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Mutasim's March Through Cappadocia in A. D. 838 Author(s): J. B. Bury Source: The Journal of Hellenic Studies, Vol. 29 (1909), pp. 120-129 Published by: The Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/624648 . Accessed: 12/01/2015 03:14 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. The Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Journal of Hellenic Studies. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 128.235.251.160 on Mon, 12 Jan 2015 03:14:34 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions MUTASIM'S MARCH THROUGH CAPPADOCIA IN A.D. 838. IN the warfare between the Eastern Empire and the Caliphate in the ninth century, one of the most famous passages is the expedition of Mutasim, which was signalised by the siege and capture of Amorion, in A.D. 838. The best, in fact the only full, narrative of the campaign is preserved in the Chronicle of Tabari (A. H. 223).' His account of the opening operations of the invading armies is beset with certain geographical difficulties which I propose to consider in this paper, with the help of material supplied in the writings of Professor Ramsay, and in the hope that he may be able to throw further light on the subject. The Caliph 2 invaded Asia Minor with three armies. His objective was in the first instance Ancyra. His general, Afshin, in command of what we may call the Eastern army, crossed the Taurus by the pass of IHadath (Adata),3 and presumably his route was by Arabissos, Tzamandos, and Sebastea.4 The two divisions of the Western army, under the Caliph himself and Ashnas, started from Cilicia and crossed by the Cilician gates. The plan was that the armies should meet in the neighbourhood of Ancyra, and as the Saracens were well acquainted with the roads of central Asia Minor, they were able to calculate the distances and arrange the times of starting for the Eastern and Western armies respectively,5 so that they could hope to arrive at the same time at Ancyra, if nothing untoward occurred. Ashnas set out from Cilicia on June 19, and was directed to await the arrival of the Caliph's army at Lulon, the great fortress which commanded 1 De Goeje, iii. 1236 sqq. I have used the must be inferred from the fact that his battle Russian r translation of Vasil'ev, Vizantiia i with the army of Theophilus was fought in the Araby, i. Prilozhenie, 30 sqq. and my refer- neighbourhood of Dazimon (Tokat). Vasil'ev ences are to it. So far as I know, Vasil'ev is probably right in supposing (op. cit. 121) is the only modern critic who has worked up that it was part of the plan that Afshin should the relation of Tabari. join another army, from Armenia and Melitene 2 He left Samarra early in April, Yakubi, in (perhaps -rs E 'ApAevL'wv o-pa-aris of Genesios Vas. Pril. 9 ; cp. Masudi, Golden Mcadows, ib. 67). The westward roads from Melitene and 68 de vii. 3(Barbier Meynard, 135). Armenia met at Sebastea. The fertile plain of He started from Saruja (Tabari 31) Dazimon (Kaz-ova) lay on the right (north) of Surghi. the route Sebastea - Sebastopolis - Ancyra. 4 The most direct route to Ancyra was by Cp. Anderson's map of Asia Minor (1903). Caesarea. But that Afshin marched by Sebastea 5 Tabari, ib. This content downloaded from 128.235.251.160 on Mon, 12 Jan 2015 03:14:34 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions MUTASIM'S MARCH THROUGH CAPPADOCIA IN A.D. 838 121 the northern approach of the Pass of Podandos or Cilician Gates.6 Lulon was at this time in the possession of the Moslems; it had been captured by a general of Mamun in the autumn of A.D. 832.7 In the meantime Mutasim himself had encamped in Western Cilicia near the river Lamos, which was the boundary between Roman and Saracen territory. For what reason he went to the Lamos is not stated, and I mention the fact only because it has a bearing on the subsequent narrative of Tabari. Mutasim set out two days after Ashnas (June 21) and crossed the Taurus by the Pass of Podandos, in his footsteps.8 In a manner very common in the Arabic chronicles, Tabari, without referring to the arranged meeting at Lulon, leaps abruptly to a further stage of the march of the invaders. The two armies have again se- parated. Ashnas, evidently in advance, is at Marj-uskuf. and Mutasim in Matamir. Mutasim r sends Ashnas a letter of which the tenor, as reproduced by Tabari, is unintelligible. 