Sayf al - Dawla Ali ibn Abu ' l - Hayja ' Abdallah ibn Hamdan ibn al - Harith Sayf al - Dawla al - Taghlibi ( ) , more commonly known simply by his " laqab " ( honorific epithet ) of Sayf al - Dawla ( " Sword of the [ Abbasid ] Dynasty " ) , was the founder of the Emirate of Aleppo , encompassing most of northern Syria and parts of western Jazira , and the brother of al - Hasan ibn Abdallah ibn Hamdan ( better known as Nasir al - Dawla ) . The most prominent member of the Hamdanid dynasty , Sayf al - Dawla originally served under his elder brother in the latter ' s attempts to establish his control over the weak Abbasid government in Baghdad during the early 940s CE . After the failure of these endeavours , the ambitious Sayf al - Dawla turned towards Syria , where he confronted the ambitions of the Ikhshidids of Egypt to control the province . After two wars with them , his authority over northern Syria , centred at Aleppo , and the western Jazira , centred at Mayyafariqin , was recognized by the Ikhshidids and the Caliph . A series of tribal rebellions plagued his realm until 955 , but he was successful in overcoming them and maintaining the allegiance of the most important Arab tribes . Sayf al - Dawla ' s court at Aleppo became the centre of a vibrant cultural life , and the literary cycle he gathered around him , including the great al - Mutanabbi , helped ensure his fame for posterity . Sayf al - Dawla was widely celebrated for his role in the Arab – Byzantine Wars , facing a resurgent Byzantine Empire that in the early 10th century had begun to conquer Muslim territories . In this struggle against a much superior enemy , he launched raids deep into Byzantine territory and managed to score a few successes , and generally held the upper hand until 955 . After that , the new Byzantine commander , Nikephoros Phokas , and his lieutenants spearheaded an offensive that broke Hamdanid power . The Byzantines annexed Cilicia , and even occupied Aleppo itself briefly in 962 . Sayf al - Dawla ' s final years were marked by military defeats , his own growing disability as a result of disease , and a decline in his authority that led to revolts by some of his closest lieutenants . He died in early 967 , leaving a much weakened realm , which by 969 had lost Antioch and the Syrian littoral to the Byzantines and become a Byzantine tributary . Life . Origin and family . Sayf al - Dawla was born Ali ibn Abdallah , the second son of Abdallah Abu ' l - Hayja ibn Hamdan ( died 929 ) , son of Hamdan ibn Hamdun ibn al - Harith , who gave his name to the Hamdanid dynasty . The Hamdanids were a branch of the Banu Taghlib , an Arab tribe resident in the area of the Jazira ( Upper Mesopotamia ) since pre - Islamic times . The Taghlibs had traditionally controlled Mosul and its region until the late 9th century , when the Abbasid government tried to impose firmer control over the province . Hamdan ibn Hamdun was one of the most determined Taghlibi leaders in opposing this move . Notably , in his effort to fend off the Abbasids , he secured the alliance of the Kurds living in the mountains north of Mosul , a fact which would be of considerable importance in his family ' s later fortunes . Family members intermarried with Kurds , who were also prominent in the Hamdanid military . Hamdan was defeated in 895 and imprisoned with his relatives , but his son Husayn ibn Hamdan managed to secure the family ' s future . He raised troops for the Caliph among the Taghlib in exchange for tax remissions , and established a commanding influence in the Jazira by acting as a mediator between the Abbasid authorities and the Arab and Kurdish population . It was this strong local base which allowed the family to survive its often strained relationship with the central Abbasid government in Baghdad during the early 10th century . Husayn was a successful general , distinguishing himself against the Kharijites and the Tulunids , but was disgraced after supporting the failed usurpation of Ibn al - Mu ' tazz in 908 . His younger brother Ibrahim was governor of Diyar Rabi ' a ( the province around Nasibin ) in 919 and after his death in the next year he was succeeded by another brother , Dawud . Sayf al - Dawla ' s father Abdallah served as emir ( governor ) of Mosul in 905 / 6 – 913 / 4 , was repeatedly disgraced and rehabilitated , until re - assuming control of Mosul in 925 / 6 . Enjoying firm relations with the powerful Mu ' nis al - Khadim , he later played a leading role in the short - lived usurpation of Al - Qahir against Al - Muqtadir in 929 , and was killed during its suppression . Despite the coup ' s failure and his death , Abdallah had been able to consolidate his control over Mosul , becoming the virtual founder of a Hamdanid - ruled emirate there . During his long absences in Baghdad in his final years , Abdallah relegated authority over Mosul to his eldest son , al - Hasan , the future Nasir al - Dawla . After Abdallah ' s death , Hasan ' s position in Mosul was challenged by his uncles , and it was not until 935 that he was able to secure confirmation by Baghdad of his control over Mosul and the entire Jazira up to the Byzantine frontier . Early career under al - Hasan Nasir al - Dawla . The young Ali