marj el uskuf güzelyurt kapadokya

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MUTASIM'S MARCH THROUGH CAPPADOCIAIN A.D. 838.IN the warfare between the Eastern Empire and the Caliphate inthe ninth century, one of the most famous passages is the expedition ofMutasim, which was signalised by the siege and capture of Amorion, inA.D. 838. The best, in fact the only full, narrative of the campaign ispreserved in the Chronicle of Tabari (A. H. 223).' His account of theopening operations of the invading armies is beset with certain geographicaldifficulties which I propose to consider in this paper, with the help ofmaterial supplied in the writings of Professor Ramsay, and in the hopethat he may be able to throw further light on the subject.The Caliph 2 invaded Asia Minor with three armies. His objective wasin the first instance Ancyra. His general, Afshin, in command of what wemay call the Eastern army, crossed the Taurus by the pass of IHadath(Adata),3 and presumably his route was by Arabissos, Tzamandos, andSebastea.4 The two divisions of the Western army, under the Caliphhimself and Ashnas, started from Cilicia and crossed by the Cilician gates.The plan was that the armies should meet in the neighbourhood of Ancyra,and as the Saracens were well acquainted with the roads of central AsiaMinor, they were able to calculate the distances and arrange the times ofstarting for the Eastern and Western armies respectively,5 so that they could

hope to arrive at the same time at Ancyra, if nothing untoward occurred.Ashnas set out from Cilicia on June 19, and was directed to await thearrival of the Caliph's army at Lulon, the great fortress which commanded

1De Goeje, iii. 1236 sqq. I have used theRussian r translation of Vasil'ev, Vizantiia iAraby, i. Prilozhenie, 30 sqq. and my refer-ences are to it. So far as I know, Vasil'evis the only modern critic who has worked upthe relation of Tabari.2 He left Samarra early in April, Yakubi, inVas. Pril. 9 ; cp. Masudi, GoldenMcadows,ib.68 (Barbierde Meynard, vii. 135).3He started from Saruja (Tabari 31)Surghi.4 The most direct route to Ancyra was byCaesarea. But that Afshin marchedby Sebastea

must be inferredfrom the fact that his battlewith the army of Theophilus was fought in theneighbourhood of Dazimon (Tokat). Vasil'evis probably right in supposing (op. cit. 121)that it was part of the plan that Afshin shouldjoin another army, from Armenia and Melitene(perhaps -rs E 'ApAevL'wv o-pa-aris of Genesios67). The westward roads from Melitene andArmenia met at Sebastea. The fertile plain ofDazimon (Kaz-ova)lay on the right (north) ofthe route Sebastea- Sebastopolis - Ancyra.Cp. Anderson'smap of Asia Minor (1903).5 Tabari, ib.

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MUTASIM'S MARCH THROUGH CAPPADOCIA IN A.D. 838 121the northern approach of the Pass of Podandos or Cilician Gates.6 Lulonwas at this time in the possession of the Moslems; it had been captured bya general of Mamun in the autumn of A.D. 832.7 In the meantime Mutasimhimself had encamped in Western Cilicia near the river Lamos, which wasthe boundary between Roman and Saracen territory. For what reason hewent to the Lamos is not stated, and I mention the fact only because it hasa bearing on the subsequent narrative of Tabari. Mutasim set out two daysafter Ashnas (June 21) and crossed the Taurus by the Pass of Podandos, inhis footsteps.8In a manner very common in the Arabic chronicles, Tabari, withoutreferring to the arranged meeting at Lulon, leaps abruptly to a further stageof the march of the invaders.The two armies have again se-parated. Ashnas, evidently inadvance, is at Marj-uskuf. andMutasim in Matamir. Mutasimsends Ashnas a letter of whichthe tenor, as reproduced byTabari, is unintelligible. 'TheEmperor is in front of you andintends to throw his army acrossthe Lamos. Remain where youare, at Marj-uskuf.'Now we know the generallocality of Matamir,a name whichfrequently occurs in the Arabicchronicles. It was a district insouthern Cappadocia, north ofTyana, marked by subterraneanstrongholds, which are describedby Ramsay.9 This is the mean-ing of the word Matamir. Theroad from Tyana to Soandos, bySasima and Malakopaia,traversesthis district. Now the route

r

B XazianzosRC NaziaMalakopaea.MATAIRKoron. Sasima.

