Agathon

## Agathon Abouresid

Agathon depicted in a church in Dongola.

Agathon Abouresid was a Makurian King ruling from 868 AD until his death in 920 AD. He is venerated as a saint in Coptic Christianity due to his supposed personal piety as well as his many campaigns against the Muslim caliphates of Egypt and the Beja peoples. Agathon would rule Egypt for a short time, toppling the Tulunid dynasty, which would lead to the reconquest of Egypt by the Abbasids.

## Early Life

### Upbringing

Agathon was born to Aboures, King of Makuria sometime in early 849 AD. In his early life, he was respected in his father's court at Dongola due to his curiosity and knowledge of military matters.

### Makuro-Abbasid War

When he was 14 years old, the Abbasids had declared war on Makuria, attempting to subjugate the Kingdom. Agathon nearly died multiple times during the Siege of Dongola, as he was personally participating in the battle leading him to be well liked in the city. However, the war ended shortly after the Byzantine invasion of Cilicia and Makuria ended up becoming a vassal state of the Abbasids, as well as ceding Qurta, Qasr Ibrim and most importantly, Faras to the Abbasid caliph.

## King of Makuria

### Inheritance and Early Rule

When Agathon was 19, His father would die of the plague, leading Agathon becoming the King of Makuria. Agathon spent the first few years of his rule constructing fortifications on the border of the newly established Tulunid Caliphate in Egypt, as well as expanding the plantations along the River Nile. Due to his investments in economic projects, trade would increase, especially with the nations along the River Nile and Sahara. In 872, he'd marry a woman named Nakame, and she would birth Agathon's first child, Tahemi.

### First War with the Tulunids

While Agathon was building up his forces, the Tulunids were tied up in the Levant, fighting the Abbasids over control over Syria. He would take this opportunity and launch a campaign against the Tulunids to gain independence and seize the city of Faras. He would be able to occupy a few border territories, but failed to gain Faras as local nobles organized a successful relief force and threatened to surround Agathon's entire army in the ensuing battle, forcing Agathon to retreat back to Makuria. Faras would remain in Tulunid hands, but the Egyptian sultan would grant Makuria independence from the Tulunid domain.

### First Beja War

A couple months after the war, the Beja tribes to the east of Makuria would start raiding the settlements of the Nile, and so Agathon would begin planning for the eventual subjugation of these people, introducing mass conscription and implementing a military culture through the Makurian clergy. In 876, Agathon would summon his army to war. Over the next 3 years, Agathon would be tied up in an endless war against the Beja, and eventually forced to sign peace with minor economic concessions given to Agathon by the Beja.

### Second War with the Tulunids

Agathon would invade Egypt again in 880. Makuria would get the support of Abyssinia soon after the war began. Agathon would campaign for the first three years of the war by besieging the city of Faras, however he would be defeated by the Tulunids at the Battle of Coptos and return to Dongola. However, the Abyssinians had made their way to Makuria as Agathon re-grouped his armies, and together they marched to Qasr Ibrim, where they fought the Tulunids a second time and would defeat them. (Battle of Qasr Ibrim). Agathon would continue marching towards the city of Qurta, but the Abyssinian King Iyasu I would return home because he was fearing assasination. Agathon's supply lines would be continuously cut off and raided as they were narrow, and his troops began to starve. He ordered a march south to pacify the raiders, and abandoned Qasr Ibrim. He'd engage the raiders at the battle of Ineiba, securing his supply routes. However, by that point, his treasury was bled dry and his forces exhausted and low in numbers, so he was forced to call off the invasion, only seizing the major city of Faras.

### Invasion of Ethiopia

Agathon, still angry at the Ethiopians for leaving the war with Egypt, would invade Abyssinia in 882. He invaded up to the province of Aksum, where he would be defeated by the forces of the Ethiopian king Fasilidas at Aksum. This was due to the exhaustion of Agathon's troops after fighting the Muslims, Makurian unfamiliarity with the terrain in Ethiopia, and the size and quality of the Abyssinians, especially Fasilidas's war elephant retinue he was very fond of. Agathon would sign a bitter peace with them the same year, going into severe debt to pay concessions to King Fasilidas.

