and found that the emperor of Byzantium had already wrought what havoc he could and had hurried (1) back to his own country. The affair had gone too far to be set right, so they returned to the Caliph to inform him of what had taken place.
He asked the commanders, “Which of the Byzantine lands is the most strongly fortified?” They replied, “Amorium; no one has ever attacked it since the coming of Islam, and in their eyes it is more prestigious than Constantinople (2).”
Account of the conquest of Amorium by al-Muʿtaṣim
When al-Muʿtaṣim had finished with the affair of Babak—may Allah curse him—had killed him and seized his territory, he summoned the armies to his presence and prepared for a campaign such as no caliph before him had ever undertaken. He brought with him siege engines, provisions, camels, water skins, beasts of burden, naphtha, horses, and mules in quantities never before heard of, and he set out (3) in hosts as massive as mountains. He dispatched al-Afshin, Ḥaydar ibn Kāwus (4), by way of Saruj, while the Caliph arrayed his own army in a formation the like of which had never been seen, placing in the vanguard those commanders famed for their skill in war. He continued his march until he reached the River al-Liss (5), near Tarsus; that was in the month of Rajab of this blessed year.
The Byzantine emperor advanced with his army toward al-Muʿtaṣim, and the two forces drew near until only about four farsakhs separated them. Meanwhile al-Afshin entered Byzantine territory from another direction and came up [behind the emperor] (6). The emperor was thrown into confusion: if he fought the Caliph, al-Afshin would strike him from the rear and the two would close in upon him and destroy him; but if he turned against one and left the other, that one would take him from behind.
Al-Afshin then drew closer still, advancing with only a small detachment and appointing a kinsman to command the rest (7). He and the emperor met on Thursday, five days before the end of Shaʿbān of that same year. Al-Afshin held firm in the second clash, killing a multitude of Byzantines and wounding many others, yet in that encounter the emperor gained the upper hand (8). News reached al-Afshin that the remainder of his force had scattered from his kinsman and deserted him. He hurried back to find the army in disarray; in anger he beheaded his relative.
All this was reported to al-Muʿtaṣim, and it pleased him greatly. He mounted at once and proceeded to Ancyra, where al-Afshin joined him with those who were with him. They found the inhabitants had fled, so they replenished themselves from the city with food and fodder.