MtArgaeus. Andabalis.Nigde.

TYANA.

t (Pashmakji)u l o

_ (TakhtaKeupreu)Podandos.10 20 30 40 0,.KM.

which, we may suppose, the Caliph would naturally have chosen, in order toreach Ancyra, would have been by Soandos (Nev Sheher), Parnassos, and6 Lulon and al-Safsaf are names for the samefortressas Ramsayhas shown. For the identi-fication of the fortress and a full description ofthe Pass, see Ramsay, GeographicalJournal,Oct. 1903.7 Yakubi, in Vas. Pril. 8 ; Tabari, ib. 25.8 Tabari says that Mutasim sent the advance.guard of his own army in the steps of Ashnas,and started himself on June 21. Masudi(ib. 68) says that Mutasim marchedby the Pass

of Podandos (Darb as-Salam), Afshin by thePass of Hadath, and other armies by otherroutes. The last words must refer not toAshnas, but to the forces from Melitene andArmenia.

9 Historical Geography,293; 356 (' the plainof Venasa, about Sasima and Malokopaia;great undergroundresidences are a special andpeculiar feature of this plain, which lies on thedirect road north from the Gates ').



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122 J. B. BURYAkharbuts. Thus the first part of his march would have been through theregion of Matamir.As Ashnas was in advance of Mutasim, who was in Matamir, it seemsto follow that Marj-uskuf must be sought north of Sasima. This placeis. mentioned in a route from Podandos to Dorylaion, described by IbnKhurdadhbah10 and Idrisi,11 and discussed by Ramsay in his article onLycaonia.12 The first stations are Podandos- al-Karm - an-Nawba-al-Kanais-Wafra-Balisa-Marj al-Uskuf.'3 Ramsay thinks that this route(in which Lulon and Tyana do not occur) corresponds, in its first part, to'the modern horse-road from Podandos by Takhta-Keupreu and Pashmakjito Nigde,' and that thence it proceeded 'through Hassa-Keui and Nenizi(Nazianzos) to Ak-Serai (Archelais).' This view certainly seems best tosuit the data. Nigde lies north of Tyana on the main road from Tyanato Sasima. But may it not be that the ninth-century road from Podandosto Sasima lay further to the east than the present horse-road,and joinedthe Tyana-Sasima road not at Nigde, but at Andabalis ? However thismay be, we may, I suggest, identify Ibn Khurdadhbah's an-Nawba withAndabalis. As Sasima (Hassa-Keui) could not well be omitted in theitinerary, it is an obvious conjecture that it should be sought in the nextstation al-Kanais ('the churches ').14 This place is described by IbnKhurdadhbah 'on the right of Kawkab.' It seems possible that Kawkabmeans Malakopaia, and if so, the description 'to the south of Malakopaia'would exactly apply to Sasima. The next important station on the route toDorylaion, via Archelais, would be Nazianzos, and I propose to identifyNazianzos with Ibn Khurdadhbah's Marj al-Uskuf. I may point out thatNazianzos, rendered illustrious by its famous bishop Gregory, presents amotif for the name Marj al-Uskuf, 'bishop's meadow.'We may now return to the message of the Caliph to his general. Theyare in southern Cappadocia,marching to Ancyra, and Ashnas is warned of theimminent danger of an attack from a Roman army which the EmperorTheophilus is ready to throw across the river-Lamos. If the Emperor wereon the banks of the Lamos, he was no more dangerous to the northwardmarch of the Saracens than if he had been on the banks of a river inEurope. In few places could he have been more safely out of the way thanin the kleisurarchy of Seleucia. It is obvious that the Lamos has no relationto the military situation, and is simply an error of Tabari. The Emperorcould not have been near the Lamos, for a few days later he fought a battle

