Seljuk Campaigns in the Aegean

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Byzantine-Seljuk wars
Date 1081 - 1095
Location Aegean Sea
Result Overall Byzantine victory
Territorial
changes		 Seljuk Turks gain control of and then lose Chios, Lesbos, Smyrna and Abydos.
Belligerents
Byzantine Empire Seljuq Turks
Commanders
Alexios I Komnenos
Constantine Dalassenus		 Çaka Bey
Strength
Unknown Unknown
v • d • e
Byzantine-Seljuk wars
Kapetrou – 1st Manzikert – Caesarea – Iconium – 2nd Manzikert – 1st Nicaea – Antioch – Levounion – Seljuk Campaigns in the Aegean – 2nd Nicaea – 3rd Nicaea – Philomelion – Campaigns of John I Komnenos – Myriokephalon – Hyelion and Leimocheir – Cotyaeum – Trebizond – Antalya – 2nd Meander Valley


The Seljuk Campaigns in the Aegean refer to the ground and naval actions conducted by the Seljuk Turks under the leadership of Çaka Bey against the Byzantine Empire. A fierce opponent, Çaka Bey succeeded in inflicting the first Turkish naval victory against Byzantium and captured a few Aegean Islands, supplemented by the conquest of Smyrna and Abydos. However, Alexios I launched a counter-attack in the aftermath of the First Crusade. His son, John II Komnenos inherited a sizable amount of land in Western Asia Minor. However, the port city of Antalya was under Seljuk siege. Nonetheless, John's tireless campaigns drove the Turks deep into Anatolia and by 1143 the Seljuk Turks had lost all control of the coastal regions of Asia Minor. The Byzantines under Manuel I Komnenos could muster some 200 ships. Not until the demise of the Comnenian dynasty would the Turks capture a port and it was Umur of Aydin in c. 1300's that constituted the first Turkish threat to Christian shipping in the Aegean since the 11th century.