The Battle of Philomelion of 1117 occurred in the course of the Byzantine-Seljuq wars.

Following the success of the First Crusade

First Crusade

The First Crusade was a military expedition by Western Christianity to regain the Holy Lands taken in the Muslim conquest of the Levant, ultimately resulting in the recapture of Jerusalem...

 and the failure of the Crusade of 1101

Crusade of 1101

The Crusade of 1101 was a minor crusade of three separate movements, organized in 1100 and 1101 in the successful aftermath of the First Crusade. It is also called the Crusade of the Faint-Hearted due to the number of participants who joined this crusade after having turned back from the First...

, the Turks resumed their offensive operations against the Byzantine

Byzantine

Byzantine usually refers to the Roman Empire during the Middle Ages.Byzantine may also refer to:* A citizen of the Byzantine Empire, or native Greek during the Middle Ages...

s. Emperor Alexios I Komnenos

Alexios I Komnenos

Alexios I Komnenos, Latinized as Alexius I Comnenus , was Byzantine emperor from 1081 to 1118, and although he was not the founder of the Komnenian dynasty, it was during his reign that the Komnenos family came to full power. The title 'Nobilissimus' was given to senior army commanders,...

, aged and suffering from an illness which proved to be terminal was unable to deal with the swift Turkish raids into what was left of Byzantine Anatolia. An attempt to take Nicaea in 1113 was thwarted by the Byzantines. Nonetheless in the aftermath of the Frankish invasions much land was re-consolidated by the Seljuq Turks under the centralized authority of Iconium where the Sultanate of Rûm

Sultanate of Rûm

The Sultanate of Rum , also known as the Anatolian Seljuk State , was a Turkic state centered in in Anatolia, with capitals first at İznik and then at Konya. Since the court of the sultanate was highly mobile, cities like Kayseri and Sivas also functioned at times as capitals...

 had established itself under Sultan Malik-Shah I. Events of the battle are unclear but it appears to have ended favorably for the Byzantines.

Aftermath

Alexios was nearing death - his ill condition meant that he could not fight the Sultan until a year after he had set out in 1116. Alexios' death in 1118 meant that the reconquest of Asia Minor would have to be left to his 31 year old son, John II Komnenos

John II Komnenos

John II Komnenos was Byzantine Emperor from 1118 to 1143. Also known as Kaloïōannēs , he was the eldest son of Emperor Alexios I Komnenos and Irene Doukaina...

.