Battle of Krasos

Battle of Krasos
Part of the Arab–Byzantine Wars
Anatolia and the Byzantine-Arab frontier ca. 780 AD
Date August/September 804 AD Location Krasos, Phrygia, modern Turkey Result Abbasid victory
Belligerents
Abbasid Caliphate	Byzantine Empire
Commanders and leaders
Harun al-Rashid Ibrahim ibn Jibril	Nikephoros I (WIA)

The Battle of Krasos took place during the Arab–Byzantine Wars in August 804, between the Byzantines under Emperor Nikephoros I (r. 802–811) and an Abbasid army under Ibrahim ibn Jibril. Nikephoros' accession in 802 resulted in a resumption of warfare between Byzantium and the Abbasid Caliphate. In late summer 804, the Abbasids had invaded Byzantine Asia Minor for one of their customary raids, and Nikephoros set out to meet them. He was surprised, however, at Krasos and heavily defeated, barely escaping with his own life. A truce and prisoner exchange were afterwards arranged. Despite his defeat, and a massive Abbasid invasion the next year, Nikephoros persevered until troubles in the eastern provinces of the Caliphate forced the Abbasids to conclude a peace.