Umar al - Aqta ‘ Umar ibn ʿAbdallah ibn Marwan or ʿAmr ibn ʿUbaydallah ibn Marwan , surnamed al - Aqtaʿ , " the one - handed " , and found as Amer or Ambros ( ) in Byzantine sources , was the semi - independent Arab emir of Malatya ( Melitene ) from the 830s until his death in the Battle of Lalakaon on September 3 , 863 . During this time , he was one of the greatest enemies of the Byzantine Empire on its eastern frontier , and became a prominent figure in later Arabic and Turkish epic literature . Biography . ʿUmar belonged to the Banu Sulaym tribe , which was established in the western Jazira at the time of the Muslim conquests and played an important role in the affairs of Malatya and the Jaziran frontier zone ( " thughur " ) with the Byzantine Empire as well as the Caucasian frontier with the Khazars . His father , ʿAbdallah or ʿUbaydallah , is little known , except that he was also emir of Malatya , and that ca . 810 he surrendered to the Byzantines the fortress of Kamacha to obtain the release of his son , who was held captive . ʿUmar himself probably became emir of Malatya in the 830s , and first appears in 838 , in the Amorium campaign of the Caliph al - Mu ' tasim ( r . 833 – 842 ) . The campaign was waged in retaliation for a large - scale raid in the previous year by the Byzantine emperor Theophilos ( r . 829 – 842 ) against the Arab border emirates , including Malatya , whose territory was laid waste and depopulated . During the Amorium campaign , ʿUmar took part with his men in the great Arab victory over Theophilos himself at the Battle of Dazimon in July 838 . In the 840s , he provided refuge to the surviving members of the Paulicians , who were fleeing persecution in Byzantium , and allocated them the area around the fortresses of Tephrike , Amara and Argaoun . The Paulician leader Karbeas turned this into a separate Paulician principality , allied with ‘ Umar and launching frequent expeditions against Byzantium , either in conjunction with ʿUmar or independently . In 844 , ʿUmar ' s forces participated in a major raid that inflicted a heavy defeat upon an army led by the Byzantine chief minister , Theoktistos , at the Battle of Mauropotamos . In the late 840s , he was also engaged in warfare against a neighbouring Armenian lord named Skleros , whom he finally vanquished after a protracted and bloody conflict . In the 850s , ʿUmar is recorded as having defeated an expedition led by the Byzantine emperor Michael III ( r . 842 – 867 ) against Samosata , and to have carried out a number of successful raids into Byzantium . One of them swept through the themes of Thrakesion and Opsikion and reached up to the great Byzantine army base of Malagina in Bithynia . He was unable , however , to stop a retaliatory expedition launched in 856 by Petronas against Melitene and Tephrike , which raided all the way to Amida , taking many prisoners before returning home . In 860 , along with Karbeas , ʿUmar launched a major raid into Anatolia which reached the Black Sea port of Sinope , returning with over 12 , 000 head of captured livestock . Three years later , he was part of a major Abbasid force that invaded Anatolia through the Cilician Gates . After splitting off from the main force and repulsing a Byzantine army under Emperor Michael III at Mardj al - Usquf ( " Bishop ' s Meadow " ) in Cappadocia , ʿUmar with his men headed north to sack the port city of Amisos . On his return , however , he was encircled by the Byzantines and killed at the Battle of Lalakaon on September 3 , 863 . Only a splinter of his army escaped under his son , but was then defeated and captured by the commander of the Charsianon district . His death marked the end of Malatya as a military threat to Byzantium , although the emirate would survive until ʿUmar ' s grandson , Abu Hafs , was forced to surrender the city to the Byzantine general John Kourkouas in 934 . Cultural legacy . Like many other protagonists of the Arab – Byzantine Wars , ʿUmar figures in both Arab and Byzantine legend . In the Arab epic romance " " Tale of Delhemma and al - Battal " " ( " Sīrat Ḏāt al - Himma wa - l - Baṭṭāl " ) , he is a major figure , although his role has been diminished and he is often cast as almost a villain , due to the tale ' s bias in favour of the Banu Sulaym ' s rivals , the Banu Kilab , who furnish most of the heroic characters . Traditions about ʿUmar seem also to have influenced the story cycle around ‘ Umar ibn al - Numan and his sons which became included in the " One Thousand and One Nights " , while ʿUmar himself features in later Turkish epic literature centred around the heroic figure of Battal Ghazi ( inspired by the real - life Umayyad general Abdallah al - Battal ) , who is also one of the main heroes of the " Delhemma " . In Byzantine literature , ʿUmar is regarded as the probable prototype for the emir Ambron , the grandfather of the eponymous hero in the epic poem " Digenes Akritas " , while the Greek scholar G . Veloudis suggested him as the origin of the eponymous hero of the " Song of Armouris " . The German scholar Hans - Georg Beck finds this identification unlikely , but points out to the reference to a " short - armed " Arab leader in the same tale , which may reflect a folk tradition based on ʿUmar . Finally , the 10th - century scholar al - Mas ' udi reports ( " The Meadows of Gold " , VIII , 74 – 75 ) that ʿUmar was among the " illustrious Muslims " whose portraits were displayed in Byzantine churches in recognition of their valour .