Siege of Tyana
707–708/708–709 siege
The siege of Tyana was carried out by the Umayyad Caliphate in 707–708 or 708–709 in retaliation for a heavy defeat of an Umayyad army under Maimun the Mardaite by the Byzantine Empire in c. 706. The Arab army invaded Byzantine territory and laid siege to the city in summer 707 or 708. The date is uncertain, as virtually each of the extant Greek, Arabic, and Syriac parallel sources has in this respect a different date. Tyana initially withstood the siege with success, and the Arab army faced great hardship during the ensuing winter and was on the point of abandoning the siege in spring, when a relief army sent by Emperor Justinian II arrived. Quarrels among the Byzantine generals, as well as the inexperience of a large part of their army, contributed to a crushing Umayyad victory. Thereupon the inhabitants of the city were forced to surrender. Despite the agreement of terms, the city was plundered and largely destroyed, and according to Byzantine sources its people were made captive and deported, leaving the city deserted.
Background
In 692/693, the Byzantine emperor Justinian II (r. 685–695, 705–711) and the Umayyad caliph Abd al-Malik (r. 685–705) broke the truce that had existed between Byzantium and the Umayyad Caliphate since 679, following the failed Muslim attack on the Byzantine capital, Constantinople. The Byzantines secured great financial and territorial advantages from the truce, which they extended further by exploiting the Umayyad government's involvement in the Second Muslim Civil War (680–692).
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