Battle of Antioch on the Meander The Battle of Antioch on the Meander ( also known as the Battle of Alaşehir ) was a military engagement near Antioch - on - the - Meander between the forces of the Empire of Nicaea and the Seljuk Sultanate of Rûm . The Turkish defeat ensured continued Nicaean hegemony of the Aegean coast of Asia Minor . The Seljuk sultan , Kaykhusraw I , was killed on the field of battle . The battle took place near the modern town of Yamalak in Kuyucak district in Aydın Province . Background . Following the capture of Constantinople by the forces of the Fourth Crusade ( 1204 ) and the partition of the Byzantine Empire , Theodore Laskaris ( r . 1205 – 1222 ) , crowned emperor in 1208 , built up a powerbase in the former Byzantine territory of western Anatolia . This new polity was to become known as the Empire of Nicaea . Nicaea was one of the two main Greek successor states that claimed the heritage of the Byzantine Empire , along with Epirus in western Greece . Nicaea was threatened from the north by the new Latin Empire established by the Crusaders , and from the east by the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum . The peace with the Seljuks was disturbed through the arrival , in early 1211 , of the former Byzantine emperor Alexios III ( r . 1195 – 1203 ) , in the port of Attaleia . The subsequent events are described in some detail by a number of near - contemporary sources , chiefly the chroniclers Ibn al - Athir and Ibn Bibi on the Seljuk side , and the histories of George Akropolites and Nikephoros Gregoras on the Byzantine side , as well as references in other chroniclers and the orations in honour of Theodore Laskaris by Niketas Choniates . Alexios had fled Constantinople on the approach of the Crusaders in 1203 , but had not given up on his rights to the throne , and was determined to reclaim it . In 1203 – 1205 he had wandered across Greece seeking the support of powerful local grandees , before being captured by Boniface of Montferrat and held captive until ransomed by his first cousin , Michael of Epirus , in 1210 . Although Theodore Laskaris was Alexios ' s son - in - law , having married his daughter Anna , Alexios resolved to seek the aid of the Seljuk sultan Kaykhusraw I ( r . 1192 – 1196 and 1205 – 1211 ) , with whom he had close relations : Alexios had sheltered him in Constantinople during the latter ' s exile , and George Akropolites claims that the two fled from Constantinople together in 1203 . The sultan welcomed Alexios warmly , and the deposed emperor , after reminding the sultan of the succour he had given him , promised him rich rewards if he would help restore him to his throne . Kaykhusraw , having found in supporting Alexios ' s cause a perfect pretext for attacking Nicaean territory , sent an emissary to Theodore at Nicaea calling upon him to relinquish his domains to the legitimate emperor . Theodore refused to reply to the sultan ' s demands , and the sultan assembled his army and invaded Laskaris ' s domains . Battle . Kaykhusraw ' s army , and Alexios III in tow , laid siege to Antioch on the Maeander , which he hoped to use as a base to subdue the rest of the Meander Valley . The size of the Seljuk force is unknown . The hagiographer George of Pelagonia in his hagiography estimates it at 60 , 000 , clearly an impossible figure , and even Gregoras ' s 20 , 000 seem to be exaggerated . Nevertheless , it was clearly a considerably larger force than the army Theodore managed to scrape together : both Gregoras and Akropolites put it at 2 , 000 men ( 3 , 000 according to George of Pelagonia ) , of whom 800 were Latin and the rest Byzantine Greeks . Laskaris marches his army from Nicaea over the Mysian Olympus and reached Philadelphia in eleven days ( indeed , the Seljuk chroniclers name Philadelphia rather than Antioch as the site of the battle ) . There he learned that Antioch was about to fall , and led his army in a forced march towards the town , discarding all baggage except for a few days ' rations . According to Gregoras , Laskaris intended to catch the Turks off guard by his rapid approach , but Akropolites relates that the Nicaean ruler sent Kaykhusraw ' s ambassador , whom he had taken along , to inform his master of his arrival . The sultan at first appeared incredulous , but eventually abandoned the siege and drew up his forces for battle . The Turks were constrained by the narrowness of the valley and could not deploy their full forces , especially their cavalry . Hence the sultan decided to await the Nicaean attack instead . As the Nicaean army drew close to the Turks , Laskaris ' s Latin mercenary cavalry launched an impetuous charge on the Turkish centre ; their attack caused many casualties to the Turks , in particular the lightly armed archers and slingers , as the knights drove through their formation and then wheeled back and charged it again from the rear . Kaykhusraw however soon managed to restore discipline among his troops , shaken by the sudden Latin onslaught , and used his superior numbers to surround and annihilate the Latins . The Turks then turned on the rest of the Nicaean army , which , after suffering casualties began to retreat and break up . As the sources narrate , at this moment of victory , the Seljuk sultan sought out Laskaris , who was hard pressed by the attacking Turkish troops . Kaykhusraw charged his enemy and gave him a heavy blow on the head with a mace , so that the Nicaean emperor , dizzied , fell from his horse . Kaykhusraw was already giving orders to his retinue to carry Laskaris away , when the latter regained his composure and brought Kaykhusraw down by hacking at his mount ' s rear legs . The sultan too fell on the ground and was beheaded , his head stuck on top of a lance and waved about , causing the Turks to panic and retreat . It is unclear who delivered the fatal blow to the sultan : Choniates and Gregoras attribute this deed to Laskaris himself , Ibn Bibi to an unknown Frankish mercenary , Akropolites says that neither the emperor nor his attendants saw who did this , while George of Pelagonia claims that Kaykhusraw and not Laskaris was unhorsed first , and that one of the emperor ' s attendants cut off his head . Though the Turks retreated , allegedly at speed , the Nicaean army was so depleted in numbers that it could not mount a pursuit . Aftermath . In this way Laskaris snatched victory from the jaws of defeat , although his own army was well - nigh destroyed in the process . The battle ended the Seljuk threat : Kaykhusraw ' s son and successor , Kaykaus I , concluded a truce with Nicaea on 14 June 1211 , and the border between the two states would remain virtually unchallenged until the 1260s . The former emperor Alexios , Laskaris ' s father - in - law , was also captured during the battle . Laskaris treated him well but stripped him of his imperial insignia and consigned him to the Monastery of Hyakinthos in Nicaea , where he ended his days . Following the battle , the Turks carried the body of their sultan back to Konya where he was buried in the dynastic mausoleum . Ibn Bibi relates that Theodore Laskaris gave 20 , 000 dirham s to be distributed at the sultan ' s funeral as alms . The battle freed Nicaea from Seljuk pressure , but Laskaris ' s army had suffered heavy casualties . In particular , his very effective , though headstrong , Latin mercenary cavalry had been almost destroyed . As a result , Laskaris could not adequately defend his territory from an attack by the Latin Empire of Constantinople ; defeated at the Battle of the Rhyndacus , he had to cede some territory bordering the Sea of Marmara . The Nicaeans were compensated for this territorial loss when , in 1212 , the death of David Komnenos allowed their annexation of his lands in Paphlagonia . The victory at Antioch on the Meander gave Laskaris considerable prestige and the capture of Alexios ended internal opposition to his rule . The battle was the last major encounter between the Seljuks and the Byzantines . Ultimately , the Seljuks had failed to take all of Asia Minor . However , even though the Nicaean Empire would strengthen ( at the cost of the Latins ) and the Seljuks would weaken , the Turks , under Ottoman leadership , would ultimately conquer Byzantine Asia Minor a little over 100 years later .