Campaigning in Cilicia and Cappadocia in 830–833

Ma’mūn invaded Byzantine territory in the summer of 830, formally breaking a peace agreement between the caliphate and the empire that, at least theoretically, had been in force since the reign of his father Hārūn al-Rashīd. ¹ In fact, as we saw in Chapter 13, the involvement of the caliph in the so-called civil war had meant that hostilities between the two main powers in the region actually began in 819. Nonetheless, the year 830 marked the first time in 20 years that the Muslim caliph personally led a summer expedition against the Byzantines.