1. Historical framework
The major defeat of the Arabs in front of the walls of Constantinople in 717-718 by emperor Leo III temporarily relieved Byzantine lands in Asia Minor from Arab raids. Apart from Leo III's great victory, domestic trouble the Muslim state was facing due to the civil war that broke out after the defeat contributed to this development.1
However, when caliph Hisham ibn 'Abd al-Malik ascended the throne in 724 and the Arab state was stabilised once again, the Arabs repeated their almost annual raids against Byzantine territories in Asia Minor. They aimed to plunder the land and capture major cities and strongholds, in order to take spoils and captives and weaken the Byzantines.
2. Presentation and analysis of the event
In 726 the Arab general Maslamah ibn 'Abd al-Malik, the caliph’s brother, conducted a raid against Cappadocia. During that raid Maslamah captured and looted Caesarea, the most important city in Cappadocia, which at the time belonged to the theme of Anatolikon.
Eastern sources are not in agreement over the identity of the city captured by the Arab general. Arab historians insist that the captured city was Caesarea in Cappadocia, while Syrian historians refer to Neocaesarea in the Pontos.2 A solution seems to be provided by the chronicler Theophanes, who clearly reports that Maslamah ibn 'Abd al-Malik captured Caesarea.3 The reason for the error in Syriac sources remains unknown.
Caesarea was situated at a strategic point near the Arab-Byzantine frontier. Two of the three major invasion routes used by the Arabs passed through the greater region of Cappadocia: the road passing through the Cilician Gates and the road leaving from Germaniceia via the pass of al-Hadath. Already from the Early Byzantine period the city had been used as a concentration point for imperial troops. It was probably for this reason that it was targeted by the Arabs of Maslamah ibn 'Abd al-Malik, who wanted to weaken the Byzantine war machine in order to facilitate his raids in Asia Minor and ward off any Byzantine raids against Arab lands in Mesopotamia and Armenia.
3. Consequences
We do not know the extent to which the city of Caesarea was destroyed when captured and plundered by the Arabs in 726. Certainly the fact that no extensive destructions are reported and the city maintained its strategic character throughout the Middle Byzantine period indicates that the destruction suffered by the city was not beyond repair.
Apart from direct consequences for the city itself, the ease with which the Arabs captured the most important city in Cappadocia cleared the way for larger-scale deep raids. The following year the Arabs will attempt, without success, to occupy the city of Nicaea in Bithynia.