Manzikert (Turkish Malazgirt) is a town in eastern Anatolia, around forty kilometres north of Lake Van. There is almost no record of its history in the pre-Islamic period. Evidence from the Byzantine emperor and writer Constantine IV Porphyrogenitus (r. 913-59) suggests that, in the fourth/tenth century, the town was ruled by Arabs who paid tribute to Byzantium. In 353/964, Manzikert was conquered by the Ḥamdānid dynasty of Aleppo, but retaken by the Byzantines in 359/969-70. In 446/1054-5, the town was unsuccessfully besieged