Byzantine Battles: Siege of Amida

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Siege of Amida	year: 973 4 July 973
The Byzantines besieged the city of Amida but suffered a serious defeat	★ ★ ★ ★ ★

enemy: Arabs (of Mosul)	location: Modern Diyarbakir in South-Eastern Asia Minor	accuracy: ●●●●●
battle type: Siege	war: Later Byzantine-Muslim Wars	modern country: Turkey

	▼ The Byzantines(emperor: John I Tzimiskes)	▼ The Enemies
Commander:	General Melias (or Mleh)	Unknown
Forces:	Unknown	Unknown
Losses:

Background story:

In 972, Emperor John Tzimisces turned against the Abbasid Empire and its vassals, beginning with an invasion of Upper Mesopotamia and the Emirate of Mosul, which laid just across the Euphrates from Byzantine territory. The Byzantines, advancing into enemy territory, sacked and burned Nisibis and besieged Martyropolis. Since this fortress held out, Tzimisces returned to Constantinople, leaving Melias (or Mleh), his “Domestic of the Schools of the East”, on the frontier to continue the operations.

The Battle:

Triumph of Tzimisces

The following spring, Melias continued the campaign successfully and reached Melitene. After taking the city, he moved against Amida. Melias defeated the Arabs outside the walls and began to lay siege to the city. After a few days, a violent wind rose up and a thick dust spread over the Byzantine camp. Covered by the dust, men and beast were blinded. When the Arabs saw the disarray in the enemy camp, attacked. The confused Byzantines, unable to react, were routed. Most of them were slaughtered and some, including Melias, were taken prisoners. Previous Byzantine gains in the area were lost. The wounded Melias died next year in captivity.
Tzimisces returned next year to revenge and, finally, captured the city.

Noteworthy:

Tzimisces was determined to destroy Amida in 974, but he was persuaded not to attack it by the city’s ruler who was an ex-lover of his and sister of Hamdan, the Muslim Emir. He extracted an annual tribute, nevertheless.

Aftermath:

Tzimisces came back to revenge and invaded the Emirate of Mosul once more. Ravaging and plundering widely, he took back the territory and Amida (apparently without much difficulty) and pushed back the Arabs forcing the Emir to pay an annual tribute. In 975, he invaded Syria capturing many cities like Emesa (Homs), Baalbek, Damascus, Tiberias, Nazareth, Caesarea, Sidon, Beirut, Byblos, and Tripoli, but they failed to take Jerusalem.

Byzantine Battles

Siege of Amida

973