John Kourkouas

His success in battles against the Muslim states in the East reversed the course of the centuries-long Arab–Byzantine wars and set the stage for Byzantium's eastern conquests later in the century.

In 923, Kourkouas was appointed commander-in-chief of the Byzantine armies along the eastern frontier, facing the Abbasid Caliphate and the semi-autonomous Arab Muslim border emirates.

Kourkouas also played a role in the defeat of a major Rus' raid in 941 and recovered the Mandylion of Edessa, an important and holy relic believed to depict the face of Jesus Christ.

[3][7] In the late regency of Empress Zoe Karbonopsina (914–919) for her infant son Constantine VII (r. 913–959), Kourkouas was appointed as the commander of the Vigla palace guard regiment, probably through the machinations of admiral Romanos Lekapenos, as part of the latter's drive for the throne.

[8][9] As a reward for his support, in c. 923, Romanos Lekapenos promoted Kourkouas to the post of Domestic of the Schools, in effect commander-in-chief of all the imperial armies in Anatolia.

[13] Hence, Kourkouas's first task as Domestic of the East was the suppression of the revolt of Bardas Boilas, the governor (strategos) of Chaldia, a strategically important area on the Empire's northeastern Anatolian frontier.

As commander of this northernmost sector of the eastern frontier, Theophilos proved a competent soldier and gave valuable assistance to his brother's campaigns.

[14][15] Following the Muslim conquests of the 7th century, the Arab–Byzantine conflict had featured constant raids and counter-raids along a relatively static border roughly defined by the line of the Taurus and Anti-Taurus Mountains.

Only after 863, with the victory in the Battle of Lalakaon, did the Byzantines gradually regain some lost ground against the Muslims, launching ever-deeper raids into Syria and Upper Mesopotamia and annexing the Paulician state around Tephrike (now Divriği).

[17][18] Furthermore, according to historian Mark Whittow, "by 912 the Arabs had been pinned back behind the Taurus and Anti-Taurus", encouraging the Armenians to switch their allegiance from the Abbasid Caliphate to the Empire, in whose service they entered in increasing numbers.

[21] Aided by his brother Theophilos and an Armenian contingent under the strategos of Lykandos, Melias,[22] Kourkouas targeted Melitene (modern Malatya), the center of an emirate which had long been a thorn in Byzantium's side.

[23][24] The Byzantine army successfully stormed the lower city, and although the citadel held out, Kourkouas concluded a treaty by which the emir accepted tributary status.

[25] At the same time, Thamal, the emir of Tarsus, conducted successful raids into southern Anatolia and neutralized Ibn al-Dahhak, a local Kurdish leader who supported the Byzantines.

Once the city was invested, they vociferously demanded that the Byzantines hand over several captured towns, but when one of them, the fort of Mastaton, was surrendered, the Iberians promptly returned it to the Arabs.

[32] After seven months of siege, Theodosiopolis fell in spring 931 and was transformed into a tributary vassal, while, according to Constantine VII's De Administrando Imperio, all territory north of the river Araxes was given to the Iberian king David II.

[21] After attempts to take the city by storm or subterfuge failed, the Byzantines established a ring of fortresses on the hills around the plain of Melitene, and methodically ravaged the area.

[13] By early 931, the inhabitants of Melitene were forced to come to terms: they agreed to tributary status and even undertook to provide a military contingent to campaign alongside the Byzantines.

[35][37] Sa'id was, however, unable to remain in the area or to leave a sufficient garrison; once he left for Mosul, the Byzantines returned and resumed both the blockade of Melitene and their scorched-earth tactics.

Historians suggest that the Byzantines were likely preoccupied with the full pacification of Melitene, and the Arab emirates, deprived of any potential support from the Caliphate, were reluctant to provoke them.

[40][42] With the decline of the Caliphate and its obvious inability to defend its border provinces, a new local dynasty, the Hamdanids, emerged as the principal antagonists of Byzantium in northern Mesopotamia and Syria.

[42] In c. 935, the Arab tribe of Banu Habib, defeated by the rising Hamdanids, defected in its entirety to the Byzantines, converted to Christianity, and placed its 12,000 horsemen at the disposal of the Empire.

[41] By that time, the Byzantines had captured Arsamosata and additional strategically important locations in the mountains of southwest Armenia, posing a direct threat to the Muslim emirates around Lake Van.

[42] To reverse the situation, in 940 Sayf al-Dawla initiated a remarkable campaign: starting from Mayyafiriqin (Byzantine Martyropolis), he crossed the Bitlis pass into Armenia, where he seized several fortresses and accepted the submission of the local lords, both Muslim and Christian.

[46][47][48] Sayf al-Dawla was not able to follow up on this effort: until 945, the Hamdanids were preoccupied with internal developments in the Caliphate and with fighting against their rivals in southern Iraq and the Ikhshidids in Syria.

In early summer 941, as Kourkouas prepared to resume campaigning in the East, his attention was diverted by an unexpected event: the appearance of a Rus' fleet that raided the area around Constantinople itself.

While the navy and Kourkouas's army were recalled, a hastily assembled squadron of old ships armed with Greek Fire and placed under the protovestiarios Theophanes defeated the Rus' fleet on June 11, forcing it to abandon its course toward the city.

Although such a union would effectively cement the loyalty of the army, it would also strengthen the position of the legitimate Macedonian line, represented by Constantine VII, over the imperial claims of Romanos's own sons.

[68] "... the aforementioned magistros and Domestic of the Schools John became unrivalled in matters of war, and set up many and great trophies, and expanded the Roman boundaries and sacked many Hagarene cities."

Later Byzantine chroniclers hailed him as the general who restored the imperial frontier to the Euphrates,[71] In a contemporary eight-book history, written by a protospatharios Manuel and now lost save for a short summary in Theophanes Continuatus, he is acclaimed for having conquered a thousand cities, and described as "a second Trajan or Belisarius".

Obverse (right) and reverse (left) view of gold coin. On the obverse, Christ seated on throne. On the reverse, two crowned men, one bearded and one not, holding a patriarchal cross on a staff between them.
Gold coin ( solidus ) of Romanos I Lekapenos, depicting him and his eldest son (and co-emperor from 921 on), Christopher .
Map of the southern Caucasus and the area of eastern Turkey and northern Iraq and Syria. Greater Armenia in the center with minor Caucasian principalities to its northeast, the Byzantines to the west and the Abbasid caliphate to the south and east.
Map of Armenia and the Caucasian states in the mid-10th century.
Medieval miniature depicting a city being stormed. To the left is the Byzantine army, with shields and spears, with the tents of their camp to their back. They are scaling ladders onto the walls of a city (right), whose defenders try to fight them off from their top.
The fall of Melitene, miniature from the Skylitzes Chronicle .
Beneath a domed superstructure, a delegation of bearded men stands left, in the center, a man surrenders a cloth with the face of Christ to another man, who kisses it, while churchmen stand to the right.
The surrender of the Mandylion to the Byzantine parakoimomenos Theophanes by the Edessenes, from the Madrid Skylitzes .