### Third War with the Tulunids

In 883, Agathon would rally his forces again and begin to siege down Qasr Ibrim to sack and reconquer the prosperous city to repay his debts. The Tulunids would send a relief force to coordinate with the garrison to destroy the Makurians from both sides. Unfortunately for the Tulunids, the Makurian king scouts intercepted this plan and made it seem that Agathon had retreated from the city. Once the Tulunids began to return back to Cairo, the Makurian light cavalry ambushed them, causing heavy casualties among the Egyptian ranks. Overlooking this disaster, the garrison of Qasr Ibrim surrendered to the Makurians. The extensive loot from the Tulunid forces and Qasr Ibrim helped significantly to pay off the king's debts. Overconfident, Agathon would attempt to march to another prosperous city along the Nile, Qurta, but would be defeated by another Tulunid force, and sign a peace in 884, seizing Qasr Ibrim and promising to never invade Egypt again.

### Second Beja War

Later in 884, Agathon would use his now experienced and more numerous force to invade the Beja again, which would be much more succesful. The Beja would be crushed and vassalized by Agathon. Though, he did promise the Beja a high degree of autonomy. To combat this, Agathon would appoint Pawlos, one of his youngest yet most competent administrators, as the Viceroy of the Beja, instructing him to gradually chip away at the Beja noble liberties.

### Fourth War with the Tulunids

In 886, Agathon would disregard his promise to the Tulunids and rally his forces to march to Qurta. He would be triumphant in the initial engagement against the Tulunids, but as he arrived before the city, he would be locked in a siege. A few months into the siege, he would hear news of a Beja revolt, and be forced to call off the campaign with no territorial gains but heavy casualties.

### Third Beja War

As Agathon withdrew, his exhausted troops would be initially defeated by the Beja. Agathon would then resort to tiring out the Beja while his own army was spread out across garrisons. Eventually, the Beja were drained of their manpower, and Agathon led a large army and decisively defeated them at Bayuda with the help of Viceroy Pawlos. By 888, Agathon's forces would have conquered the Beja. In November, Agathon would hold a ceremony at Bayuda, where he would be coronated King of Beja, and his able advisor, Viceroy Pawlos of the Beja, would be made Duke of Beja.

## King of Egypt

In 889, Agathon would begin preparations for another campaign against Egypt. The Coptic clergy would crown him King of Egypt, and encourage him to overthrow the Tulunid dynasty.

### Fifth War with the Tulunids

By this time, Agathon had learned much about the tactics of the Tulunids and his prior military mistakes, and had adopted new strategies and expensive, yet effective training methods. While marching, he had his Beja infantry regiments act as the vanguard and the rearguard. His entire cavalry skirmish force was split almost equally between Makurians and the Beja, while his heavy cavalry was made up of entirely Makurians. A small portion of Agathon's Beja light cavalry would also be used as scouts for his army. He had developed his infantry to be excellent at close combat, while his heavy cavalry would be trained to defend his previously vulnerable flanks and to have a devastating coordinated charge that could break enemy lines. He organized this powerful force at Qasr Ibrim, and from there, he would march to Qurta, which would surrender after a short few weeks. Due to treasury issues, large sections of Agathon's army were rapidly deserting. When he had been alerted by his scouts of an ambush, Agathon's forces were vastly numerical inferior to the Tulunid force, and thus they were forced to retreat when the two armies engaged, causing heavy casualties to the Egyptians. After a month, the Tulunid army would recover and besiege Qurta, where the remnants of Agathon's forces were located. Agathon sent letters to Duke Pawlos of Beja to arrive with a relief force to Qurta as quickly as possible. After a over a year of starvation in Qurta, Duke Pawlos finally arrived with a small Beja skirmish force, which looted the supply camps of the Tulunids, forcing them to retreat. At the Treaty of Alexandria in 890, Agathon was awarded the city of Qurta, and once again promised not to invade the Tulunids. The Egyptians forced Agathon to give up his daughter Tahemi in marriage to a powerful Palestinian noble.