ibn Abdallah began his career under his brother . In 936 , Hasan invited his younger brother to his service , promising him the governorship of Diyar Bakr ( the region around Amida ) in exchange for his help against Ali ibn Ja ' far , the rebellious governor of Mayyafariqin . Ali ibn Abdallah was successful in preventing Ibn Ja ' far from receiving the assistance of his Armenian allies , and also secured control over the northern parts of the neighbouring province of Diyar Mudar after subduing the Qays i tribes of the region around Saruj . From this position , he also launched expeditions to aid the Muslim emirates of the Byzantine frontier zone ( the " Thughur " ) against the advancing Byzantines , and intervened in Armenia to reverse growing Byzantine influence ( see below ) . In the meantime , Hasan became involved in the intrigues of the Abbasid court . Since the murder of Caliph al - Muqtadir in 932 , the Abbasid government had all but collapsed , and in 936 the powerful governor of Wasit , Muhammad ibn Ra ' iq , assumed the title of " amir al - umara " ( " commander of commanders " ) and with it " de facto " control of the Abbasid government . The Caliph al - Radi was reduced to a figurehead role , while the extensive old civil bureaucracy was drastically reduced both in size and power . Ibn Ra ' iq ' s position was anything but secure , however , and soon a convoluted struggle for control of the office of " [ amir al - umara " , and the Caliphate with it , broke out among the various local rulers and the Turkish military chiefs , which ended in 946 with the victory of the Buyids . Hasan initially supported Ibn Ra ' iq , but in 942 he had him assassinated and secured for himself the post of " amir al - umara " , receiving the honorific " laqab " of " Nasir al - Dawla " ( " Defender of the Dynasty " ) . The Baridis , a local family of Basra , who also desired control over the Caliph , continued to resist , and Nasir al - Dawla now sent Ali against them . After scoring a victory over Abu ' l Husayn al - Baridi at al - Mada ' in , Ali was named governor of Wasit and awarded the " laqab " of Sayf al - Dawla ( " Sword of the Dynasty " ) , by which he became famous . This double award to the Hamdanid brothers marked the first time that a " laqab " incorporating the prestigious element " Dawla " was granted to anyone other than the " wazir " , the Caliphate ' s chief minister . The Hamdanids ' success proved short - lived , however . They were politically isolated , and found little support among the Caliphate ' s most powerful vassals , the Samanids of Transoxiana and the Ikhshidids of Egypt . Consequently , when in 943 a mutiny over pay issues broke out among their troops ( mostly composed of Turks , Daylamites , Carmathians and only a few Arabs ) , under the leadership of the Turk Tuzun , they were forced to quit Baghdad . Caliph al - Muttaqi appointed Tuzun as " amir al - umara " , but soon quarrelled with him and fled north to seek Hamdanid protection . Tuzun , however , defeated Nasir al - Dawla and Sayf al - Dawla in the field , and in 944 an agreement was concluded which allowed the Hamdanids to keep the Jazira and even gave them nominal authority over northern Syria ( which at the time was not under Hamdanid control ) , in exchange for a large tribute . Henceforth , Nasir al - Dawla would be tributary to Baghdad . However , his continued attempts to control Baghdad led to a clash with the Buyids . Eventually , in 958 / 9 Nasir al - Dawla would be forced to seek refuge in the court of his brother , before Sayf al - Dawla could negotiate his return to Mosul with the Buyid emir Mu ' izz al - Dawla . Establishment of the Emirate of Aleppo . Northern Syria had been under the control of the Ikhshidids since 935 / 6 , until Ibn Ra ' iq detached it from Egyptian control in 939 / 40 . In 942 , when Nasir al - Dawla replaced the assassinated Ibn Ra ' iq , he attempted to impose his own control over the region , and particularly Ibn Ra ' iq ' s own province of Diyar Mudar . Hamdanid troops took control of the Balikh River valley , but the local magnates were still inclined towards the Ikhshidids , and Hamdanid authority was tenuous . The Ikhshidids did not intervene directly , but supported ' Adl al - Bakjami , the governor of Rahba . Al - Bakjami captured Nasibin , where Sayf al - Dawla had left his treasures , but was finally defeated and captured by Sayf al - Dawla ' s cousin Abu Abdallah al - Husayn ibn Sa ' id ibn Hamdan , and executed at Baghdad in May 943 . Husayn then proceeded to occupy the entire province , from Diyar Mudar to the " Thughur " . Al - Raqqah was taken by storm , but Aleppo surrendered without a fight in February 944 . Al - Muttaqi now sent feelers to al - Ikhshid , asking for his support against the various warlords who wanted to control him . The Hamdanids confined the Caliph at Raqqah , but in summer 944 al - Ikhshid arrived in Syria . Husayn abandoned Aleppo to the Egyptian , who then visited the exiled Caliph at Raqqah . Al - Muttaqi confirmed Ikhshidid control over Syria , but after the Caliph refused to relocate himself to Egypt , the Egyptian ruler refused to commit himself to further aid for the Caliph against his enemies . The Ikhshid returned