Battle of Antioch on the Meander

Battle of Antioch on the Meander
Part of the Byzantine-Seljuk Wars

Map of southeastern Europe and Asia Minor, showing the Nicaean Empire and Seljuk Sultanate ca. 1210.
DateProbably 17 June 1211[1]
Location
Asia Minor
Result Nicaean victory
Belligerents
Empire of Nicaea Seljuk Sultanate of Rûm
Commanders and leaders
Theodore I Laskaris Kaykhusraw I †
Alexios III Angelos (POW)
Strength
  • 2,000 cavalry[2]
  • 800 Latin cavalry[3]
 5,000–11,000[4]
Casualties and losses
Most of the Latins died[3] Heavy

The Battle of Antioch on the Meander (also known as the Battle of Alaşehir[5]) was a military engagement near Antioch-on-the-Meander between the forces of the Empire of Nicaea and the Seljuk Sultanate of Rûm. The Turkish defeat ensured continued Nicaean hegemony of the Aegean coast of Asia Minor. The Seljuk sultan, Kaykhusraw I, was killed on the field of battle. The battle took place near the modern town of Yamalak in Kuyucak district in Aydın Province.

  1. ^ Korobeinikov, Dimitri (2014). Byzantium and the Turks in the Thirteenth Century. Oxford University Press. p. 149. ISBN 978-0191017940. Theodore I had no choice but to fight. In the battle at Antioch at the Maeander the Nicaean army was almost defeated, but Laskaris met the sultan in person and after a short duel killed him. The battle took place after 15 June 1211, probably on 17 June.
  2. ^ Treadgold 1997, p. 717.
  3. ^ a b Bartusis, Mark C. (1997). The Late Byzantine Army: Arms and Society, 1204-1453. University of Pennsylvania Press. p. 28. ISBN 9780812216202.
  4. ^ Battle of Antioch on the Meander (1211), Adam Ali, Conflict and Conquest in the Islamic World: A Historical Encyclopedia, Vol. 1, ed. Alexander Mikaberidze, (ABC-CLIO, 2011), 118-119.
  5. ^ Redford 1991, p. 70.