A combination of factors meant that the regular Byzantine forces were at a considerable numerical disadvantage against the Turks: the local thematic armies had been disbanded, while many of the professional troops had been diverted to the Balkans to face the revolt of Leo Tornikios.

Emperor Constantine IX chose the latter option and ordered his forces to adopt a passive stance, while requesting aid from the ruler of Georgian Duchy of Kldekari, Liparit IV.

After the conquest of territories in present-day Iran by the Seljuq Empire, a large number of Oghuz Turks arrived on the Byzantine borderlands of Armenia in the late 1040s.

[2] At the same time, the eastern defences of the Byzantine Empire had been weakened by Emperor Constantine IX Monomachos (r. 1042–1055), who allowed the thematic troops (provincial levies) of Iberia and Mesopotamia to relinquish their military obligations in favour of tax payments.

Ibn al-Athir reports that raiding detachments reached as far as Trebizond in Chaldia and the Akampsis river in the north, and the districts of Taron and Chorzianene in the south, but this probably refers to the Oghuz raiders Ibrahim had sent out, rather than the main part of his army.

Aaron, on the other hand, argued in favour of a defensive strategy against such a large army, recommending withdrawing behind their fortifications and conserving their forces until Emperor Constantine IX sent clear instructions.

[3] As a result, Aaron's view prevailed; messages were sent to Constantinople to inform the Emperor, and in the meantime the Byzantine troops made camp on the plain of Outrou in Basean, while the civilian population was ordered to find refuge in the local fortresses.

[16][21] The Byzantine army's inactivity had tragic consequences, as the Seljuqs were able to move about freely, and attack the fortress of Artze, a wealthy market town which attracted merchants from Syria and Armenia.

The inhabitants resisted successfully for a while, as the Seljuqs could not overcome the barricades they had hastily erected; but Kekaumenos' urgings to go to the town's aid were rebuffed, according to Skylitzes, by his fellow generals on account of the Emperor's order.

Finally, the Seljuqs dropped flammable material and torches into the town, so that the defenders, caught between a raging fire and the Turkish archers, broke and fled.

The town was captured and plundered, and its inhabitants massacred; Skylitzes writes that "around 150,000 souls reportedly perished" by sword or by fire, although this number is considered exaggerated by modern scholars.

[26][c] Again, according to Skylitzes, Kekaumenos' advice to attack the isolated Turkish detachments as they arrived was not heeded, because it was a Saturday (18 September) and Liparit considered it an unlucky day and refused to fight.

[33][34] The devastation left behind by the Seljuq raid was so fearful that in 1051/52 the Byzantine magnate Eustathios Boilas described those lands as "foul and unmanageable... inhabited by snakes, scorpions, and wild beasts".

[35] The Muslim sources on the other hand, follow the conventions of jihad narratives in stressing the success of the campaign in reaching deep into Byzantine territory—allegedly only 15 days' march from Constantinople—and the amount of plunder and captives seized.

These successes were widely publicized to serve political aims: taking up the mantle of jihad against the age-old enemy of Islam legitimized the upstart Seljuqs and bolstered their claims to be the pre-eminent power in the Muslim world, particularly in their chosen role as champions of Sunni orthodoxy against the Shi'a Fatimid Caliphate.