10 Translatedby De Goeje,Bibl. Geog. Arab.vii. It is probable that the routes given byIbn Khutdadhbah were derived from the workof Al-Garmi, who wrote books on the historyand geography of the Roman Empire. He hadbeen a captive among the Romans and wasreleased on the occasion of the exchange ofprisoners in A.D. 845. We' know from Masudithat he wrote about the roads (transl. by Carrade Vaux, 257), and we know that Ibn Khur-

dadhbah made use of his works elsewhere (DeGoeje, 77).11 Translation by Jaubert.12 Jahreshefte des sterreichischen archidolo-gischenInstitutes, vii. 123-125 (1904).13 Some of Idrisi's stations are different, butboth lists agree in Maij al-Uskuf.1' This station is given by Idrisi as well asIbn Khurdadhbah.



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MUTASIM'S MARCH THROUGH CAPPADOCIA IN A.D. 838 123in the north-east of Asia Minor, in the neighbourhood of Tokat. The tenorof the narrative and the circumstances of the situation enable us withoutdifficulty to correct the error. The Lamos is a mistakefogrthe Halys. Tabaridid not realise the map of Asia Minor, and we may conjecture that the errorarose from his having mentioned the Lamos at the beginning of the narrative(see above). Arabic chroniclers were familiar with the name of the Lamos,because the exchanges of captives were generally carried out on its banks.We can now understand the position. The Emperor, aware of the Caliph'sdesigns on Ancyra, had assembled his forces east of the Halys. Calculatingthat the enemy would march by the Soandos-Parnassos road, which runs notfar from the river, he intended to intercept it, crossing the river either nearParnassos, or at Zoropassos (north of Soandos), according to circumstances.The Caliph had received information that the Emperor was somewhereon the right of the Halys and he judged it imprudent to continue the marchuntil the precise whereabouts and movements of the Romans were discovered.Three days later Ashnas received another despatch from Mutasim,commandinghim to send an officerwith a squadron of horse to search for and capture aGreek, who could give information about the Emperor and his army.Ashnas sent two hundred horsemen under Amr al-Fargani, who set out atnight and rode to the fortress of Kurra, hoping to find in its environs someone who could tell them what they wanted to know. They did not succeed,and the commandant of Kurra laid an ambush for them 'in the mountainswhich are between Kurra and Durra.' ' This is a large mountain,' and it isin the district known as the district of Kurra. The Saracen captain, knowingof the ambush, went towards Durra and lay concealed till break of day.Then he divided his force into three bands and sent them in differentdirections to find a well-informed Greek, appointing a place of rendezvous.Amr caught one man, who belonged to the garrison of Kurra. He said thatthe Emperor was near at hand, 'behind the Lamos,' at a distance of fourparasangs.15Kurra often meets us in the Arabic chronicles. It is the fortress ofKoron which Ramsay has identified with Viran Sheher, not far to the south-east of Archelais, and in the outskirts of Mt. Argaios (Hassan Dagh).16(As Koron was the residence of the kleisurarch of Cappadocia, it was naturalfor Ashnas to calculate that the position of the Emperor would be known tothe garrison.) Argaios is evidently the mountain meant by Tabari,and Durramust have lain on another side of this mountain. The conjecture of Vasil'evthat Doara is meant does not suit the data, since Ramsay seems to be rightin placing Doara at Haji Bektash, which lies beyond the Halys, considerablyto the north of Soandos. Durra must be sought within an easy ride of ViranSheher, somewhere in the skirts of Hassan Dagh. I conjecture that it may

15 Tabari, 31-2. Tabari seems to mean fourparasangs from the place where Amr capturedthe Greek. This is impossible, as Hassan Daghis much further from the nearest point on the

Halys. I will return to this point further on.16 Historical Geog. 355, Lycaonia 127. Thesecond beacon station from Lulon was, asRamsay has shown, on this Mt. Argaios.



