# Seljuks of Rum Take Antioch (1084–1085)

URL: https://allhistories.com/syria/timeline/1084-seljuks-of-rum-take-antioch
Location: Antioch on the Orontes
Themes: Seljuks, Antioch

In 1084 Suleiman ibn Qutulmish, founder of the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum, took Antioch from the Byzantine governor Philaretos Brachamios; Wikipedia's article on the battle dates the siege to 1084–1085. He then faced the Uqaylid emir Muslim ibn Quraysh, who demanded tribute, was refused and was defeated. The Byzantines had held Antioch since 969, but after Manzikert in 1071 their grip on the east dissolved, and the governor Philaretos ruled almost autonomously. The chronology of Suleiman's rise is debated, since the chronicler al-Azimi places his capture of Nicaea in 1075. He was also a rival to the Uqaylid emirs of Mosul, who claimed the same Syrian marches. Suleiman besieged Aleppo in 1086, but he lifted the siege and attacked Tutush at Ain Salm, where he was killed. The sultan Malik-Shah took Antioch and sent Suleiman's son Kilij Arslan to Isfahan as a hostage. Antioch remained under Seljuk-appointed governors until the First Crusade reached it in 1097. At this point in the timeline (1084), Damascus was held by the Seljuks under Tutush I (1079 – 1095). The main location of this event lies outside present-day Syria.

## Why it matters
The loss ended Byzantine rule over Antioch and put a Turkic governor in the city whose siege by the crusaders would become the pivotal event of the First Crusade.

Ruler at the Time: [Tutush I](https://allhistories.com/syria/rulers/tutush-i)

## Sources
- [Wikipedia — Suleiman ibn Qutulmish](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suleiman_ibn_Qutulmish)
- [Wikipedia — Michael Bourtzes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Bourtzes)