Battle of Philomelion

Following the success of the First Crusade, the Byzantine armed forces, led by John Doukas the megas doux, reconquered the Aegean coastline and much of the interior of western Anatolia.

Following their defeats, the Seljuqs under Malik Shah had recovered control of central Anatolia, re-consolidating a viable state around the city of Iconium.

Anna Komnene, the primary source for the campaign, implies that the Seljuq capital of Iconium was the goal of the expedition, but evidently Alexios abandoned this plan and contented himself with staging a conspicuous show of force and evacuating the native Christian population from the Turkish dominated areas his army passed through.

[6] However, from her account of the army in action the nature of the parataxis is revealed; it was a defensive formation, a hollow square with the baggage in the centre, infantry on the outside and cavalry in-between, from whence they could mount attacks.

A peace involving an undertaking by Malik Shah to stop Turkish raiding and an admission by the sultan of some measure of, largely theoretical, dependence on the Byzantine emperor was made.

Anna Komnene records that the peace treaty involved an undertaking by Malik Shah to evacuate Anatolia, but this is unlikely in the extreme and must represent hyperbole on her part.

[16] The reverse suffered by Malik Shah at Philomelion and the consequent loss of prestige probably contributed to his demise as he was soon deposed, blinded and eventually murdered by his brother Mas'ud.