Siege of Antioch 1097
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Year | 1097 | Wikidata P580 (start time) |
|---|---|---|
| Era | Medieval (500–1499) | derived from year |
| Location | Turkey | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Asia | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | First Crusade | Wikidata P361 |
| Participants | Byzantine Empire, Seljuk Empire, crusader | Wikidata P710 |
| Coordinates | 36.2022, 36.1614 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The siege of Antioch took place during the First Crusade in 1097 and 1098, on the Crusaders' way to Jerusalem through Syria. Two sieges took place in succession. The Crusaders sieged the city held by the Seljuk Empire from 20 October 1097 to 3 June 1098, when the Crusaders successfully took the city. A Seljuk relieving army then sieged the Crusaders for three weeks in late June. The second siege led to the Battle of Antioch in which the Crusaders defeated the Seljuks led by Kerbogha. The Crusaders then established the Principality of Antioch, ruled by Bohemond of Taranto.
Antioch (modern Antakya) lay in a strategic location on the Crusaders' route to Judea through the Syrian Coastal mountain range. Supplies, reinforcements and retreat could all be controlled by the city. Anticipating that it would be attacked, the Seljuk governor of the city, Yağısıyan, began stockpiling food and sending requests for help. The Byzantine walls surrounding the city presented a formidable obstacle to its capture, but the leaders of the Crusade felt compelled to besiege Antioch anyway.
The Crusaders arrived outside the city on 21 October and began the siege. The garrison sortied unsuccessfully on 29 December.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Siege of Antioch (revision 1371541219), 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.
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Other battles of the First Crusade
- Siege of Xerigordos 1096
- Battle of Dorylaeum (1097) 1097
- Siege of Nicaea 1097
- Siege of Ma'arra 1098
- Battle of Ascalon 1099
- Siege of Jerusalem (1099) 1099
All 7 battles of the First Crusade →
Browse more: battles in Turkey · Asia · Medieval battles