Sebastopolis, Battle of
692 CE
The Battle of Sebastopolis is fought at Sebastopolis (mostly identified with Sebaste in Cilicia, but also with modern Sulusaray) in 692 between the Byzantine Empire and Umayyads under the caliphate of Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan.
The Battle ends the peace that had existed between the two powers since 680.The Umayyad army is led by Muhammad ibn Marwan, brother of the Caliph, and includes the minister of defense, the famously known Al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf.
The Byzantines are led by Leontios and include a "special army" of 30,000 Slavs under their leader Neboulos.
The Umayyads, incensed at the breaking of the treaty, use copies of its texts in the place of a flag.
Though the battle seems to be tilting to the Byzantine advantage, the defection of upwards of 20,000 Slavs ensures a Byzantine defeat.
One source states that the Emperor Justinian II massacred the remaining Slavs, including women and children, at the Gulf of Nicomedia, yet modern scholars do not consider this a reliable account.
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The Emperor's bloody persecution of the Manichaeans and suppression of popular traditions of non-Orthodox origin has meanwhile caused dissension within the Church.
In 692, Justinian convenes the so-called Quinisext Council at Constantinople to to issue disciplinary decrees related to the second and third councils of Constantinople (held in 553 and 680-681).
Also called the Council in Trullo (after the palace hall in Constantinople where it meets), the Council expands and clarifies the rulings of the Fifth and Sixth ecumenical councils (hence the name Quinisext), but by highlighting differences between the Eastern and Western observances (such as the marriage of priests and the Roman practice of fasting on Saturdays), the council compromises imperial relations with the Roman Church.
The two ecumenical councils had dealt only with doctrinal matters.
The Quinisext Council, which officially accepts as normative the decretal letters of twelve Fathers of the Church, prepares 102 canons, many of which are directed against Western Church customs and legislation.
In collections called “Nomocanons,” the council also includes, with canons of councils, imperial laws having to do with church affairs.
The Western Church and the Pope are not represented at the council.
Justinian, however, wants the Pope as well as the Eastern bishops to sign the canons.
The emperor orders Pope Sergius I arrested, but the militias of Rome and Ravenna rebel and take the Pope's side.
The Quinisext Council lays the foundation for Orthodox Canon Law, but the canons will never be fully accepted by the Western Church.
Justinian, emboldened by the increase of his forces in Asia Minor, now renews the war against the Arabs, provoking them into attacking the eastern frontier over a disagreement concerning Cypriot policy.
The Umayyad army is led by Muhammad ibn Marwan, brother of the Caliph, and included the minister of defense, the famously known Al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf.
The imperial forcers are led by Leontios and include a "special army" of thirty thousand resettled Slavs under their leader Neboulos.
Justinian’s new troops help him to win a battle against the Caliphate in Armenia in 691, but they are soon bribed to revolt by the Arabs.
The Umayyads, incensed at the breaking of the treaty, use copies of its texts in the place of a flag.
Although the battle seems to be tilting to the imperial advantage, the defection of upwards of twenty thousand Slavs ensures a Roman defeat.
Justinian takes out his frustration, according to Theophanes, by slaughtering as many of the Slavs in and around the Opsikion Theme as he can lay his hands on, including women and children, yet modern scholars do not consider this a reliable account.