Battle of Dathin
The Battle of Dathin () was a battle during the Arab–Byzantine Wars between the Rashidun Caliphate and the Byzantine Empire in February 634, but became very famous in the literature of the period. The battle took place following a series of Arab raids around Gaza. The Byzantine commander ("dux" and "candidatus") Sergius assembled a small detachment of soldiers (due to a shortage of troops), and led that mounted army from his base at Caesarea some 125 kilometers south to the vicinity of Gaza. From there he proceeded against an Arab force that was numerically superior and commanded  by 'Amr ibn al-'As. The opposing forces met at the village of Dathin on February 4, not far from Gaza. The Byzantines were defeated and the "candidatus" Sergius himself was killed, together with 300 of his soldiers. The battle also claimed the lives of 4,000 civilians. According to the near-contemporary "Doctrina Jacobi nuper baptizati", the Muslim victory was celebrated by the local Jews, who had been a persecuted minority within the Roman Empire.