Abdallah al - Battal Abdallah al - Battal ( ; " Abdallah the Hero " , died in 740 ) was a Muslim warrior of the Arab – Byzantine Wars of the early 8th century , participating in several of the campaigns launched by the Umayyad Caliphate against the Byzantine Empire . Historical facts about his life are scarce , but an extensive pseudo - historical and legendary tradition grew around him after his death , and he became a famous figure in both Arab and later Turkish epic literature as " Sayyid Battal Ghazi " . Biography . Nothing is known of Abdallah al - Battal ' s origin or early life . Much later accounts claim that he hailed from Antioch or Damascus , and that he was a " mawla " of the Umayyad family . He is also given various " kunya " , Abu Muhammad , Abu Yahya , or Abu ' l - Husayn . Even his name is not certain : Khalid Yahya Blankinship suggested that he might be the same person as a certain " ' Amr " recorded by the Byzantine chronicler Theophanes the Confessor in the Nicaea campaign of 727 , and hence that " ' Amr " could be his actual personal name or a patronymic ( i . e . his name could be ' Amr ibn Abdallah or Abdallah ibn ' Amr ) , while alternatively " Abdallah " could simply be an honorific . According to historical sources ( the chroniclers al - Ya ' qubi and al - Tabari ) , al - Battal first appears in 727 , in one of the annual raids against Byzantine Asia Minor . This campaign was commanded by Mu ' awiya ibn Hisham , the son of the reigning Caliph Hisham ( reign ed 723 – 743 ) . Al - Battal led the vanguard , with which he penetrated as far as the city of Gangra in Paphlagonia , which he captured and razed , before the army went on to unsuccessfully lay siege to Nicaea . Blankinship considers that al - Battal ' s capture of Gangra ranks as one of the greatest successes of Umayyad arms against the Byzantines in this period , along with the capture of Caesarea by Maslama ibn Abd al - Malik in 726 . Later accounts from the 10th century , place al - Battal alongside Maslama during the latter ' s failed siege of Constantinople in 717 – 718 , but as the Arab accounts of the siege are semi - legendary , it is impossible to know if this report contains any truth . Al - Battal himself commanded another raid in 731 – 732 , of which little is known . It most probably was a failure , and is remembered only for the death in battle of another Arab hero , Abd al - Wahhab ibn Bukht . In the next year , AH 115 ( 732 – 733 ) , al - Battal campaigned again alongside Mu ' awiya ibn Hisham , raiding as far as Akroinon in Phrygia . A Byzantine army under a certain Constantine tried to confront the Muslims , but al - Battal defeated Constantine and took him prisoner . Al - Battal ' s next and last appearance is in 740 , when a major campaign involving several tens of thousands of men was launched by the Umayyads against Byzantium . Along with Malik ibn Shu ' ayb , deputy governor of Malatya , al - Battal commanded a 20 , 000 - strong cavalry force while Sulayman ibn Hisham led the main force behind them . Al - Battal and Malik ' s force reached as far as Akroinon , but there they were confronted and defeated by the Byzantines under Emperor Leo III the Isaurian ( r . 717 – 741 ) in person . Both Arab generals and two thirds of their army perished . Legend . If his military career was not particularly distinguished , Abdallah al - Battal quickly became the subject of popular tales and his fame grew , so that by the 10th century he was well established as one of the heroic figures of the Arab – Byzantine Wars : al - Mas ' udi ( " The Meadows of Gold " , VIII , 74 – 75 ) ranks him among the " illustrious Muslims " whose portraits were displayed in Byzantine churches as a mark of respect . In the 10th – 12th centuries his alleged role in the siege of Constantinople was embellished by the Persian historian Bal ' ami and the Andalusian mystic Ibn Arabi . A number of fictional anecdotes became part of the accepted historical corpus around al - Battal from the time of Ibn ' Asakir ( 1106 – 1175 ) on : the use of his name to frighten children by the Byzantines ; his entry into Amorion pretending to be a messenger and discovery of the Byzantine plans ; his stay at a convent , whose abbess shielded him from Byzantine soldiers and whom he took with him and married ; and finally his death in battle and burial , attended by Emperor Leo himself . Al - Battal ' s exploits became the subject of two romances , the Arabic - language " Tale of Delhemma and al - Battal " ( " Sīrat Ḏāt al - Himma wa - l - Baṭṭāl " ) and the Turkish epic tradition of " Sayyid Baṭṭāl Ghāzī " . Although both were composed in the 12th century and draw upon a common Arabic tradition , they show significant differences , with the Turkish tale including many uniquely Turkic and Persian influences , including supernatural elements from folk tradition or motifs from the " Shahname " and the " Romance of Abu Muslim " . Both romances place al - Battal in the mid - 9th century and associate him with the epic cycle of Malatya and its emir , Umar al - Aqta ( died 863 ) , with the result that he became particularly associated with the city of Malatya and its region . In the " Delhemma " , his own role in the Umayyad wars with Byzantium is taken over by the Kilabite hero al - Sahsah . In these tales al - Battal is presented as an Islamic analogue to Ulysses , to the extent that his name became a byword for cunning . The Turks adopted al - Battal following the Danishmendid conquest of Malatya in 1102 , and he became prominent as a Turkish national hero and symbol of their conquest of Asia Minor . His stories ( " Battalname " ) were reworked throughout the Seljuk and Ottoman periods , and he became the subject of a considerable body of folk tales . A cult developed around him as a saintly figure ( " " sayyid " " ) , especially among the Alevi and Bektashi sects , and his supposed tomb at Seyitgazi became a major centre of pilgrimage until the early 20th century , drawing pilgrims from as far as Central Asia .