### Internal Reforms

After the succesful war, Agathon consolidated his rule by estabilishing a comprehensive system of administrators, diplomats, and military officers loyal to the crown picked from the local populace after difficult examinations, known as the Agathonian Examinations. These examinations' purpose was to find competent men tasked with quelling any pockets of resistance and to ensure a seamless integration of the newly acquired territories. Simultaneously, Agathon initiated a thorough censuses to improve the taxation and conscription capabilities of his new kingdom. This approach was aimed to secure the Muslim population's loyalty to the kingdom. In the North, Agathon would appoint one of his trusted advisors, Yohannes, as the Viceroy of Egypt to administrate the conquered territories surrounding Qasr Ibrim, Faras, and Qurta.

### Sixth War with the Tulunids

By early 892, Agathon's forces were replenished, expanded and ready for war. Around the same time, the Makurian monarch had supposedly received a letter from his daughter that the Tulunid prince she was meant to marry still kept his old wives too as per Muslim tradition, which Agathon claimed was a violation of the peace agreement. In March, as soon as Spring began, Agathon began another invasion of Egypt. Agathon started off by laying siege to Kalabsha, which he captured by late July. Shortly after, he was attacked by a Tulunid force at Haimur. Agathon's prior military reforms had earned him a decisive victory. Hearing of the defeat, the city of Aswan surrendered as soon as Agathon reached its gates. Meanwhile, the Beja warriors had captured Qina and surroundings. The Tulunids would sue for peace. Agathon was overconfident, and thus he declined and his army began marching to Qus with a large force. During the siege of Qus, an envoy from the north arrived, and would bring Agathon his daughter Tahemi's head, with a mocking letter from the Tulunid sultan. Upon capturing Qus, Agathon massacred the local nobility and looted mosques, which was unpopular with Muslims in his domain. After the bloody battle of Ikhmin, he would be unable to advance further, and agree to a temporary, bitter truce that would see Agathon annexing the provinces Kalabsha, Aswan and Qus under the jurisdiction of Viceroy Yohannes of Egypt, who would gain the title of Count of Qasr Ibrim.

### Alodian War

Due to the succession law of ultimogeniture in Alodia, the younger son of King Basil, Mouna, succeeded to the throne of Alodia in 893. The elder son, Outtal, angry about this, arrived at Agathon's court and requested help to overthrow his brother Mouna, offering to form an alliance with Agathon if he supported his claim. Sure enough, Agathon rallied his forces and Outtal's few loyalists to campaign in Alodia. He would be triumphant at the battles of Ushara and Geili, and the war would go smoothly. In May of 894, Agathon would capture the Alodian king at the Battle of Arbaji, right next to the capital city. Subsequently he would install his preferred heir on the throne, but not in quite the way he expected. He would first send him to Dongola for a celebration and coronation ceremony, then assign him guards and prevent him from leaving the palace, where he would subsequently be imprisoned based on false charges of treason and stripped of all his titles. Agathon would then be crowned King of Alodia in August. He would appoint Bartholomew, one of his senior administrative advisors, as Viceroy of Alodia.

