Battle of Kardia 872
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Year | 872 | Wikidata P585 (point in time) |
|---|---|---|
| Era | Medieval (500–1499) | derived from year |
| Location | Turkey | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Asia | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | Arab–Byzantine wars | Wikidata P361 |
| Coordinates | 40.5500, 26.7500 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The Battle of Kardia was a naval battle fought in c. 872/3 between the fleets of the Byzantine Empire and the Cretan Saracens off Kardia, in the Gulf of Saros. The battle was a major Byzantine victory.
According to the 10th-century chronicler Theophanes Continuatus—whose work was later reused almost without change by the 11th-century historian John Skylitzes—in the early years of the reign of the Emperor Basil I the Macedonian (r. 867–886), the Arab emir of Crete, Shu'ayb ("Saet" in Greek), son of the founder of the emirate, Abu Hafs, sent a Greek renegade called Photios, "a warlike and energetic fellow", on a major raiding expedition against the Byzantine Empire. The fleet led by Photios comprised over 50 vessels, including 27 heavy vessels (koumbaria) and many lighter galleys.
This fleet plundered the shores of the Aegean Sea, looting and taking prisoners to be sold as slaves, and even penetrated into the Propontis and reached Prokonnesos, in the vicinity of Constantinople; the first time since the Second Arab Siege of Constantinople in 717–718 that a Muslim fleet had come so close to the Byzantine capital. The Byzantine response was headed by the droungarios of the Fleet, Niketas Ooryphas, who met the Saracen fleet in battle off Kardia, in the Gulf of Saros.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battle of Kardia (revision 1370266776), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; shortened by selecting paragraphs and trimming at a sentence boundary; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
Nearby battles
- Battle of Bulair 1913 · 5 km
- Battle of Gallipoli (1416) 1416 · 12 km
- Capture of Gallipoli (1354) 1354 · 17 km
- Battle of Gallipoli (1312) 1312 · 17 km
- Battle of Aegospotami 405 BC · 37 km
- Battle of the Dardanelles (1657) 1657 · 49 km
Other battles of the Arab–Byzantine wars
- Battle of Anzen 838
- Sack of Amorium 838
- Siege of Samosata (859) 859
- Capture of Faruriyyah 862
- Siege of Ragusa (866–868) 866
- Battle of Bathys Ryax 872
- Sack of Thessalonica (904) 904
- Siege of Dvin (927) 927
- Battle of Marash (953) 953
- Siege of Hadath 955
All 34 battles of the Arab–Byzantine wars →
Browse more: battles in Turkey · Asia · Medieval battles