The refugees from Sozopetra begin arriving at Mu'tasim's capital, Samarra, while Theophilos returns home to celebrate a triumph and be acclaimed in the Hippodrome of Constantinople as the "incomparable champion".

The caliphal court is outraged by the brutality and brazenness of the raids: not only have the Greeks acted in open collusion with the Khurramite rebels, but during the sack of Sozopetra—which some sources claim as Mu'tasim's own birthplace—all male prisoners were executed and the rest sold into slavery, and some captive women were raped by Theophilos's Khurramites.

Al-Mu'tasim decides to respond with a major punitive expedition against Constantinople, aiming to capture the two major imperial cities of central Anatolia, Ancyra and Amorion.

The latter is probably the largest city in Anatolia at this time, as well as the birthplace of the reigning Amorian dynasty and consequently of particular symbolic importance; according to the chronicles, al-Mu'tasim's soldiers painted the word "Amorion" on their shields and banners.