24 CALIPHS OF BAGDAD. 



ground. The male inhabitants were all put to the 

 sword, and the women and children carried into 

 captivity. At Malatia, in Cappadocia, 1000 females 

 were made prisoners ; these, and the natives of other 

 towns which he reduced, were treated with exces- 

 sive cruelty, their eyes put out, or their noses and 

 ears cut off. The arms of Motassem were at that 

 moment occupied with the revolt of the Persian im- 

 postor Babec, who was taken in 837 and put to an 

 ignominious death. This fanatic had for twenty 

 years maintained his power against the caliphs ; 

 during which time he had massacred above 250,000 

 individuals. Nud, one of his officers, employed in 

 these executions, acknowledged that he had de- 

 stroyed with his own hand more than twenty thou- 

 sand Moslems. 



On the suppression of this rebellion, Motassem 

 conducted a formidable army into A.sia Minor. An- 

 cyra was laid in ashes, and not a town or fortress 

 belonging to the Christians could withstand him. 

 Amarium was invested ; and after an obstinate siege 

 of fifty-five days, and the loss of 30,000 Greeks, the 

 place was betrayed by one of the inhabitants, who 

 had abjured the Christian religion. The walls were 

 levelled v/ith the ground, and 30,000 wretched cap- 

 tives gratified the vengeance of the conqueror. The- 

 ophilus had marched to the relief of his native city ; 

 but he was opposed by a body of ten thousand Sa- 

 racens. The two armies came to a general action 

 at Dazymenum. The Arabs at first were broken ; 

 but the Greeks, in the pursuit, were so galled by the 

 arrows of the Turks, that they were in their turn 

 thrown into complete disorder; and had not the 

 enemy's bowstrings been damped and relaxed by the 

 evening rain, very few of the Christians would have 

 escaped with their emperor from the field of battle. 

 Tired of destruction, Motassem returned to his 

 new palace of Samarra. 



The loss of 70,000 Moslems in the siege of Amo- 



