Battle of Dazimon

Battle of Anzen

Map of the Byzantine and Arab campaigns in the years 837–838

Date	22 July 838 (838-07-22)
Location	near Dazman
Result	Abbasid victory

Belligerents

Byzantine Empire

Abbasid Caliphate

Commanders and leaders

Emperor Theophilos
Theophobos
Manuel the Armenian (DOW)?

Afshin
Emir Omar al-Aqta

Strength

25,000–40,000

20,000–30,000

The Battle of Anzen or Dazimon was fought on 22 July 838 at Anzen or Dazimon (now Dazmana, Turkey) between the Byzantine Empire and the forces of the Abbasid Caliphate. The Abbasids had launched a huge expedition with two separate armies in retaliation for the Byzantine emperor Theophilos's successes the previous year, and aimed to sack Amorion, one of Byzantium's largest cities. Theophilos with his army confronted the smaller Muslim army, under the Iranian vassal prince Afshin, at Dazimon.

The numerically superior Byzantine army was initially successful, but when Theophilos resolved to lead an attack in person, his absence from his usual post caused panic among the Byzantine troops, who feared that he had been killed. Coupled with a fierce counterattack by Afshin's Turkish horse-archers, the Byzantine army broke and fled. Theophilos and his guard were besieged for a while in a hill, before making good their escape. The defeat opened the way for the brutal sack of Amorion a few weeks later, one of the most serious blows Byzantium suffered in the centuries-long Arab–Byzantine Wars.

In 829, as the young Theophilos (reigned 829–842) ascended the Byzantine throne, the Arab–Byzantine wars had continued on and off for almost two centuries. An ambitious man and a convinced iconoclast, Theophilos sought to bolster his regime and gain support for his religious policies by military success against the Abbasid Caliphate, Byzantium's major antagonist. Throughout the 830s, Theophilos launched a series of campaigns against the Caliphate. These were only moderately successful, but sufficient for the imperial propaganda to portray Theophilos in the traditional Roman manner as a "victorious emperor". In 837, Theophilos personally led a major campaign to the region of the upper Euphrates, sacking the cities of Arsamosata and Sozopetra – which some sources claim as Abbasid Caliph al-Mu'tasim (r. 833–842) own birthplace – and forcing the city of Melitene to pay tribute and deliver hostages in return for being spared.

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