RyaxSicilySouthern Italy1st SyracuseMessinaButeraLentini2nd Syracuse1st Malta3rd SyracuseCaltavuturoLeo ApostyppesNikephoros Phokas the Elder1st Milazzo2nd Milazzo1st TaorminaGariglianoMarianos Argyros2nd TaorminaRomettaStraits of MessinaGeorge Maniakes in Sicily2nd MaltaPhoenixKeramaia2nd CreteThasosDamiettaRagusaKardiaGulf of CorinthCephaloniaEuriposThessalonica3rd Crete4th CreteJohn KourkouasSayf al-DawlaMarashAndrassosNikephoros II5th CreteAleppoCiliciaAntiochJohn IAlexandrettaBasil IIOrontes2nd AleppoApameaTurkeyByzantine armyMalatyaBlack Seaera of Byzantine ascendancy in the EastBulgariapressured into acceptingByzantine ChristianityByzantine cultural sphereMuslim conquestsBalkanscaliphatesArab frontier zonerazing of AmoriumAmorian dynastyemiratesTarsusAli ibn Yahya al-ArmaniErzurum