The Story Of Battalgazi

The legendary Turkish mythical character Battal Gazi.The story take places in Malatya , Turkey.

Seyyid Battal Ghazi is a mythical Muslim saintly figure and warrior based in Anatolia (associated primarily with Malatya, where his father, Hüseyin Gazi, was the ruler [1]), based on the real-life exploits of the 8th-century Umayyad military leader Abdallah al-Battal. His attributed legends, which also form the bulk of the information available on the historic personality, later became an important part in Turkish folk literature.

His title Seyyid, as well as being an Arabic honorific, may refer, in the form "Seyyid", to family ties to Muhammad.

His title Seyyid, as well as being an Arabic honorific, may refer, in the form "Seyyid", to family ties to Muhammad.

The legends[edit]

Sources available on the historical personality of Abdallah al-Battal consist of legends often written in the mesnevi style, and which may comport historically correct elements or points that support each other, as well as contradictions. For example, he is cited as having participated in his twenties to the Second Arab Siege of Constantinople in 718, and the legends name his Byzantine enemy as Leon, which could be no other than Leo III the Isaurian, the Emperor during the siege

On the basis of this information, his date of birth is reckoned to be around 690-695 and there is a consensus among historians for accepting 740 as the year of his death, at the Battle of Akroinon. On the other hand, in one story Battal Gazi raids the Maiden's Tower and rides away from Üsküdar, on the city's Asian side, with the Emperor's treasures and daughter, an event that is not confirmed by any historical record.

Battal Gazi was revindicated as an ancestor of Danishmend Gazi in the romanced epic on the Turkish Bey, Danishmendnâme, in which stories relating to the two figures are blended, possibly with a view to stress the presence of Islam in Anatolia even before the main Turkish advance following the Battle of Manzikert (modern Malazgirt).

The verses that compose Danishmendnâme were compiled from Turkish folk literature for a first time by order of the Anatolian Seljuk Sultan Alâeddin Keykubad, a century after Danishmend's death, and the final form that reached our day is a compendium that was put together under the instructions of the early 15th century Ottoman sultan Murad II.