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Emperors 
Sack of Thessalonica |
year: 90429 July 904 |
| Saracen pirates captured and pillaged the city | ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ |
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enemy: Arabs (Abbasids)
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location: Modern Thessaloniki, Northern Greece
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accuracy:
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battle type: Raid |
war: Saracen Mediterranean Raids |
modern country:
Greece |
| ▼ The Byzantines(emperor: Leo VI the Wise) | ▼ The Enemies | |
| Commander: | Petronas, Leo Chitzilakes, Niketas | Leo of Tripoli |
| Forces: | Unknown | Unknown |
| Losses: | A massacre of the Greek populatioν; 30,000 captured |
| Background story: |
| A Muslim fleet, led by the Greek renegade Leo of Tripoli, and with Constantinople as its initial target, sailed from Syria. The Muslims were deterred from attacking Constantinople, and instead turned to Thessalonica. The city sea walls were in bad condition, not maintained for centuries, because nobody ever expected an attack from the sea. It seems that there was information several days before about the impending attack, as Protospatharios Petronas was sent by the emperor to warn the Thessalonians and to coordinate the defense. At the suggestion of Petronas and since there was not enough time for repairs to the walls, the construction of an underwater dam began in order to prevent the approach of enemy ships. However, the general of the Thema and governor of Thessaloniki Leon Chitzilakis , who returned to the city and took over the command, disagreed with this defense plan and ordered the repair of the walls, stopping the construction of the dam. For some reason, the emperor Leo VI sent another strategos as well, the seasoned, Niketas. With all these, when the Saracens came, the city was unprepared, confused and terrified. |
The Battle: |
 The sack of Thessaloniki in the Skylitzes manuscript The Thessalonians tried to resist, with some success in the beginning. After continuous attacks from the sea for two days, the Saracens were able to storm the seaward walls, overcome the Thessalonians' resistance and take the city. The sacking continued for a full week, before the raiders departed for their base in Tripoli (of Lebanon). Many prisoners (22,000 to 30,000) were taken from thew population and sold as slaves. Most of them were bought back by the Byzantines. Moreover, 4000 Muslim prisoners were freed and 60 ships were captured. |
Noteworthy: |
| The sack is chronicled by one of the Greek prisoners, the priest Ioannes Kaminiates. It is interesting that Thessalonica was sacked 3 times during the Byzantine era and for each time a very descriptive chronicle had been written. |
Aftermath: |
| It was one of the worst disasters to befall the Byzantine Empire in the 10th century. Leo of Tripoli tried again to sail against Byzantium in 907 and 912. He was defeated finally in 921/922 near the island of Lemnos by the admiral Ioannes Radenos. |
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