"The Battle of Myriokephale"

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The Battle of Myriokephale (Miriokephalon) was a battle between the armies of the Byzantine Empire and the Konian Sultanate on September 17, 1176, in which the Byzantines were defeated.

In 1161, Seljuk Sultan Ruma Kilic-Arslan II and Emperor Manuel I Comnenus concluded a peace treaty. Manuel wanted peace for his Anatolian provinces. By strengthening Kilic-Arslan, the emperor created a counterbalance to the power of Nureddin Zangi in the region. Kilych-Arslan had to eliminate internal rivals and gather forces. After the death of Nureddin Zangi in 1174, the sultan subdued the Danishmendids and expelled his brother Shahin Shah, the ruler of Ankara. The emirs fled to Manuel, who demanded that the sultan return the captured territories of the Danishmendids as Byzantine vassals, which he was obliged to do under the treaty. However, Kilic-Arslan ignored Manuel's request.

In 1176, Manuel I Comnenus gathered a large army and marched on Konya. The Seljuks under the command of Sultan Kilic-Arslan II organized an ambush at the Tsibritsa Pass and defeated the Byzantines.

The Battle of Myriokephale was an important milestone in the Turkization of Anatolia. For Byzantium, defeat in the battle meant abandoning territorial claims to Anatolia. Soon, even the Greeks began to call Asia Minor “Turchia”.

According to the Byzantine historian Nikita Honiat, on the pass were the ruins of the fortress Myriokefal (Miriokephalon), which gave the name of the battle. The exact date of the battle and the location of the fortress are still the subject of debate among researchers. Probably, the battle took place in the Bagirsak gorge 30-40 kilometers from Konya.

Historiography
The battle is mentioned in the chronicles of the XII-XIII centuries, but most Muslim chroniclers of the time ignore it. According to historians S. Mejit and , the only extant Muslim source that mentions the battle of Myriokephale is Anonymous Seljuknam. However, Ibn al-Azraq mentions the battle: a critical translation of the “History of Mayafarikin and Amid” part of the “History of Mayafarikin and Amid” published in 1992 by the Turkish historian A. Savran contains information about the forces of the parties, the causes of the war, the castles of Dorile and Sublion, built by Manuel I.

Unlike Muslim sources, Christian sources mention or describe the battle:

Byzantine (Nikita Honiat, John Kinnam, Pseudo-Codin, Neophyte of Cyprus);
Armenians (Smbat Sparapet, Hetum);
Syrian (Mikhail Syrian, Bar-Ebray);
Latin (Roger Hovedensky, Guillaume of Tyre, Cardinal Bozo, Albert of Stadensky, Robert de Torigny, Romuald of Salerne, Annals of St. Rudbert of Salzburg).

The Chronicle of Roger Hoveden contains a letter from Manuel I to King Henry II of England. Cardinal Bozo devoted a long chapter to the battle. Roger and the Cardinal were contemporaries of events, they held high positions during their lifetime and were well informed. The letter of Emperor Manuel contains useful information for determining the site of the battle, as does the chronicle of Nikita Honiata. Po Po