Oshin of Lampron

[1] Disappointed with the inability of the Byzantines to protect him against the advance of the Seljuk Turks, Oshin fled west from his fortress near Ganja to Cilicia in 1072.

[2] The 12th century chronicler Samuel of Ani wrote about Oshin's departure from his ancestral lands: "...with his brother Halgam, with his wife and other nobles.

Carrying his wealth and the finger of the holy apostle Peter, he entered Cilicia and captured from the Muslims the fortress of Lampron, at the foot of the Taurus Mountains toward Tarsus.

"[3] His kinsman, Ablgharib Artsruni, governed Taurus and Mopsuestia in the name of the Emperor Constantine IX Monomachos.

[2] Oshin has been identified by historians such as Steven Runciman[2] with general Michael Aspietes, whose exploits were told by Anna Comnena in her Alexiad[6] as well as with Ursinus[7] mentioned by Ralph of Caen (in Gesta Tancredi) and Albert of Aix.