Byzantium and the Long Year of Manzikert, 1068-1081 | Calm Bedtime History

The high plateau of eastern Anatolia stretches brown and wind-scoured toward the Persian horizon. In late August of the year 1071, a Byzantine army of many tongues and faiths has marched for three months to reach this place. Their emperor, Romanos IV Diogenes, has come to meet the Seljuk Sultan Alp Arslan near the fortress of Manzikert. The summer heat still rises from the earth in shimmering waves. Somewhere beyond the dust, Turkish horse-archers are watching.