Battle of Krasos
A surprise Abbasid victory that wounded the Byzantine emperor.
The Battle of Krasos was a military engagement during the Arab–Byzantine Wars in August 804, fought between the Byzantines under Emperor Nikephoros I and an Abbasid army led by Ibrahim ibn Jibril. The battle resulted in a heavy defeat for Nikephoros, who barely escaped with his life, and led to a truce and prisoner exchange.
Quick Facts
- Part of
- the Arab–Byzantine wars
- Date
- August/September 804 AD
- Location
- Krasos, Phrygia, modern Turkey
- Result
- Abbasid victory
Facts from the source article.
Background
The deposition of Empress Irene of Athens in October 802 and the accession of Nikephoros I marked a more violent phase in the Arab–Byzantine Wars. Irene had secured a truce with Harun al-Rashid in 798 through annual tribute, but Nikephoros, more warlike, ceased the payments. Harun retaliated with raids under his son al-Qasim, but Nikephoros was delayed by a revolt under Bardanes Tourkos. After suppressing the revolt, Nikephoros marched against a larger invasion led by Harun himself. The two armies confronted each other for two months in central Asia Minor without battle, and Nikephoros arranged a withdrawal and truce for the remainder of the year in exchange for a one-off tribute payment.
Battle
After Nikephoros broke their treaty and sent a provocative letter, Harun al-Rashid angrily scrawled a reply on its back. In August 804, Harun ordered his general Ibrahim ibn Jibril to raid Byzantine territory. The Arab force marched through the Cilician Gates, plundering freely. Nikephoros marched to intercept them but turned back because of trouble behind his lines. While retreating, the Arabs ambushed him at Krasos, a small plain in Phrygia along a road, whose exact spot is unknown. The Byzantines lost heavily: the historian al-Tabari says 40,700 men and 4,000 pack animals fell. The emperor himself suffered three wounds and barely escaped, saved only by his officers’ courage.
Aftermath
Preoccupied with trouble in Khurasan, Harun accepted tribute and made peace. An exchange of prisoners took place during the winter at the Lamos River in Cilicia, with 3,700 Muslims exchanged for Byzantine captives. During Harun's absence, Nikephoros rebuilt the walls of Safsaf, Thebasa, and Ancyra. The following summer he launched the first Byzantine raid in two decades into the Arab frontier district in Cilicia, capturing Tarsus. Another Byzantine force raided Upper Mesopotamia and besieged Melitene, while a rebellion began in Cyprus. Harun retaliated with a massive invasion in 806, forcing Nikephoros to agree to pay 300,000 dinars and repair fortresses, but Nikephoros soon violated the terms. A peace treaty in 808 left the Byzantine frontier zone intact and ended tribute payments.
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