to Egypt , while al - Muttaqi , powerless and dejected , went back to Baghdad . It was in this context that Sayf al - Dawla turned his attention to Syria . The previous years had seen a series of personal humiliations , with defeats in the field by Tuzun followed by his failure to persuade al - Muttaqi to nominate him as " amir al - umara " . It was during the latter attempt that he also had one of his rivals , Muhammad ibn Inal al - Turjuman , assassinated . As Thierry Bianquis writes , following the failure of his brother ' s designs in Iraq , Sayf al - Dawla ' s turn to Syria was " born of resentment when , having returned to Nasibin , he found himself under - employed and badly paid " . Nasir al - Dawla seems to have encouraged his brother to turn to Syria after Husayn ' s failure there , writing to Sayf al - Dawla that " Syria lies before you , there is no one in this land who can prevent you from taking it " . With money and troops provided by his brother , Sayf al - Dawla invaded northern Syria in the wake of the Ikhshid ' s departure . He gained the support of the local Banu Kilab tribe , to which the Ikhshid - appointed governor of Aleppo belonged , and entered the city unopposed in October 944 . Conflict with the Ikhshidids . The Ikhshidids reacted , and sent an army north under Abu al - Misk Kafur to confront Sayf al - Dawla , who was besieging Homs . In the ensuing battle , the Hamdanid scored a crushing victory . Homs then opened its gates , and Sayf al - Dawla set his sights on Damascus . Sayf al - Dawla briefly occupied the city in early 945 , but was forced to abandon it in the face of the citizens ' hostility . In April 945 the Ikhshid himself led an army into Syria , although at the same time he also offered terms to Sayf al - Dawla , proposing to accept Hamdanid control over northern Syria and the " Thughur " . Sayf al - Dawla rejected the Ikhshid ' s proposals , but was defeated in battle in May / June and forced to retreat to Raqqah . The Egyptian army proceeded to raid the environs of Aleppo . Nevertheless , in October the two sides came to an agreement , broadly on the lines of the earlier Ikhshidid proposal : the Egyptian ruler acknowledged Hamdanid control over northern Syria , and even consented to sending an annual tribute in exchange for Sayf al - Dawla ' s renunciation of all claims on Damascus . The pact was sealed by Sayf al - Dawla ' s marriage to a niece of the Ikhshid , and Sayf al - Dawla ' s new domain received the — purely formal — sanction by the Caliph , who also re - affirmed his " laqab " , soon thereafter . The truce with the Ikhshidids lasted until the death of the Ikhshid , in July 946 at Damascus . Sayf al - Dawla immediately marched south , took Damascus , and then proceeded to Palestine . There he was confronted once again by Kafur , who defeated the Hamdanid prince in a battle fought in December . Sayf al - Dawla then retreated to Damascus , and from there to Homs . There he gathered his forces , including large Arab tribal contingents , and in spring of 947 , he attempted to recover Damascus . He was again defeated in battle , however , and in its aftermath the Ikhshidids even occupied Aleppo in July . Kafur , the Ikhshidid army ' s leader , did not press his advantage , but instead began negotiations . For the Ikhshidids , the maintenance of Aleppo was less important than southern Syria with Damascus , which was Egypt ' s eastern bulwark . As long as their control over this region was not threatened , the Egyptians were more than willing to allow the existence of a Hamdanid state in the north . Furthermore , the Ikhshidids realized that they would have difficulty in asserting and maintaining control over northern Syria and Cilicia , which were traditionally oriented more towards the Jazira and Iraq . Not only would Egypt , threatened by this time by the Fatimids in the east , be spared the cost of maintaining a large army in these distant lands , but the Hamdanid emirate would also fulfil the useful role of a buffer state against incursions both from Iraq and also from Byzantium . The agreement of 945 was reiterated , with the difference that the Ikhshidids ceased paying tribute for Damascus . The frontier thus established , between Jaziran - influenced northern Syria and the Egyptian - controlled southern part of the country , was to last until the Mamluks seized the entire country in 1260 . Sayf al - Dawla , who returned to Aleppo in autumn , was now master of an extensive realm : the north Syrian provinces ( " jund Hims " , " jund Qinnasrin " and the " jund al - ' Awasim " ) in a line running south of Homs to the coast near Tartus , and most of Diyar Bakr and Diyar Mudar in the western Jazira . He also exercised a — mostly nominal — suzerainty over the towns of the Byzantine frontier in Cilicia . Sayf al - Dawla ' s domain was a " Syro - Mesopotamian state " , in the expression of the Orientalist Marius Canard , and extensive enough to require two capitals : alongside Aleppo , which became Sayf al - Dawla ' s main residence , Mayaffariqin was selected as the capital for the Jaziran provinces . The latter were held ostensibly in charge of his elder brother Nasir al - Dawla , but in reality , the size and political