Sack of Aleppo (962)
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The Sack of Aleppo in December 962 was carried out by the
Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
under
Nikephoros Phokas Nikephoros II Phokas (; – 11 December 969), Latinized Nicephorus II Phocas, was Byzantine emperor from 963 to 969. His career, not uniformly successful in matters of statecraft or of war, nonetheless included brilliant military exploits whi ...
. Aleppo was the capital of the
Hamdanid The Hamdanid dynasty ( ar, الحمدانيون, al-Ḥamdāniyyūn) was a Twelver Shia Arab dynasty of Northern Mesopotamia and Syria (890–1004). They descended from the ancient Banu Taghlib Christian tribe of Mesopotamia and Eastern ...
emir
Sayf al-Dawla ʿAlī ibn ʾAbū l-Hayjāʾ ʿAbdallāh ibn Ḥamdān ibn al-Ḥārith al-Taghlibī ( ar, علي بن أبو الهيجاء عبد الله بن حمدان بن الحارث التغلبي, 22 June 916 – 9 February 967), more commonly known ...
, the Byzantines' chief antagonist at the time.


Background

In October 944, the
Hamdanid The Hamdanid dynasty ( ar, الحمدانيون, al-Ḥamdāniyyūn) was a Twelver Shia Arab dynasty of Northern Mesopotamia and Syria (890–1004). They descended from the ancient Banu Taghlib Christian tribe of Mesopotamia and Eastern ...
emir
Sayf al-Dawla ʿAlī ibn ʾAbū l-Hayjāʾ ʿAbdallāh ibn Ḥamdān ibn al-Ḥārith al-Taghlibī ( ar, علي بن أبو الهيجاء عبد الله بن حمدان بن الحارث التغلبي, 22 June 916 – 9 February 967), more commonly known ...
captured Aleppo and soon extended his control over northern Syria, from Homs in the south to the frontier lands with the
Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
in the northwest and parts of western
Upper Mesopotamia Upper Mesopotamia is the name used for the uplands and great outwash plain of northwestern Iraq, northeastern Syria and southeastern Turkey, in the northern Middle East. Since the early Muslim conquests of the mid-7th century, the region has been ...
. Under Sayf al-Dawla's patronage, Aleppo grew into the chief city of northern Syria, and was the site of major buildings, notably the great palace of Halbas outside Aleppo, endowed with splendid gardens and an aqueduct. The Hamdanid court of Aleppo also became a major centre of cultural activity; as the historian Stephen Humphreys comments, "in his time Aleppo could certainly have held its own with any court in
Renaissance Italy The Italian Renaissance ( it, Rinascimento ) was a period in Italian history covering the 15th and 16th centuries. The period is known for the initial development of the broader Renaissance culture that spread across Europe and marked the trans ...
". Due to the geographical position of his realm, the Hamdanid ruler also emerged as the champion of the Muslim world against the recent advances of the Christian Byzantines in the eastern
Anatolia Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The ...
n borderlands. From 945/6 until the end of his life, he was said to have fought against the Byzantines in over forty battles. The first decade of warfare with the Byzantines was largely in Sayf al-Dawla's favour, with the Hamdanid ruler able to parry the Byzantine attacks and launch counter-raids of his own, resulting in the dismissal of the Byzantine
Domestic of the Schools The office of the Domestic of the Schools ( gr, δομέστικος τῶν σχολῶν, domestikos tōn scholōn) was a senior military post of the Byzantine Empire, extant from the 8th century until at least the early 14th century. Originally ...
(commander-in-chief), Bardas Phokas, and his replacement with his son,
Nikephoros Phokas Nikephoros II Phokas (; – 11 December 969), Latinized Nicephorus II Phocas, was Byzantine emperor from 963 to 969. His career, not uniformly successful in matters of statecraft or of war, nonetheless included brilliant military exploits whi ...
. Assisted by capable lieutenants such as his brother Leo and nephew
John Tzimiskes John I Tzimiskes (; 925 – 10 January 976) was the senior Byzantine emperor from 969 to 976. An intuitive and successful general, he strengthened the Empire and expanded its borders during his short reign. Background John I Tzimiskes ...
, Nikephoros began to turn the tide of the conflict. In 960, trying to take advantage of Nikephoros' absence with the bulk of his army in the reconquest of
Crete Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, ...
, Sayf al-Dawla launched a major invasion of Byzantine
Cappadocia Cappadocia or Capadocia (; tr, Kapadokya), is a historical region in Central Anatolia, Turkey. It largely is in the provinces Nevşehir, Kayseri, Aksaray, Kırşehir, Sivas and Niğde. According to Herodotus, in the time of the Ionian Re ...
, but was attacked and almost annihilated in an ambush by Leo Phokas. Sayf al-Dawla managed to escape, but most modern historians consider that his military power was broken.


