Editing Ankara (section)

===Byzantine history===
[[File:AnkaraColumnFar c.JPG|thumb|The ''[[Column of Julianus|Column of Julian]]'' (362) was erected in honor of the Roman emperor [[Julian the Apostate]]'s visit to Ancyra.|281x281px]]

The city is well known during the 4th century as a center of Christian activity (see also [[#Ecclesiastical history|below]]), due to frequent imperial visits, and through the letters of the pagan scholar [[Libanius]].<ref name="TIB"/> Bishop [[Marcellus of Ancyra]] and [[Basil of Ancyra]] were active in the theological controversies of their day, and the city was the site of no fewer than three church synods in [[Synod of Ancyra|314]], 358 and 375, the latter two in favor of [[Arianism]].<ref name="TIB"/>

The city was visited by Emperor [[Constans I]] (r. 337–350) in 347 and 350, [[Julian (emperor)|Julian]] (r. 361–363) during his Persian campaign in 362, and Julian's successor [[Jovian (emperor)|Jovian]] (r. 363–364) in winter 363/364 (he entered his [[Roman consul|consulship]] while in the city). After Jovian's death soon after, [[Valentinian I]] (r. 364–375) was acclaimed emperor at Ancyra, and in the next year his brother [[Valens]] (r. 364–378) used Ancyra as his base against the usurper [[Procopius (usurper)|Procopius]].<ref name="TIB" /> When the province of Galatia was divided sometime in 396/99, Ancyra remained the civil capital of Galatia I, as well as its ecclesiastical center ([[metropolitan see]]).<ref name="TIB" /> Emperor [[Arcadius]] (r. 383–408) frequently used the city as his summer residence, and some information about the ecclesiastical affairs of the city during the early 5th century is found in the works of [[Palladius of Galatia]] and Nilus of Ancyra.<ref name="TIB" />

In 479, the rebel [[Marcian (usurper)|Marcian]] attacked the city, without being able to capture it.<ref name="TIB" /> In 610/11, [[Comentiolus (brother of Phocas)|Comentiolus]], brother of Emperor [[Phocas]] (r. 602–610), launched his own unsuccessful rebellion in the city against [[Heraclius]] (r. 610–641).<ref name="TIB" /> Ten years later, in 620 or more likely 622, it was captured by the [[Sassanid Persia]]ns during the [[Byzantine–Sassanid War of 602–628]]. Although the city returned to Byzantine hands after the end of the war, the [[Persians|Persian]] presence left traces in the city's archeology, and likely began the process of its transformation from a [[late antique]] city to a medieval fortified settlement.<ref name="TIB" />

In 654, the city, also known in Arabic sources as ''Qalat as-Salasil'' ("fortress of the chains"),<ref>{{Cite book |title=The History of al-Tabari Vol. 33: Storm and Stress along the Northern Frontiers of the 'Abbasid Caliphate: The Caliphate of al-Mu'tasim A.D. 833-842/A.H. 218–227 |publisher=SUNY Press |year=2015 |isbn=9780791497210 |pages=99}}</ref> was captured for the first time by the [[Arabs]] of the [[Rashidun Caliphate]], under [[Mu'awiya I|Muawiyah]], the future founder of the [[Umayyad Caliphate]].<ref name="TIB" /> At about the same time, the [[theme (Byzantine district)|theme]]s were established in Anatolia, and Ancyra became capital of the [[Opsician Theme]], which was the largest and most important theme until it was split up under Emperor [[Constantine V]] (r. 741–775); Ancyra then became the capital of the new [[Bucellarian Theme]].<ref name="TIB" /> The city was captured at least temporarily by the Umayyad prince [[Maslama ibn Hisham]] in 739/40, the last of the Umayyads' territorial gains from the Byzantine Empire.<ref>{{The End of the Jihad State |page=169}}</ref> Ancyra was attacked without success by [[Abbasid]] forces in 776 and in 798/99. In 805, Emperor [[Nikephoros I]] (r. 802–811) strengthened its fortifications, a fact which probably saved it from sack during the [[Abbasid invasion of Asia Minor (806)|large-scale invasion]] of Anatolia by Caliph [[Harun al-Rashid]] in the next year.<ref name="TIB" /> Arab sources report that Harun and his successor [[al-Ma'mun]] (r. 813–833) took the city, but this information is later invention. In 838, however, during the [[Sack of Amorium|Amorium campaign]], the armies of Caliph [[al-Mu'tasim]] (r. 833–842) converged and met at the city; abandoned by its inhabitants, Ancara was razed to the ground, before the Arab armies went on to besiege and destroy [[Amorium]] reaching as far as [[Smyrna]].<ref name="TIB" /> In 859, Emperor [[Michael III]] (r. 842–867) came to the city during a campaign against the Arabs, and ordered its fortifications restored.<ref name="TIB" /> In 872, the city was menaced, but not taken, by the [[Paulicians]] under [[Chrysocheir]].<ref name="TIB" /> The last Arab raid to reach the city was undertaken in 931, by the Abbasid governor of [[Tarsus (city)|Tarsus]], [[Thamal al-Dulafi]], but the city again was not captured.<ref name="TIB" />