importance of Sayf al - Dawla ' s emirate allowed him to effectively throw off the tutelage of Nasir al - Dawla . Although Sayf al - Dawla continued to show his elder brother due deference , henceforth , their positions would be reversed . Arab tribal revolts . Aside from his confrontation with the Ikhshidids , Sayf al - Dawla ' s consolidation over his realm was challenged by the need to maintain good relations with the restive native Arab tribes . Northern Syria at this time was controlled by a number of Arab tribes , who had been resident in the area since the Umayyad period , and in many cases even before that . The region around Homs was settled by the Banu Kalb and the Banu Tayyi , while the north , a broad stripe of land from the Orontes until beyond the Euphrates was controlled by the still largely nomadic Qaysi tribes of Uqayl , Numayr , Ka ' b and Kushayr , as well as the aforementioned Banu Kilab around Aleppo . Further south , the originally Yemeni Tanukh were settled around Maarat al - Numaan , while the coasts were settled by the Bahra ' and Kurds . In his relations with them , Sayf al - Dawla befitted from the fact that he was an ethnic Arab , unlike most of the contemporary rulers in the Islamic Middle East , who were Turkish or Iranian warlords who had risen from the ranks of the military slaves ( " ghilman " ) . This helped him win support among the Arab tribes , and the bedouins played a prominent role in his administration . However , in accordance with the usual late Abbasid practice familiar to Sayf al - Dawla and common across the Muslim states of the Middle East , the Hamdanid state was heavily reliant on and increasingly dominated by its non - Arab , mostly Turkish , " ghilman " . This is most evident in the composition of his army , which , alongside Arab tribal cavalry , made heavy use of Daylamites as infantry and Turks as horse archers . After winning recognition by the Ikhshidids , Sayf al - Dawla began a series of campaigns of consolidation . His main target was to establish firm control over the Syrian littoral , as well as the routes connecting it to the interior . The operations there included a difficult siege of the fortress of Barzuya in 947 – 948 , which was held by a Kurdish brigand leader , who from there controlled the lower Orontes valley . In central Syria , a Carmathian - inspired revolt of the Kalb and Tayyi erupted in late 949 , led by a certain Ibn Hirrat al - Ramad . The rebels enjoyed initial success , even capturing the Hamdanid governor of Homs , but they were quickly crushed . In the north , the attempts of the Hamdanid administrators to keep the bedouin from interfering with the more settled Arab communities resulted in regular outbreaks of rebellion between 950 and 954 , which had to be suppressed by Sayf al - Dawla ' s army . Finally , in 955 a major rebellion broke out which involved all tribes , both bedouin and sedentary , including the Hamdanids ' close allies , the Kilab . Sayf al - Dawla was able to resolve the situation quickly , initiating a ruthless campaign of swift repression that included driving the tribes into the desert to die or capitulate , coupled with diplomacy that played on the divisions among the tribesmen . Thus the Kilab were offered peace and a return to their favoured status , and were given additional lands at the expense of the Kalb , who were evicted from their homes along with the Tayyi and fled south to settle in the plains north of Damascus and the Golan Heights , respectively . At the same time , the Numayr were also expelled and encouraged to resettle in the Jazira around Harran . The suppression of the great tribal revolt marked , in the words of Islamic scholar Hugh N . Kennedy , " the high point of Sayf al - Dawla ’ s success and power " . For a short time , during that year , his suzerainty was also acknowledged in parts of Azerbaijan around Salmas , where the Kurd Daysam established brief control until evicted and finally captured by Marzuban ibn Muhammad . Wars with the Byzantines . Through his assumption of control over the Syrian and Jaziran borderlands ( the " Thughur " ) with Byzantium in 945 / 946 , Sayf al - Dawla emerged as the chief Arab prince facing the Byzantine Empire , and warfare with the Byzantines became his main preoccupation . Indeed , much of Sayf al - Dawla ' s reputation stems from his unceasing , though ultimately unsuccessful war with the Empire . By the early 10th century , the Byzantines had gained the upper hand over their eastern Muslim neighbours . The onset of decline in the Abbasid Caliphate after 861 ( the " Anarchy at Samarra " ) was followed by the Battle of Lalakaon in 863 , which had broken the power of the border emirate of Malatya and marked the beginning the gradual Byzantine encroachment on the Arab borderlands . Although the emirate of Tarsus in Cilicia remained strong and Malatya continued to resist Byzantine attacks , over the next half - century the Byzantines managed to overwhelm the Paulician allies of Malatya and advance to the Upper Euphrates , occupying the mountains north of the city . Finally , after 927 , peace on their Balkan frontier enabled the Byzantines , under John Kourkouas , to turn their forces east and begin a series of