Battle of Krasos
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The Battle of Krasos was a battle in the Byzantine-Arab Wars which took place in 804/805.
Nikephoros I, the Finance Minister of Byzantine Empress Irene of Athens, contrived to dethrone and exile her, and to be chosen emperor in her stead on October 31, 802. He crowned his son Staurakios co-emperor in 803. The new emperor refused to pay the tribute imposed by Caliph Harun al-Rashid on Irene.
To resist the attacks of the Abbasids, which Nikephoros knew would follow his refusal, he collected a powerful army in Asia Minor; however, this army broke out into rebellion and proclaimed their commander Bardanes as emperor. The Caliph Harun al-Rashid, taking advantage of the defenseless state of the empire, laid waste to Asia Minor. When the rebellion of Bardanes was quenched, Nikephoros was afraid to trust any veteran general with the command of a large army, and took the command himself. He was however defeated in a great battle at Krasos, in Phrygia.
After this victory the Abbasids laid waste the eastern Byzantine provinces, until a rebellion in Khorasan led Harun al-Rashid to withdraw his best troops from the Byzantine frontier, giving Nikephoros I time to reassemble a new army. As soon as the affairs in the East were tranquillized, Harun al-Rashid again invaded the Byzantine Empire. He set his headquarters at Tyana, where he built a mosque to mark the annexation of the city to the Abbasid Empire. One division of his army, 60,000 strong, took and destroyed Ancyra (Ankara, Turkey); Heraclea on Mount Taurus was also captured and 16,000 prisoners were carried off in a single campaign in 806.
Nikephoros I, unable to stop these ravages, sued for peace; the imperial embassy consisted of the bishop of Synnada, the abbot of Gulaias and the Oikonomos (roughly, governor or chamberlain) of Amastris. As winter was approaching and the Abbasids were averse to remain longer beyond Mount Taurus, the three ecclesiastical ambassadors succeeded in arranging a treaty, although it compelled Nikephoros I to submit to severe and degrading conditions. He would not rebuild the frontier fortifications which had been destroyed by the caliph's armies, and he consented to pay a tribute of 30,000 pieces of gold annually adding three additional pieces for himself and three for his son the co-ruler Staurakios.
Nikephoros I later evaded the stipulations of the treaty, commencing the reparation of the ruined fortifications. Harun al-Rashid again sent troops to invade the empire. Cyprus and Rhodes were ravaged, the Bishop of Cyprus was compelled to pay one thousand dinars as his ransom, while many Christians were carried away from Asia Minor and settled in Syria.