Nikephoros' 962 campaign and the sack of Aleppo

In 961, Nikephoros returned and led his troops to sack the town of Anazarbus in Cilicia, killing a part of its population and expelling the rest, and then demolishing its walls. Modern historians have seen this as a deliberate scorched-earth strategy that "created a wasteland between Syria and Cilicia that broke the lines of supply between the two regions", and that opened up the road to Aleppo. Indeed, when he resumed his attacks in April 962, Nikephoros ignored Cilicia, and instead proceeded to attack
Marash Marash (Armenian: Մարաշ), officially Kahramanmaraş () and historically Germanicea (Greek: Γερμανίκεια), is a city in the Mediterranean Region of Turkey and the administrative center of Kahramanmaraş Province. Before 1973, Kahrama ...
, Sisium, Duluk and
Manbij Manbij ( ar, مَنْبِج, Manbiǧ, ku, مەنبج, Minbic, tr, Münbiç, Menbic, or Menbiç) is a city in the northeast of Aleppo Governorate in northern Syria, 30 kilometers (19 mi) west of the Euphrates. In the 2004 census by the Cen ...
, thereby securing the western passes over the Anti-Taurus Mountains. Sayf al-Dawla appears to have been oblivious to this threat: instead, he sent his generals,
Qarghuyah Qarghuyah or Qarquya was an important Arab administrator in the Hamdanid Dynasty under Sayf al-Dawla, who would go on to control Aleppo himself and even sign the Treaty of Safar with the Byzantine Empire as the ruling emir of Aleppo. On January 7 ...
and Naja al-Kasaki, to conduct counter-raids into Byzantine territory, while he tried to restore his authority in Cilicia and rebuild Anazarbus. Negotiations for a truce and a
prisoner exchange A prisoner exchange or prisoner swap is a deal between opposing sides in a conflict to release prisoners: prisoners of war, spies, hostages, etc. Sometimes, dead bodies are involved in an exchange. Geneva Conventions Under the Geneva Conven ...
may have been ongoing at the same time, lulling the Hamdanids into complacency. This illusion was broken in November, when a Byzantine force captured
Manbij Manbij ( ar, مَنْبِج, Manbiǧ, ku, مەنبج, Minbic, tr, Münbiç, Menbic, or Menbiç) is a city in the northeast of Aleppo Governorate in northern Syria, 30 kilometers (19 mi) west of the Euphrates. In the 2004 census by the Cen ...
, the last city north of Aleppo, capturing its governor, Sayf al-Dawla's cousin
Abu Firas al-Hamdani Al-Harith ibn Abi’l-ʿAlaʾ Saʿid ibn Hamdan al-Taghlibi (932–968), better known by his pen name Abu Firas al-Hamdani ( ar, أبو فارس الحمداني), was an Arab prince and poet. He was a cousin of Sayf al-Dawla and a member of the ...
. Early in December, Nikephoros—likely in command of a different army than that which had captured Manbij—moved onto Aleppo itself. The Arab sources dwell extensively on the following events, but provide contradictory details, so that the exact course of the campaign is uncertain. They are unanimous, however, that the attack caught Sayf al-Dawla completely off guard, possibly due to the late season, as the Byzantines did not normally campaign in winter. As a result, the Byzantines held a considerable numerical advantage—Arab sources speak of 70,000 Byzantines against just 4,000 Hamdanid soldiers in the city—leaving Sayf al-Dawla scrambling to bolster his forces with last-minute levies. As the Byzantines advanced on the city, the Hamdanids tried to oppose them, but their reaction appears to have been uncoordinated and confused: Sayf al-Dawla moved to
Azaz Azaz ( ar, أَعْزَاز, ʾAʿzāz) is a city in northwest Syria, roughly north-northwest of Aleppo. According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), Azaz had a population of 31,623 in the 2004 census.
to confront the Byzantine army, but then retreated without doing so, while his lieutenant Naja moved first towards
Antioch Antioch on the Orontes (; grc-gre, Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπὶ Ὀρόντου, ''Antiókheia hē epì Oróntou'', Learned ; also Syrian Antioch) grc-koi, Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπὶ Ὀρόντου; or Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπ ...
and then back towards Azaz, where he was defeated by Nikephoros' lieutenant, Tzimiskes. Whatever the exact course of events, the Byzantines emerged victorious from these initial skirmishes, and proceeded to attack Aleppo. Sayf al-Dawla briefly confronted the Byzantine army with the small force at his disposal before his capital, but, unable to offer any meaningful resistance, he abandoned the city. The Hamdanid ruler fled to the fortress of Balis, but, pursued by Tzimiskes, he moved on to nearby Sab'in. Naja's movements are not entirely clear, but he likewise failed to come to the support of Aleppo. The Byzantines first plundered the unprotected palace of Halbas, securing enormous plunder, including its golden roof; the rest of the building was then torn down. Left without hope of relief, the Aleppines began negotiations, but as the city collapsed into chaos, Nikephoros took advantage and ordered his men to storm it on 23/24 December. The Byzantines did not capture the
citadel A citadel is the core fortified area of a town or city. It may be a castle, fortress, or fortified center. The term is a diminutive of "city", meaning "little city", because it is a smaller part of the city of which it is the defensive core. I ...
, which was defended by a
Daylamite The Daylamites or Dailamites (Middle Persian: ''Daylamīgān''; fa, دیلمیان ''Deylamiyān'') were an Iranian people inhabiting the Daylam—the mountainous regions of northern Iran on the southwest coast of the Caspian Sea, now comprisin ...
garrison, but plundered the city for eight or nine days, torching its buildings and tearing down its fortifications.
Yahya of Antioch Yahya of Antioch, full name Yaḥya ibn Saʿīd al-Anṭākī ( ar, يحيى بن سعيد الأنطاكي), was a Melkite Christian physician and historian of the 11th century. He was most likely born in Fatimid Egypt. He became a physician, b ...
reports that the citadel was attacked by a nephew of Nikephoros Phokas (possibly Theodore Parsakoutenos), but he was killed by a Daylamite soldier. When his severed head was brought to Phokas, the latter reportedly beheaded 1,200 Arab prisoners. Eventually, the Byzantines departed, taking some 10,000 inhabitants, mostly young men, with them as captives; in addition, they took possession of 390,000
silver Silver is a chemical element with the symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical ...
dinars The dinar () is the principal currency unit in several countries near the Mediterranean Sea, and its historical use is even more widespread. The modern dinar's historical antecedents are the gold dinar and the silver dirham, the main coin o ...
, 2,000
camels A camel (from: la, camelus and grc-gre, κάμηλος (''kamēlos'') from Hebrew or Phoenician: גָמָל ''gāmāl''.) is an even-toed ungulate in the genus ''Camelus'' that bears distinctive fatty deposits known as "humps" on its back. ...
and 1,400 mules. Returning to his ruined and half-deserted capital, Sayf al-Dawla repopulated it with refugees from
Qinnasrin Qinnasrin ( ar, قنسرين; syr, ܩܢܫܪܝܢ, ''Qinnašrīn'', lit=Nest of Eagles), also known by numerous other romanizations and originally known as ( la, Chalcis ad Belum; grc-gre, Χαλκὶς, ''Khalkìs''), was a historical town in ...
.


