The Battle of Kapetron or Kapetrou was fought between the Byzantine

Byzantine Empire

The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...

-Georgian

Georgia (country)

Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of...

 armies and the Seljuq Turks on September 10 or September 18, 1048. It was the culmination of an Anatolia

Anatolia

Anatolia is a geographic and historical term denoting the westernmost protrusion of Asia, comprising the majority of the Republic of Turkey...

n expedition of İbrahim Yinal

Ibrahim Yinal

Ibrahim Inal was a Seljuk warlord, and a uterine brother of the sultan Tughril.İbrahim commanded a successful raid against the eastern provinces of the Byzantine Empire which culminated in the Battle of Kapetrou in September 1048. The Arab chronicler Ibn al-Athir reports that he brought back...

, a uterine brother of the sultan Toğrül

Togrül

Tughril, Toghril or Tugrul was the second ruler of the Seljuq dynasty...

.

Background

The emperor Constantine IX sent to the Georgian warlord Liparit, whom the Byzantines had aided in his struggle against the Georgian king Bagrat IV

Bagrat IV of Georgia

Bagrat IV , of the Bagrationi dynasty, was the King of Georgia from 1027 to 1072. During his long and eventful reign, Bagrat sought to repress the great nobility and to secure Georgia's sovereignty from the Byzantine and Seljuqid empires...

, to unite against the advancing Seljuqs; but ordered defensive strategy till the arrival of Georgian reinforcements.

Prelude and description

The battle was preceded by the complete destruction of Arzen

Arzen

Arzen was a small Muslim emirate created c. 820. Arzen region was conquered partially by the emir of Mardastan in 868, and was occupied by Shaybanid dynasty c. 897/898.-Emirs:*Musa Ibn Zorara c. 820-853...

 or Artze, a vibrant commercial center in the Byzantine-administered thema of Iberia and Armenia

Theme of Iberia

The theme of Iberia was an administrative and military unit – theme – within the Byzantine Empire carved by the Byzantine Emperors out of several Armenian and Georgian lands in the 11th century...

 (near the modern-day Erzerum, Turkey

Turkey

Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...

), by the Seljuq forces. A combined Byzantine-Georgian army of 50,000, under the command of Aaron

Aaronios

The Aaronios or Aaron were a Byzantine noble family of Bulgarian origin, being descended from Emperor Ivan Vladislav of Bulgaria ....

, Katakalon Kekaumenos

Katakalon Kekaumenos

- Life :Katakalon Kekaumenos was born in Koloneia, and although apparently a member of the noble Katakalon family, according to John Skylitzes he was not of aristocratic origin. He first distinguished himself in the Sicilian campaign of George Maniakes...

 and Liparit, met the Seljuqs head-on at Kapetrou (modern-day Hasan Kale). In a fierce nocturnal battle, the Christian allies failed to achieve any serious success, and Ibrahim Yinal was able to safely leave the Byzantine territory, laden with spoils and captives, including the Georgian commander Liparit. The emperor later sent ransoms to Toğrül who refused them, however, and released Liparit on condition that he would never again fight the Seljuqs.

Aftermath

The devastation left behind by the Seljuq raid was so fearful that the Byzantine magnate Eustathios Boilas described, in 1051/52, those lands as "foul and unmanageable... inhabited by snakes, scorpions, and wild beasts." The Arab chronicler Ibn al-Athir reports that Ibrahim brought back 100,000 captives and a vast booty loaded on the backs of ten thousand camels.