CASUALTY RECORD // January 1, 0904
Sack of Thessalonica
Estimated casualties — killed, wounded, captured, and missing — by side, with confidence labels per surviving record.
Casualties by side
1 sides catalogued · combined 5,000 estimated
Byzantine Empire
5,000
Medium-confidence figure
Battle context
The sack of Thessalonica in 904, carried out under the command of Leo of Tripoli on behalf of the Abbasid Caliphate, resulted in recorded Byzantine casualties of 5,000. Thessalonica was the second city of the Byzantine Empire, and its sack represented one of the most damaging Arab naval operations of the prolonged Arab–Byzantine conflict. The attack demonstrated the continued capacity of Abbasid-aligned forces to strike deep into Byzantine-held territory in the Aegean despite ongoing Byzantine naval and land resistance across the wider frontier.
‹ Full battle dossier