Aftermath

Ibn Hawqal Muḥammad Abū’l-Qāsim Ibn Ḥawqal (), also known as Abū al-Qāsim b. ʻAlī Ibn Ḥawqal al-Naṣībī, born in Nisibis, Upper Mesopotamia; was a 10th-century Arab Muslim writer, geographer, and chronicler who travelled during the ye ...
visited the city after the siege, then he wrote: Some modern scholars have considered the sack of Aleppo as a mere setback for the Hamdanid ruler, but not ultimately critical for his realm, focusing rather on the
conquest Conquest is the act of military subjugation of an enemy by force of arms. Military history provides many examples of conquest: the Roman conquest of Britain, the Mauryan conquest of Afghanistan and of vast areas of the Indian subcontinent, t ...
of
Cilicia Cilicia (); el, Κιλικία, ''Kilikía''; Middle Persian: ''klkyʾy'' (''Klikiyā''); Parthian: ''kylkyʾ'' (''Kilikiyā''); tr, Kilikya). is a geographical region in southern Anatolia in Turkey, extending inland from the northeastern coa ...
that followed in 963–965. Garrood, on the other hand, suggests that the loss of prestige suffered by Sayf al-Dawla was an irreversible blow on his power and authority. From then on, until his death, Sayf al-Dawla's rule would be plagued by revolts and disputes between his subordinates.


References


Sources

* * * * * * * * * {{The Making of Byzantium, 600–1025 960s conflicts 960s in the Byzantine Empire 962 Aleppo 962 Aleppo 962 History of Aleppo