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124 J. B. BURYbe the same as Nora which seems to have been in this region and is placed inMr. Anderson's map at Halvadere on the north-west side of Hassan Dagh.17The data supplied (so far) by Tabari are not inconsistent with the hypo-thesis that Marj al-Uskuf is Nazianzos. The argument may be stated asfollows:

(1) Marj al-Uskuf was a station on a route from Podandos toDorylaion, which Ramsay, on independent grounds identified as passing bySasima, Nazianzos, and Archelais.(2) It was north of some locality in Matamir, and was on the way toAncyra.(3) It was not very far from Koron.(4) It was at such a distance from the Halys that a day's march mightbring an army advancing northward within striking distance of an armyencamped on the other side of the river.There is, however, another possibility. The name Marj al-Uskuf mayhave had two meanings, a wider and a narrower. It may have not onlydesignated a place (e.g. Nazianzos), as it certainly does in the itinerary ofIbn Khurdadhbah; it may also have described a district (like Matamir).Such a signification is suggested by another passage in which the nameoccurs, namely in Tabari's account of the perplexing campaign of A.D.863.This campaign has been discussed by Ramsay, but he has not cleared up thedifficulties.s1The two longest accounts, that of Genesios and that of the Continuer ofTheophanes, are independent. They both agree that the Saracen generalOmarcaptured Amisos, and both relate the anecdote that like Xerxes he lashedthe waters of the Euxine because they hindered him from advancing furthernorth. Neither the Logothete nor the Arabic chroniclers say anything aboutAmisos. The Logothete, however, records that Omar advanced plundering asfar as Sinope, but he records this march as if it belonged to a different

expedition and to a previous year.19 Neither Genesios nor the Continuermentions Sinope.

7 Following Ramsay'sconjecture,Hist. Geog.308. Cp. Strabo, 12. 2. 5, reAp-yos pvulai4XAbw wprps rT- Ta6pc1 Kal 7ra NWpa ? vvpKaxc-raL N7poaoredSs, ' ; E'z'~r s WroXIopKolIEVos&vTXrr woxbrvXpovov. He adds that Sisinaskept his treasures in it. This passage showsthat Nora was a fort, and suggests that it wasnot far from Argos. Argos, as Ramsay says(353), must be associatedwith Mt. Argaios.

28 Hist. Geography77 (He is mistaken in thedate which he gives as A.D. 860). The author-ities are: (1) Arabic, Yakubi (11) ; Tabari, 62(cp. Abu '1-Fida, Annalb, ed. Reiske, ii. 208);(2) Greek, the Logothete (= George Mon. ed.

Bonn 825, ed. Muralt, 733-4 ; Theodosios Mel.167, Leo Gramm. 238; cp. Pseudo-Symeon,666); Genesios, 94-7; Cont. Th. 179-83.Skylitzes (Cedrenus 163-5) abbreviates fromCont. Th. (but 165, he adds wprs MEhALrvrv,asthe goal of the Emir's son, perhaps suo marte ;and he interchanges the names of the river andthe meadow). Zonaras, xvi. 3, 16-29 (ed.Biittner-Wobst, 396-7) depends on Skylitzes.19 George Mon. ed. Bonn, 824, c. 16. Thenotice is separated from the account of thebattle of Lalakaon by a notice of Michael'sexpedition against the Bulgarians.