campaigns that culminated in the fall and annexation of Malatya in 934 , an event which sent shock - waves among the other Muslim emirates . Arsamosata followed in 940 , and Qaliqala ( Byzantine Theodosiopolis , modern Erzurum ) in 949 . The Byzantine advance evoked a great emotional response in the Muslim world , with volunteers , both soldiers and civilians , flocking to participate in the " jihad " against the Empire . Sayf al - Dawla was also affected by this atmosphere , and became deeply impregnated with the spirit of " jihad " . The rise of the Hamdanid brothers to power in the frontier provinces and the Jazira is therefore to be regarded against the backdrop of the Byzantine threat , as well as the manifest inability of the Abbasid government to stem the Byzantine offensive . In Hugh Kennedy ' s words , " compared with the inaction or indifference of other Muslim rulers , it is not surprising that Sayf al - Dawla ' s popular reputation remained high ; he was the one man who attempted to defend the Faith , the essential hero of the time " . Early campaigns . Sayf al - Dawla entered the fray against the Byzantines in 936 , when he led an expedition to the aid of Samosata , at the time besieged by the Byzantines . A revolt in his rear forced him to abandon the campaign , and he only managed to send a few supplies to the town , which fell soon after . In 938 , he raided the region around Malatya and captured the Byzantine fort of Charpete . Some Arab sources report a major victory over Kourkouas himself , but the Byzantine advance does not seem to have been affected . His most important campaign in these early years was in 939 – 940 , when he invaded southwestern Armenia and secured a pledge of allegiance and the surrender of a few fortresses from the local princes — the Muslim Kaysites of Manzikert and the Christian Bagratids of Taron and Gagik Artsruni of Vaspurakan — who had begun defecting to Byzantium , before turning west and raiding Byzantine territory up to Koloneia . This expedition temporarily broke the Byzantine leaguer around Qaliqala , but Sayf al - Dawla ' s preoccupation with his brother ' s wars in Iraq over the next years meant that it was not followed up . This was a major missed chance ; as the historian Mark Whittow comments , a more sustained policy could have made use of the Armenian princes ' distrust of Byzantine expansionism , to form a network of clients and contain the Byzantines . Instead , the latter were given a free hand , which allowed them to press on and capture Qaliqala , cementing their dominance over the region . Failures and victories , 945 – 955 . After establishing himself at Aleppo in 944 , Sayf al - Dawla resumed warfare against Byzantium in 945 / 946 . From this time until the time of his death , he was the Byzantines ' chief antagonist in the East — by the end of his life Sayf al - Dawla was said to have fought against them in over forty battles . Nevertheless , despite his frequent and destructive raids against the Byzantine frontier provinces and into Asia Minor , and his victories in the field , his mode of warfare was essentially defensive , and he never seriously attempted to challenge Byzantine control of the crucial mountain passes or conclude alliances with other local rulers in an effort to roll back the Byzantine conquests . Compared to Byzantium , Sayf al - Dawla was the ruler of a minor principality , and could not match the means and numbers available to the resurgent Empire : the contemporary Arab sources report — with obvious , but nonetheless indicative , exaggeration — that Byzantine armies numbered up to 200 , 000 , while Sayf al - Dawla ' s largest force numbered some 30 , 000 . Sayf al - Dawla ' s origin in the Jazira also affected his strategic outlook in that , contrary to most Syria - based polities in history , he neglected constructing a fleet or paying any attention at all to the Mediterranean . Sayf al - Dawla ' s raid of winter 945 / 946 was of limited scale , and was followed by a prisoner exchange . Warfare on the frontiers then died down for a couple of years , and recommenced only in 948 . Despite scoring a victory over a Byzantine invasion in 948 , he was unable to prevent the sack of Hadath , one of the main Muslim strongholds in the Euphrates " Thughur " , by Leo Phokas , one of the sons of the Byzantine Domestic of the Schools ( commander - in - chief ) Bardas Phokas . Sayf al - Dawla ' s expeditions in the next two years were also failures . In 949 he raided into the theme of Lykandos but was driven back , and the Byzantines proceeded to sack Marash , defeat a Tarsian army and raid as far as Antioch . In the next year , Sayf al - Dawla led a large force into Byzantine territory , ravaging the themes of Lykandos and Charsianon , but on his return he was ambushed by Leo Phokas in a mountain pass . In what became known as the " ghazwat al - musiba " , the " dreadful expedition " , Sayf al - Dawla lost 8 , 000 men and barely escaped himself . Sayf al - Dawla nevertheless rejected offers of peace from the Byzantines , and launched another raid against Lykandos and Malatya , persisting until the onset of winter forced him to retire . In the next year , he concentrated his attention on rebuilding