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The Battle of Sebastopolis was fought at Sebastopolis (mostly identified with Elaiussa Sebaste in Cilicia but also with modern Sulusaray) in 692 CE between the Byzantine Empire and the Umayyad Caliphate under Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan. The battle ended the peace that had existed between the two powers since 680. Justinian II had hoped to take advantage of the civil war in the Caliphate to retake at least parts of the Empire lost 50 years ago. Initially this worked out, as by the mid 80's, Justinian had recaptured Armenia from one of the Umuyaad pretender states and had ended coownership of Cyprus, in addition to requesting large amounts of tribute. Buoyed by this success, Justinian tried a far more ambitious approach, but it backfired disastrously. The Byzantine defeat ended the temporary stability the Empire had endured since the failure of the siege of Constaintinople 18 years prior. Justinian would be overthrown after the battle, and the ensuing civil war would tear the Byzantine Empire apart, while the Caliphate in the aftermath of their own civil war, would destroy Carthage, ending Byzantine rule in North Africa, take complete control of Cyprus, and launch aggressive raids into Anatolia.

The Umayyad army was led by Muhammad ibn Marwan. The Byzantines were led by Leontios and included a "special army" of 30,000 Slavs under their leader, Neboulos. The Umayyads, incensed at the breaking of the treaty, used copies of its texts in the place of a flag. Though the battle seemed to be tilting to the Byzantine advantage, the defection of upwards of 20,000 Slavs ensured a Byzantine defeat. One source states that the Emperor Justinian II massacred the remaining Slavs, including women and children, at the Gulf of Nicomedia, but modern scholars do not consider it a reliable account.

Notes

1. Brooks, E.W., "The Successors of Heraclius to 717" in The Cambridge Medieval History, vol. 2(Cambridge University Press, 1957), 407.
2. Ostrogorsky, George, History of the Byzantine state,(Rutgers University Press, 1969), 131.
3. ^ Hendy, Michael F., Studies in the Byzantine Monetary Economy C. 300-1450, (Cambridge University Press, 2008), 631.
4. ^ Haldon, John F., Byzantium in the seventh century, (Cambridge University Press, 1997), 72.

Sources

• Hendy, Michael F. (2008). Studies in the Byzantine Monetary Economy C. 300-1450. Cambridge University Press.
• Lilie, Ralph-Johannes (1976), Die byzantinische Reaktion auf die Ausbreitung der Araber. Studien zur Strukturwandlung des byzantinischen Staates im 7. und 8. Jhd. (in German), Munich: Institut für Byzantinistik und Neugriechische Philologie der Universität München, OCLC 797598069
• Stratos, A.N. (1980), Byzantium in the Seventh Century, Volume V: Justinian II, Leontius and Tiberius, 685–711, Amsterdam: Adolf M. Hakkert, pp. 34–38, ISBN 90-256-0852-3

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