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MUTASIM'S MARCH THROUGH CAPPADOCIA IN A.D. 838 125According to the narrative of Genesios, Omar was at Amisos when heheard that Petronas had been appointed commander of the Imperial forcesandwas about to take the field. He immediately left Amisos and marched

'about 500 miles' to a place called Porson, in the district of Abysianon 'onthe borders of the Armeniac theme and Paphlagonia' and encamped on theside of a hill. Petronas was on the other side of this hill. Both commanderssent detachments to occupy the summit of the hill; a struggle ensued, andthe Romans were successful. Subsequently there was a battle, in which Omarwas defeated and slain. His son and a hundred followers escaped andcrossed the Halys, but their flight was cut off in the Charsian province byMachairas,the merarch of that province.According to the Continuer, Petronas found Omar encamped at a placecalled Poson which was naturally defensible (& 7Twerpiv Kat Kp~y~vtov),neara river named Lalakaon, which flows from north to south, along a meadowcalled Gyrin (Q'-potuc/Kj fOw ).20 It was the object of Petronas to preventhim from escaping. He accordingly ordered the Generals of the Armeniacs,the Bucellarians, Kolonea, and Paphlagonia to close round on the north;those of the Anatolics, the Opsikians, and Cappadocia, with the kleisurarchsof Seleucia and Charsianon, to gather on the south ; while he, with his ownThracesians, the Thracian and Macedonian themes, and the Imperialtagmata, closed in on the west. The east is not mentioned; but the riverHalys was in itself an obstacle on that side, and the Koloneans at theextremity of the northern, and the Charsians at the extremity of thesouthern ring, sufficiently provided against escape in that direction. Thispassage is evidently derived from a good source, but it is followed by matterof different order, the anecdote of Omar's augury of disaster. When Omarheard that he was surrounded by the enemy, like a wild beast in a trap, hedecided to take an augury, and sending for one of his captives he inquiredthe names of the place and the river and the meadow. The prisoner gavethe name of the place as Pt6son (tKpepv 7rapayrpapy/Uar'tOV IIrCo'-ovray1o-YevaT' H&rovTa),whence Omar inferred his own fall (wr&o-tv).21Fromthe name of the river Lalakaon, he augured the defeat of his army (Xaoftncodwtv),and from that of the meadow (Fi3ptv) that the Moslems would beheavily routed (7/vpto-0ivat) by the Romans. It is evident that Greekpunning on the local names post eventumnave rise to the anecdote. Omarthen first sought to break through the enemy on the north, but was deterredby their strength and the difficulty of the ground. Finding it equallyimpracticable to escape by the south, he finally attacked Petronas, who was

20 Poson is the only one of the local namesmentioned by both Genesios and the Continuer.Lalakaon (JIs rbvAaAcahdva)is mentioned bythe Logothete. None of the names arefound, sofar as I know, in other contexts. Ramsayrefers to a correspondent of Photios, OEd4o'rosKa'Tr 'robs AaAdKcwvas (Ep. 63, ed. Valettas,p. 367). This means that Theodotos belonged

to the Lalakon family, members of which wemeet elsewhere in history (e.g. Const. Porph.De adin. imp. c. 45, p. 199; Nicetas, VitaIgnatii, in Harduin, Cone.v. p. 964). Of coursea local connexion of the name is possible.21 This pun shows that rndiav is the correctform of the name, not no'prowv as it is writtenin the text of Genesios.



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126 J. B. BURYencamped on the western side of his position. From the brief description ofthe battle which follows, it appears that after the Saracens had been repelledby the army of Petronas, the northern and southern armies rushed in, andalmost annihilated them. Omar's son and a small band escaped, but werecaptured and slain by the kleisurarch of Charsianon.It is clear that the accounts of Genesios and the Continuer are derivedfrom different sources. They are both embroidered with anecdotes, whichI have not, with two exceptions, reproduced, but these anecdotes, saving thescourging of the sea, are not the same. Hirsch says that the description ofthe battle in Genesios is completely different (vollstidndig abweicht)from thatin the Continuer;22 but there does not seem to be any inconsistency. Theoccupation of the hill, recorded by Genesios, may have been achieved daysbefore the battle. Genesios does not mention the principal feature of thesituation, the fact that Omar was surrounded,but his brief account does notimply anything inconsistent with this fact. The trustworthiness of thegeneral narrative of the Continuer in regard to the position in which Omar'sarmy was placed is borne out by the Arabic writers, Yakubi and Tabari, bothof whom say that Omar was 'surrounded.'

