A combined imperial and Georgian army of…

A combined imperial and Georgian army of fifty thousand under the command of Aaron, Katakalon Kekaumenos, and Liparit, meets the Seljuqs head-on at Kapetrou (modern-day Hasankale) on September 10, 1048.

In a fierce nocturnal battle, the Christian allies fail to achieve any serious success, and Ibrahim Yinal is able to safely leave the imperial territory, laden with spoils and captives, including the Georgian commander Liparit.

The emperor later sends ransoms to Toğrül, who refuses them, however, and releases Liparit on condition that he will never again fight the Seljuqs.

During Ibrahim’s expedition, tens of thousands of Christians are said to have been massacred and several areas have been reduced to piles of ashes.

The devastation left behind by the Seljuq raid was so fearful that the Byzantine magnate Eustathios Boilas will describe, in 1051/52, these lands as "foul and unmanageable... inhabited by snakes, scorpions, and wild beasts."

The Arab chronicler Ibn al-Athir reports that Ibrahim brought back one hundred thousand captives and a vast booty loaded on the backs of ten thousand camels.

(Paul A. Blaum (2005).

Diplomacy gone to seed: a history of Byzantine foreign relations, A.D. 1047-57. International Journal of Kurdish Studies.)