the fortresses of Cilicia and northern Syria , including Marash and Hadath . Bardas Phokas launched an expedition to obstruct these works , but was defeated . Bardas launched another campaign in 953 , but despite having a considerably larger force at his disposal , he was heavily defeated near Marash in a battle celebrated by Sayf al - Dawla ' s panegyrist s . The Byzantine commander even lost his youngest son , Constantine , to Hamdanid captivity . Another expedition led by Bardas in the next year was also defeated , allowing Sayf al - Dawla to complete the refortification of Samosata and Hadath . The latter successfully withstood yet another Byzantine attack in 955 . Byzantine ascendancy , 956 – 962 . Sayf al - Dawla ' s victories brought about the replacement of Bardas by his eldest son , Nikephoros Phokas . Blessed with capable subordinates like his brother Leo and his nephew John Tzimiskes , Nikephoros would bring about a reversal of fortunes in Sayf al - Dawla ' s struggle with the Byzantines . The young general also benefited from the culmination of military reforms that created a more professional army . In spring 956 , Sayf al - Dawla pre - empted Tzimiskes from a planned assault on Amida , and invaded Byzantine territory first . Tzimiskes then seized a pass in Sayf al - Dawla ' s rear , and attacked him during his return . The hard - fought battle , fought amidst torrential rainfall , resulted in a Muslim victory as Tzimiskes lost 4 , 000 men . At the same time , however , Leo Phokas invaded Syria and defeated and captured Sayf al - Dawla ' s cousin Abu ' l - ' Asa ' ir , whom he had left behind in his stead . Later in the year , Sayf al - Dawla was obliged to go to Tarsus to help repel a raid by the Byzantine Cibyrrhaeot fleet . In 957 , Nikephoros took and razed Hadath , but Sayf al - Dawla was unable to react as he discovered a conspiracy by some of his officers to surrender him to the Byzantines in exchange for money . Sayf al - Dawla executed 180 of his " ghilman " and mutilated over 200 others in retaliation . In the next spring , Tzimiskes invaded the Jazira , captured Dara , and scored a victory at Amida over an army of 10 , 000 led by one of Sayf al - Dawla ' s favourite lieutenants , the Circassian Nadja . Together with the " parakoimomenos " Basil Lekapenos , he then stormed Samosata , and even inflicted a heavy defeat on a relief army under Sayf al - Dawla himself . The Byzantines exploited Hamdanid weakness , and in 959 Leo Phokas led a raid as far as Cyrrhus , sacking several forts on their way . In 960 , Sayf al - Dawla tried to use the absence of Nikephoros Phokas with much of his army on his Cretan expedition , to re - establish his position . At the head of a large army , he invaded Byzantine territory and sacked the fortress of Charsianon . On his return , however , his army was attacked and almost annihilated in an ambush by Leo Phokas and his troops . Once again , Sayf al - Dawla managed to escape , but his military power was broken . The local governors now began to make terms with the Byzantines on their own , and the Hamdanid ' s authority was increasingly questioned even in his own capital . Sayf al - Dawla now needed time , but as soon as Nikephoros Phokas returned victorious from Crete in summer 961 , he began preparations for his next campaign in the east . The Byzantines launched their attack in the winter months , catching the Arabs off guard . They captured Anazarbus in Cilicia , and followed a deliberate policy of devastation and massacre to drive the Muslim population away . After Nikephoros repaired to Byzantine territory to celebrate Easter , Sayf al - Dawla entered Cilicia and claimed direct control over the province . He began to rebuild Anazarbus , but the work was left incomplete when Nikephoros recommenced his offensive in autumn , forcing Sayf al - Dawla to depart the region . The Byzantines , with an army reportedly 70 , 000 strong , proceeded to take Marash , Sisium , Duluk and Manbij , thereby securing the western passes over the Anti - Taurus Mountains . Sayf al - Dawla sent his army north under Nadja to meet the Byzantines , but Nikephoros ignored them . Instead , the Byzantine general led his troops south and in mid - December , they suddenly appeared before Aleppo . After defeating an improvised army before the city walls , the Byzantines stormed the city and plundered it , except for the citadel , which continued to hold out . The Byzantines departed , taking some 10 , 000 inhabitants , mostly young men , with them as captives . Returning to his ruined and half - deserted capital , Sayf al - Dawla repopulated it with refugees from Qinnasrin . Illness , rebellions and death . In 963 , the Byzantines remained quiet as Nikephoros was scheming to ascend the imperial throne , but Sayf al - Dawla was troubled by the onset of hemiplegia as well as worsening intestinal and urinary disorders , which henceforth confined him to a litter . The disease limited Sayf al - Dawla ' s ability to intervene personally in the affairs of his state ; he soon abandoned Aleppo to the charge of his chamberlain , Qarquya , and spent most of his final years in Mayyafariqin , leaving his senior " ghilman " to carry the burden of warfare