For determining the locality of the battle the Greek sources furnish thefollowing indications:(1) Omar marched about 500 miles from Amisos (Genesios);(2) the district was near the borders of the Armeniac and Paphlagonianthemes (Genesios) ;(3) the place was west of the Halys, near the borders of the Charsiantheme (Genesios), and(4) close to a river flowing from north to south (Continuer);(5) there was a hill to the west of Omar's position at Poson(Genesios), and(6) there was rough and difficult ground to the north of hisposition (Continuer).With the last three of these indications, I am unable to deal; but itmay be possible from the other data to determine, within limits, the regionin which the scene of the battle is to be sought. Ramsay adds anothercondition. He says that the battle was fought 'on the road that leadssouth from Sinope.' But the sources do not warrant this inference. Genesiosexpressly'states that Omar marchedfromAmisos 22a;and the sole reference toSinope is the notice (mentioned above) in the Logothete's chronicle.

The only way of combining that notice with the other data is to supposethat having taken Amisos, Omar proceeded along the coast as far as Sinopeand then returned to Amisos. We are not justified in introducing Sinope intothe conditions of the problem.22 Byzantinische Studien, 157. 22a -io6rc as a'r6 'Apvo-o.



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128 J. B. BURYdetermined to adhere to his programme. Supposing that he marched viaAmasea-Euchaita-Taviumn-Kuruk Kale (crossing of the Halys)-Ancyra-Parnassos, he would have traversed on reaching Soandos, a good deal morethan 450 Roman miles.25 This shows that the distance given by Genesios'about 500 miles' is not in itself absurd, though inconsistent with anotherpart of his statement. The question therefore must be asked: are we toreject his distance or his assertion that the district was on the bordersof the Armeniac and Paphlagonian themes? If we had no other infor-mation, we might conclude (with Ramsay) that the distance was more likelyto be erroneous. But we have other information.Tabari states that the battle, in which Omar was killed, was fought at-rz, in Marj al-Uskuf. The initial letter of the place is aieph.26

It is clear that in this passage Marj al-Uskuf is the name, not of a placebut of a district. Naturally it was a district in proximity to the place Marjal-Uskuf; hence it follows by our previous results that it was a district lyingnorth of Matamir. It was therefore a region through which Omar's route tothe Cilician pass, if he marched west of the Halys, would necessarily lie.Its limits of course we cannot tell; but if it stretched to the north of aline drawn from Nazianzos by Venasa to Soandos, a locality in this regionwould be reconcilable with the distance from Amisos given by Genesios.The independent evidence of Tabari leads me to conclude that thelocation of Poson and the stream of Lalakaon on the borders of the Paphla-gonian and Armeniac themes is the mistake committed by Genesios, andthat Omar,when Petronas found him, had advanced much further on his home-ward route, and was in the region south of Nyssa. From the account ofthe Continuer we may infer that he was close to the Halys, and not neara crossing, for he is not said to have made an attempt to escape on that side.I would ask travellers in this part of Cappadocia to search for the site ofthe battle in the region between Nyssa and the crossing of Zoropassos.This discussion of the campaign of A.D.863 was necessary to elucidatethe passage in Tabari, which proves that Marj al-Uskuf meant a district aswell as a place. I now go on to show that in Tabari's narrative of the campaignof AD. 838, it also probably denotes the district.The information furnished to Amr by the Greek captive, that theEmperor's army was 'near him, beyond the Halys, at a distance of fourparasangs,'27 must obviously signify the distance of the Emperorfrom the campof Ashnas, not from the place where Amr caught the captive, in the vicinity

