Editing Romanos IV Diogenes (section)

===Campaign of 1068===
The first military operations of Romanos did achieve a measure of success, reinforcing his opinions about the outcome of the war. [[Antioch]] was exposed to the [[Saracens]] of [[Aleppo]] who, with help from Turkish troops, began an attempt to reconquer the Byzantine province of Syria.<ref>Finlay 1854, p. 33</ref>  Romanos began marching to the southeastern frontier of the empire to deal with this threat, but as he was advancing towards [[Lykandos]], he received word that a Seljuk army had made an incursion into [[Pontus (region)|Pontus]] and had plundered [[Niksar|Neocaesarea]].<ref name="Finlay 1854, p. 34">Finlay 1854, p. 34</ref>  Immediately he selected a small mobile force and quickly raced through [[Elaiussa Sebaste|Sebaste]] and the mountains of [[Tephrike]] to encounter the Turks on the road, forcing them to abandon their plunder and release their prisoners, though a large number of the Turkish troops managed to escape.<ref name="Finlay 1854, p. 34"/>

Returning south, Romanos rejoined the main army, and they continued their advance through the passes of [[Mount Taurus]] to the north of [[Germanicia]] and proceeded to invade the [[Emirate]] of Aleppo.<ref name="Finlay 1854, p. 34"/>  Romanos captured [[Manbij|Hierapolis]], which he fortified to provide protection against further incursions into the south-eastern provinces of the empire.<ref name="Norwich 1993, p. 345"/> He then engaged in further fighting against the Saracens of Aleppo, but neither side managed a decisive victory.<ref name="Finlay 1854, p. 34"/> With the campaigning season reaching its end, Romanos returned north via [[Alexandretta]] and the [[Cilician Gates]] to [[Podandos]]. Here he was advised of another Seljuk raid into [[Asia Minor]] in which they sacked [[Amorium]] but returned to their base so fast that Romanos was in no position to give chase. He eventually reached [[Constantinople]] by January 1069.<ref name="Finlay 1854, p. 34"/>