Battle of Andrassos

Battle of Andrassos Part of the Arab–Byzantine Wars Depiction of the battle in the Madrid Skylitzes Date 8 November 960 Location Andrassos Result Decisive Byzantine victory Belligerents Byzantine Empire Hamdanid Emirate of Aleppo Commanders and leaders Leo Phokas the Younger Constantine Maleinos Sayf al-Dawla

Arab–Byzantine wars Early conflicts Mu'tah Tabouk Dathin Firaz Rashidun conquest of Syria Qarteen Bosra Ajnadayn Marj Rahit Fahl Damascus Maraj-al-Debaj Emesa Yarmouk Jerusalem Hazir Aleppo Iron Bridge Germanicia Rashidun conquest of Egypt Heliopolis Alexandria Nikiou Umayyad conquest of North Africa Sufetula Vescera Carthage Umayyad invasions of Anatolia and Constantinople 1st Constantinople Sebastopolis Tyana 2nd Constantinople Nicaea Akroinon Arab–Byzantine border warfare Kamacha Abbasid invasion of 782 Kopidnadon Krasos Abbasid invasion of 806 Anzen and Amorium Mauropotamos Faruriyyah Lalakaon Bathys Ryax Sicily and Southern Italy 1st Syracuse 2nd Syracuse George Maniakes in Sicily Naval warfare and raids Phoenix Muslim conquest of Crete Thasos Damietta Campaigns of Niketas Ooryphas and Nasar Thessalonica Byzantine reconquest of Crete Byzantine Reconquest John Kourkouas campaigns Sayf al-Dawla campaigns Marash Raban Andrassos Nikephoros Phokas campaigns John Tzimiskes campaigns Orontes Basil II campaigns Azaz

The Battle of Andrassos or Adrassos was an engagement fought in autumn 960 in an unidentified mountain pass on the Taurus Mountains, between the Byzantines, led by Leo Phokas the Younger, and the forces of the Hamdanid Emirate of Aleppo under the emir Sayf al-Dawla. Taking advantage of the absence of much of the Byzantine army on campaign against the Emirate of Crete, the Hamdanid prince invaded Asia Minor and raided widely. On his return, however, his army was ambushed by Leo Phokas at the pass of Andrassos. Sayf al-Dawla himself barely escaped, but his army was annihilated. Coming after a series of costly defeats in the previous years, this battle broke the power of the Hamdanid emirate for good.

Sources

• Bianquis, Thierry (1997). "Sayf al-Dawla". The Encyclopedia of Islam, New Edition, Volume IX: San–Sze. Leiden and New York: BRILL. pp. 103–110. ISBN 90-04-09419-9. 
• Stouraitis, Ioannis (2003). "Battle at the Straights of Andrasus, 960". Encyclopedia of the Hellenic World. Foundation of the Hellenic World. Retrieved 19 July 2012. 
• Talbot, Alice-Mary; Sullivan, Dennis F., eds. (2005). The History of Leo the Deacon: Byzantine Military Expansion in the Tenth Century. Washington: Dumbarton Oaks. pp. 70–76. ISBN 978-0-88402-324-1. 
• Treadgold, Warren T. (1997). A History of the Byzantine State and Society. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press. p. 495. ISBN 0-8047-2630-2. 
• Wortley, John, ed. (2010). John Skylitzes: A Synopsis of Byzantine History, 811-1057. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. p. 241. ISBN 978-0-521-76705-7.