Battle of Raban
| Battle of Raban | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Arab–Byzantine Wars | |||||||
Map of the Arab-Byzantine frontier zone | |||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||
| Byzantine Empire | Hamdanid Emirate of Aleppo | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
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John Tzimiskes Basil Lekapenos | Sayf al-Dawla | ||||||
The Battle of Raban was an engagement fought in autumn 958 near the fortress of Raban (in modern-day Turkey) between the Byzantine army, led by John Tzimiskes (later emperor in 969–976), and the forces of the Hamdanid Emirate of Aleppo under the famed emir Sayf al-Dawla (r. 945–967). The battle was a major victory for the Byzantines, and contributed to the demise of Hamdanid military power, which in the early 950s had proven a great challenge to Byzantium.