against the Byzantines and the various rebellions that sprung up in his domains . Sayf al - Dawla ' s physical decline , coupled with his military failures , especially the capture of Aleppo in 962 , meant that his authority became increasingly shaky among his subordinates , for whom military success was the prerequisite for political legitimacy . Thus , in 961 , the emir of Tarsus , Muhammad ibn al - Husayn ibn al - Zayyat , unsuccessfully tried to turn over his province to the Ikhshidids . In 963 , his nephew , the governor of Harran , Hibat Allah , rebelled after killing Sayf al - Dawla ' s trusted Christian secretary in favour of his father , Nasir al - Dawla . Nadja was sent to subdue the rebellion , forcing Hibat Allah to flee to his father ' s court , but then Nadja himself rebelled and attacked Mayyafariqin , defended by Sayf al - Dawla ' s wife , with the intention of turning it over to the Buyids . He failed , and retreated to Armenia , where he managed to take over a few fortresses around Lake Van . In autumn 964 he again attempted to take Mayyafariqin , but was obliged to abandon it to subdue a revolt in his new Armenian domains . Sayf al - Dawla himself travelled to Armenia to meet his former lieutenant . Nadja re - submitted to his authority without resistance , but was murdered in winter 965 at Mayyafariqin , probably at the behest of Sayf al - Dawla ' s wife . Nevertheless , despite his illness and the spreading famine in his domains , in 963 Sayf al - Dawla launched three raids into Asia Minor . One of them even reached as far as Iconium , but Tzimiskes , named Nikephoros ' successor as Domestic of the East , responded by launching an invasion of Cilicia in winter . He destroyed an Arab army at the " Field of Blood " near Adana , and unsuccessfully besieged Mopsuestia before lack of supplies forced him to return home . In autumn 964 , Nikephoros , now emperor , again campaigned in the East , and met little resistance . Mopsuestia was besieged but held out , until the famine that plagued the province forced the Byzantines to withdraw . Nikephoros however returned in the next year and stormed the city and deported its inhabitants . On 16 August 965 , Tarsus was surrendered by its inhabitants , who secured safe passage to Antioch . Cilicia became Byzantine province , and Nikephoros proceeded to re - Christianize it . The year 965 also saw two further large - scale rebellions within Sayf al - Dawla ' s domains . The first was led by a former governor of the coast , the ex - Carmathian Marwan al - ' Uqayli , which grew to threatening dimensions : the rebels captured Homs , defeated an army sent against them and advanced up to Aleppo , but Al - ' Uqayli was wounded in the battle for the city and died shortly after . In autumn , a more serious revolt broke out in Antioch , led by the former governor of Tarsus , Rashiq ibn Abdallah al - Nasimi . The rebellion was obviously motivated by Sayf al - Dawla ' s inability to stop the Byzantine advance . After raising an army in the town , Rashiq led it to besiege Aleppo , which was defended by Sayf al - Dawla ' s " ghilman " , Qarguya and Bishara . Three months into the siege , the rebels had taken possession of part of the lower town , when Rashiq was killed . He was succeeded by a Daylamite named Dizbar . Dizbar defeated Qarquya and took Aleppo , but then departed the town to take control over the rest of northern Syria . In the same year , Sayf al - Dawla was also heavily affected by the death of two of his sons , Abu ' l - Maqarim and Abu ' l - Baraqat . In early 966 , Sayf al - Dawla asked for and received a short truce and an exchange of prisoners with the Byzantines , which was held at Samosata . He ransomed many Muslim captives at great cost , only to see them go over to Dizbar ' s forces . Sayf al - Dawla resolved to confront the rebel : carried on his litter , he returned to Aleppo , and on the next day defeated the rebel ' s army , helped by the defection of the Banu Kilab from Dizbar ' s army . The surviving rebels were ruthlessly punished . However , Sayf al - Dawla was still unable to confront Nikephoros when he resumed his advance . The Hamdanid ruler fled to the safety of the fortress of Shayzar while the Byzantines raided the Jazira , before turning on northern Syria , where they launched attacks on Manbij , Aleppo and even Antioch , whose newly appointed governor , Taki al - Din Muhammad ibn Musa , went over to them with the city ' s treasury . In early February 967 , Sayf al - Dawla returned to Aleppo , where he died a few days later ( although a source claims that he died at Mayyafariqin ) . His body was embalmed and buried at a mausoleum in Mayyafariqin beside his mother and sister . A brick made of dust collected from his armour after his campaigns was reportedly placed under his head . He was succeeded by his only surviving son , Abu ' l - Ma ' ali Sharif , better known as Sa ' d al - Dawla . Cultural activity and legacy . Sayf al - Dawla surrounded himself with prominent intellectual figures , most notably the great poets al - Mutanabbi and Abu Firas ( who was Sayf al - Dawla ' s cousin ) , the preacher Ibn Nubata , and the noted philosopher al - Farabi . Al - Mutanabbi ' s time at the court of Sayf