25 I measured on Anderson's map of AsiaMinor. The distance comes to 450 Romanmiles, but if we allow for twistings of the roadsand gradients, it must be considerably more.26 Baron Rosen (Tabari, ed. De Goeje iii.1509) thought that the three letters may beread k, r, n ; and Vasil'ev suggests (202, 11.5)that the name may correspond to rvpwv.--Weare unable to say how Petronas reached thescene of the battle. No. doubt, he set out

from his own Thracesian Theme (the anecdotein Cont. Th. 180 makes him visit Mt. Latrosjust before he started), and the most direct wayto interceptOmarwould have been by Archelais.The Thracian,Macedonian,and tagmatic troops,marching by Dorylaion and Amorion, mighthave joined him, e.g. at Tyriaion or LaodiceaKekaumene.27 Tabari, 32, and confirmed, 35.



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MUTASIM'S MARCH THROUGH CAPPADOCIA IN A.D. 838 129of Koron and Hassan Dagh. For Koron was at least twelve parasangs fromthe Halys. This is confirmed by the words with which Tabari records thereturn of Amr to the general's camp. He and his party proceeded 'toAshnas, to the Lamos,' i.e. the Halys. This shows that the camp was nearthe river. We may suppose that it was somewhere north of Soandos on theroad to Parnassos and Ancyra, which runs near the Halys. The Emperor,encamped on the other side, could cross at Zoropassos.Before he returned to the camp, Amr captured some other Greeks whobelonged to the Emperor's army. From them it was ascertained that theEmperor had been waiting for thirty days beyond the Halys, to interceptMutasim's army; but when he had learned, a short time ago, that Afshinwas advancing from the east, he marched with part of his forces to opposehim, leaving his cousin in command on the Halys. Soon after this, bothMutasim and Ashnas resumed their progress to Ancyra. There was a day'smarch between them.21 Nothing is said of any attempt of the Emperor'scousin to attack them; and we discover afterwards the curious fact that afterthe Emperor's departure' the army broke up; the soldiers left the Emperor'skinsman whom he named commander of the army in his own stead.' 29I do not propose to follow the campaign further. Tabari throws nolight on the geographical problems connected with the battle in whichTheophilus was defeated by Afshin in the region of Amasea.30 I have triedto show that Marj al-Uskuf in the Arabic writers has two meanings-a placeand a district: that the place is probably Nazianzos, and that the districtextended north of the district known as Matamir, from Nazianzos, to theHalys, perhaps as far north as Nyssa. J. B. BURY.

P.S.-P. 122. The suggestion of another road from Podandos to Andabalis notpassing Nigde is negatived by Sir W. M. Ramsay, who has pointed out to me that theAla Dagh, a ridge 10,000 feet high, stretches N. and S. on the east of the road to Nigde.In regard to the identification I propose of Al-Kanais with Sasima or Hassa Keui, hereminds me that this place has still some ecclesiastical importance as the refuge ofSt. Macrina.P. 123, note 16. It may be well to caution the reader more explicitly againstconfoundingMt. Argaios near Archelais with the great Mt. Argaiosnear Caesarea.P. 126, at foot. I should have added that the words of the Chronicle(cp. GeorgeMon. 824 ed. Bonn), ir'o-rpeE ) KaraXrI(A?e K.T.X., implying hat Omarreturnedfrom Sinope to Saracen territory, are against the connexion of this expedition withthat of A.D. 863.J. B. B.

28 If we may assume that there had beenabout the same distance between the camps,then, if we suppose that Mutasim was encampedsomewhere near Malakopaia,in Matamir, Ash-nas would have been in the neighbourhoodofSoandos.

29 Tabari, 36.30 Cp. Ramsay, Hist. Geog.329-30.

H.S. VOL. XXIX. K

marj el uskuf güzelyurt kapadokya

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