### Seventh War with the Tulunids

While Agathon was conquering Alodia, a small Tulunid force would raid the border with Agathon and sack some villages. The viceroy of Egypt, Yohannes, would in turn organize a small force and raid some Tulunid border villages. For three months, the war consisted of raids and skirmishes, with no major border or political changes after the war, until Yohannes and a Tulunid diplomat signed a truce. However, the Tulunid commander continued his raids, and was captured and killed by Agathon while besieging Qasr Ibrim. When the Tulunid sultan heard that one of his leading officers was killed, he declared war on Agathon's realm and led an army to besiege Qus. Agathon led a strong force to the city, while the Beja raiders under the Duke of Beja marched through the town Qina and captured the supplies of the Tulunid army, causing mass desertion, so that when Agathon arrived, he quickly decimated the demoralized troops at the battle of Qus. Agathon moved to besiege Asyut, which not recieving aid, surrended to Agathon in a few months. Agathon was now confident that this war was the war in which he would conquer Egypt. He force marched his army to Ushmun, which delayed Agathon's men by a few weeks, but eventually capitulated due to lack of supplies. By the start of the next year, the Tulunid sultan met Agathon at Ihrit, being defeated yet still causing heavy casualties to the Makurian forces. Despite the reduction in his army's numbers, Agathon continued to press the Tulunid forces and besieged the major city of Bahnasa, The city's zealous Muslim garrison refused to surrender, repelling every Makurian attack before succumbing to starvation in March of 897. Agathon received reinforcements from the Alodians before marching along the Nile, where he met a large Tulunid force at Aftih. His leadership allowed him to defeat the force, but at the cost of over half of his army and exhaustion. Regardless, Agathon continued his march to Cairo, accompanied by a mercenary force as reinforcements. After eight months of grueling siege, a Tulunid force came to relieve the city, consisted of mainly heavy cavalry and retinues from the Amirs of the Tulunid domain. This army almost destroyed the Makurian forces, before their commander was shot with an arrow and killed, causing the Egyptians to flee. Despite his victory, Agathon had lost irreplaceable amounts of men and his treasury was drained. Along with that, his army was exhausted and demoralized, forcing Agathon to retreat from Cairo. In the peace treaty, the Makurian king seized the cities Asyut and Ushmun, and gave up the city Bahnasa in exchange for Kharga to secure his supply line for the next invasion of Egypt. He also awarded Yohannes, the Viceroy of Egypt, the Marquisate of Sennar.

### Campaign in the Southwest

In 899, Agathon, pressured by the costs of his wars would decide to act on his idea to conquer Darfur and Kordofan. Rallying at Bir el-Kai, he'd fight the darfurians at Malha and Tagabo, crushing the tribal armies. Meanwhile the grand vizier of Alodia defeated the Kordofans at Lagowa. Agathon's force may have suffered losses in his previous wars, but those that survived were experienced, proffesional, hardy warriors, as were the commanders. The cities barely had fortifications, but served as major trade routes. By early 900, Agathon had secured both cities and integrated Darfur to Makuria, Kordofan to Alodia. He'd use the revenues to pay his expenses, and he'd order fortifiactions to be built in the west and around the cities.

### Eighth War with the Tulunids

In 900 AD, Agathon had been approached by some insiders at the Tulunid fleet who were secretly Coptic. They have offered to defect to Agathon. The Makurian King would see this as a perfect opportunity he's never had before, due to his lack of sea fleet. Same year, his younger son, Agathon the Younger would send his forces to a Beja port, and sure enough, the defectors arrived and took them in. Agathon the Younger eventually landed in Sinai by harvest season, and went straight west, to Cairo and besieged it, worrying the Abbasids, who sent a small force to aid the Tulunids. It was hard to resupply with this path, so he attempted to lure the garrison out multiple times to no avail. Eventually, he was forced to gain supplies by raiding villages and eventually abandoned the siege of Cairo in favor of raiding villages north of Cairo left and right. The Tulunids engaged him multiple times in skirmishes, with Agathon the Younger being largely succesful, except at Sharqiya, where he was ambushed by an Abbasid reinforcement force, during which he was captured, and his second-in-command ordered the army to withdraw and make a last minute run for the boats to go back. The war ended with no gains for Agathon.

### MIC Reform

Upon hearing the news of the defeat, Agathon was shocked and decided to ensure he'd never lose like that again. An elite reconnaissance light cavalry regiment was created as a permanent retinue of Makuria, consisting mostly of Bejans who were used to horses. Using connections from the people who let him use the Tulunid fleet, Agathon also estabilished an elaborate spy network in the Tulunid military and important towns on major roads to intercept intelligence.

### Ninth War with the Tulunids

In 902 AD, the Tulunids declared war on Agathon, with the promise of support by the Abbasids. Little did they know... (placeholder)