Battle of Andrassos

Battle of Andrassos
Part of the Arab–Byzantine wars
Depiction of the flight of Sayf al-Dawla from the Madrid Skylitzes
Date 8 November 960 Location Near Andrassos or Adrassos, in the pass of Kylindros (unidentified[a]) Result Byzantine victory
Belligerents
Byzantine Empire	Hamdanid Emirate of Aleppo
Commanders and leaders
Leo Phokas the Younger Constantine Maleinos	Sayf al-Dawla
Strength
Unknown, but considerably fewer	variously from 3,000 to 30,000
Casualties and losses
Light	Very heavy; reportedly only 300 cavalrymen escaped

The Battle of Andrassos or Adrassos was fought on 8 November 960 between the Byzantines, led by Leo Phokas the Younger, and the forces of the Hamdanid Emirate of Aleppo under the emir Sayf al-Dawla. It was fought in an unidentified mountain pass in the Taurus Mountains.

Sayf al-Dawla had established an emirate based in Aleppo in 945, and quickly emerged as the main Muslim antagonist of the Byzantine Empire on its eastern frontier. Both sides launched raids and counter-raids with alternating success: the Hamdanids invading the Byzantine provinces of Asia Minor, and the Byzantines raiding Hamdanid possessions in Upper Mesopotamia and northern Syria.

In mid-960, taking advantage of the absence of much of the Byzantine army on campaign against the Emirate of Crete, the Hamdanid prince launched another invasion of Asia Minor, and raided deeply and widely into the region of Cappadocia. 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.

Following a series of Byzantine successes in the previous years, the battle of Andrassos is considered by many scholars to have finally broken the power of the Hamdanid emirate. Having lost much of his strength, and increasingly beset by illness, Sayf al-Dawla would never again be able to raid as deeply into Byzantine territories. Led by Leo's brother Nikephoros Phokas, the Byzantines now launched a sustained offensive that by 969 had conquered Cilicia and northern Syria around Antioch, and resulted in the vassalization of Aleppo itself.
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