The Abbasid invasion of Asia Minor in 806 was the largest of a long series of military operations launched by the Abbasid Caliphate against the Byzantine Empire. The expedition took place in southeastern and central Asia Minor. The Abbasids met no opposition and raided at will, capturing several towns and fortresses.
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The Abbasid invasion of Asia Minor in 806 was the largest of a long series of military operations launched by the Abbasid Caliphate against the Byzantine Empire. The expedition took place in southeastern and central Asia Minor. The Abbasids met no opposition and raided at will, capturing several towns and fortresses. The deposition of Byzantine empress Irene of Athens in October 802 and the accession of Nikephoros I in her place marked the start of a more violent phase in the long history of the Arab–Byzantine wars. Smaller-scale raids continued on both sides, but the AbbasID civil war, which began after 809, and the Byzantine preoccupation with the Bulgars contributed to a cessation of large-scale Arab–byzantine conflict for the next two decades. An exchange of prisoners was also arranged and took place during the winter of the two empires at the border of Sicily and Southern Italy in 809. The two armies faced one another for two months in Asia Minor, but it did not come to a battle until the Emperor arranged and a truce for the remainder of the year. In the next year, 804, an Abbasid force crossed the Taurus Mountains into the Asia Minor and confronted the Arabs, but was surprised and defeated at the Battle of Krasos, where he barely escaped with his life. In 806, the Abbasids invaded the Byzantine province of Cappadocia and captured the city of Herakleia; its name was later given to a victory monument erected by the Caliph near Raqqa.
After Harun al-Rashid’s death three years later, prevented a reprisal on a similar scale to 806. The Abbasid army set out from Raqqa on 11 June 806 and crossed the coastal region of Cilicia, and invaded the Taurus Mountains; invading the Byzantine province of CappadOCia. In spring 803, Harun launched a raid under his son al-Qasim in spring 804. In April 805, the two armies met again in the region, but this time Harun exacted an additional personal tax levied on the Emperor and his son and heir, Staurakios, as a token of their submission to the Caliphate. Almost immediately following Harun’s departure, the new emperor violated the peace terms by refortifying the sacked frontier forts and stopping tribute payments. The Byzantine losses forced Nikephos to seek peace terms in which he offered a resumption of tribute payments in exchange for the AbbasIDS’ withdrawal. The peace terms were agreed for a three-year truce after Harun’s first large- scale campaign into Asia Minor in 782. In 798, Irene apparently secured a truce with Caliph Harun Al-R Rashid in 798 in Exchange for the annual payment of tribute, repeating the terms agreed for the three- year truce. Harun was preoccupied with a rebellion in Khurasan, whose governor, Ali ibn Isa ibn Ali, whose life was saved by the governor, whose father, Ali, was killed.
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