High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The Battle of Anzen or Dazimon was fought on July 22, 838 at Anzen or Dazimon (now Dazman, Turkey) between the Byzantine Empire and the forces of the Abbasid Caliphate. The Abbasids had launched a huge expedition with two separate armies in retaliation for the Byzantine emperor Theophilos`s successes the previous year, and aimed to sack Amorion, one of the Byzantium`s largest cities. Theophilos with his army confronted the smaller army, under General Afshin, at Dazimon. The numerically superior Byzantine army was initially successful, but when Theophilos resolved to lead an attack in person, his absence from his usual post caused panic among the Byzantine troops, who feared that he had been killed. Coupled with a fierce counterattack by Afshin`s Turkish horse-archers, the Byzantine army broke and fled. Theophilos and his guard were besieged for a while in a hill, before making good their escape. The defeat opened the way for the brutal sack of Amorion a few weeks later, one of the most serious blows Byzantium suffered in the centuries-long Byzantine–Arab Wars.