'The Emperor is in front of you and B Xazianzos intends to throw his army across RC NaziaMalakopaea. the Lamos. Remain where you MATA IR are, at Marj-uskuf.' Koron. Sasima. Now we know the general Mt Argaeus. locality of Matamir, a name which Andabalis. frequently occurs in the Arabic Nigde. chronicles. It was a district in TYANA. southern Cappadocia, north of Tyana, marked by subterranean t strongholds, which are described (Pashmakji) by Ramsay.9 This is the mean- Lulo (Takhta Keupreu) ing of the word Matamir. The . _ road from Tyana to Soandos, by Podandos. Sasima and traverses 20 30 40 Malakopaia, 10 t 0,.KM. this district. Now the route which, we may suppose, the Caliph would naturally have chosen, in order to reach Ancyra, would have been by Soandos (Nev Sheher), Parnassos, and 6 Lulon and al-Safsaf are names for the same of Podandos (Darb as-Salam), Afshin by the fortress as Ramsay has shown. For the identi- Pass of Hadath, and other armies by other fication of the fortress and a full description of routes. The last words must refer not to the Pass, see Ramsay, Geographical Journal, Ashnas, but to the forces from Melitene and Oct. 1903. Armenia. 7 Yakubi, in Vas. Pril. 8 ; Tabari, ib. 25. Historical 293; 356 the 8 9 Geography, (' plain Tabari says that Mutasim sent the advance. of Venasa, about Sasima and Malokopaia; guard of his own army in the steps of Ashnas, great underground residences are a special and and started himself on June 21. Masudi peculiar feature of this plain, which lies on the (ib. 68) says that Mutasim marched by the Pass direct road north from the Gates '). This content downloaded from 128.235.251.160 on Mon, 12 Jan 2015 03:14:34 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 122 J. B. BURY Akharbuts. Thus the first part of his march would have been through the region of Matamir. As Ashnas was in advance of Mutasim, who was in Matamir, it seems to follow that Marj-uskuf must be sought north of Sasima. This place is. mentioned in a route from Podandos to Dorylaion, described by Ibn Khurdadhbah 10 and Idrisi,11 and discussed by Ramsay in his article on Lycaonia.12 The first stations are Podandos - al-Karm - an-Nawba- al-Kanais-Wafra-Balisa-Marj al-Uskuf.'3 Ramsay thinks that this route (in which Lulon and Tyana do not occur) corresponds, in its first part, to 'the modern horse-road from Podandos by Takhta-Keupreu and Pashmakji to Nigde,' and that thence it proceeded 'through Hassa-Keui and Nenizi (Nazianzos) to Ak-Serai (Archelais).' This view certainly seems best to suit the data. Nigde lies north of Tyana on the main road from Tyana to Sasima. But may it not be that the ninth-century road from Podandos to Sasima lay further to the east than the present horse-road, and joined the Tyana-Sasima road not at Nigde, but at Andabalis ? However this may be, we may, I suggest, identify Ibn Khurdadhbah's an-Nawba with Andabalis. As Sasima (Hassa-Keui) could not well be omitted in the itinerary, it is an obvious conjecture that it should be sought in the next station al-Kanais ('the churches ').14 This place is described by Ibn Khurdadhbah 'on the right of Kawkab.' It seems possible that Kawkab means Malakopaia, and if so, the description 'to the south of Malakopaia' would exactly apply to Sasima. The next important station on the route to Dorylaion, via Archelais, would be Nazianzos, and I propose to identify Nazianzos with Ibn Khurdadhbah's Marj al-Uskuf. I may point out that Nazianzos, rendered illustrious by its famous bishop Gregory, presents a motif for the name Marj al-Uskuf, 'bishop's meadow.' We may now return to the message of the Caliph to his general. They are in southern Cappadocia, marching to Ancyra, and Ashnas is warned of the imminent danger of an attack from a Roman army which the Emperor Theophilus is ready to throw across the river-Lamos. If the Emperor were on the banks of the Lamos, he was no more dangerous to the northward march of the Saracens than if he had been on the banks of a river in Europe. In few places could he have been more safely out of the way than in the kleisurarchy of Seleucia.
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