al - Dawla was arguably the pinnacle of his career as poet . During his nine years at the Hamdanid court , al - Mutanabbi wrote 22 major panegyrics to Sayf al - Dawla , which , according to the Arabist Margaret Larkin , " demonstrated a measure of real affection mixed with the conventional praise of premodern Arabic poetry . " The celebrated historian and poet , Abu al - Faraj al - Isfahani , was also part of the court , and he dedicated his major encyclopedia of poetry and songs , " Kitab al - Aghani " , to Sayf al - Dawla . Sayf al - Dawla paid special favour to poets , but his court contained scholars versed in religious studies , history , philosophy and astronomy as well . As S . Humphreys comments , " In his time Aleppo could certainly have held its own with any court in Renaissance Italy " . Sayf al - Dawla ' s patronage of poets had a useful political dividend too : it was part of a court poet ' s duty to his patron to celebrate him in his work , and through their poetry , the influence of Sayf al - Dawla and his court spread far across the Muslim world . Sayf al - Dawla was also unusual for 10th - century Syria in his espousal of Twelver Shi ' a Islam in a hitherto solidly Sunni country . During his reign , the founder of the Alawi te sect , al - Khasibi , benefited from Sayf al - Dawla ' s patronage . Al - Khasibi turned Aleppo into the stable centre of his new sect , and sent preachers from there as far as Persia and Egypt with his teachings . His main theological work , " Kitab al - Hidaya al - Kubra " , was dedicated to his Hamdanid patron . Sayf al - Dawla ' s active promotion of Shi ' ism began a process whereby Syria came to host a large Shi ' a population by the 12th century . Sayf al - Dawla played also a crucial role in the history of Aleppo and Mayyafariqin , as his choice of these two cities as his capitals raised them from obscurity to the status of major urban centres . Sayf al - Dawla lavished attention on his two capitals , endowing them with new buildings , as well as taking care of their fortifications . Aleppo especially benefited from Sayf al - Dawla ' s patronage : of special note is the great Palace of Halba outside Aleppo , as well as the gardens and aqueduct which he built there . Its rise to the chief city in northern Syria dates from his reign . Political legacy . Sayf al - Dawla has remained to this day one of the best - known medieval Arab leaders . His bravery and leadership of the war against the Byzantines , despite the heavy odds against him , his literary activities and patronage of poets which lent his court an unmatched cultural brilliance , the calamities which struck him towards his end — defeat , illness and betrayal — have made him , in the words of Th . Bianquis , " from his time until the present day " , the personification of the " Arab chivalrous ideal in its most tragic aspect " . Nevertheless , the picture presented by his contemporaries on the impact of Sayf al - Dawla ' s policies is less favourable : the 10th - century chronicler Ibn Hawqal , who travelled the Hamdanid domains , paints a dismal picture of economic oppression and exploitation of the local people , linked with the Hamdanid practice of expropriating extensive estates in the most fertile areas and practising a monoculture of cereals destined to feed the growing population of Baghdad . This was coupled with heavy taxation , so that Sayf al - Dawla and Nasir al - Dawla are said to have become the wealthiest princes in the Muslim world . This allowed them to maintain their lavish courts , but at a heavy price to their subjects ' long - term prosperity . According to Hugh Kennedy " even the capital of Aleppo seems to have been more prosperous under the following Mirdasid dynasty than under the Hamdanids " , while Bianquis claims that Sayf al - Dawla ' s wars and economic policies both contributed to a permanent alteration in the landscape : " by destroying orchards and peri - urban market gardens , by enfeebling the once vibrant polyculture and by depopulating the sedentarised steppe terrain of the frontiers , the Hamdanids contributed to the erosion of the deforested land and to the seizure by semi - nomadic tribes of the agricultural lands of these regions in the 11th century " . His military record was also , in the end , one of failure : the Byzantine advance continued after his death , culminating in the fall of Antioch in 969 . Aleppo was transformed into a vassal state tributary to Byzantium , and for the next fifty years it would become the bone of contention between the Byzantines and a Muslim power new to the Middle East , the Egypt - based Fatimid Caliphate . The Hamdanids ' military defeat was in the end inevitable , given the disparity of strength and resources with the Empire . This was compounded by the failure of Nasir al - Dawla to support his brother in his wars against Byzantium , by the Hamdanids ' preoccupation with internal revolts , and the feebleness of their authority over much of their domains . As the historian Mark Whittow comments , Sayf al - Dawla ' s martial reputation often masks the reality that his power was " a paper tiger , short of money , short of soldiers and with little real base in the territories he controlled " .