The city walls that surrounded Ani and the Byzantine
troops that defended these walls were too strong and powerful. Until that date, the city
had suffered various attacks, but it could not be invaded. Arpacay stream surrounded the
city from three directions and there was a ditch full of water in the other side of the
city. All the Armenians in the region had taken shelter in it considering that this city
that was surrounded by walls and water could never be captured. They stated that "Is
there any force that can capture Ani?"
Alparslan ordered for the construction of a wooden
tower on the side where the ditch full of water was located. He started to pound the city
walls with catapults arranged in this tower that was constructed within a short period of
time. Sometimes small stones were being hammered like hailing and sometimes, big stones
were pounded, and these events did not give any opportunity to the Greek soldiers to
repair the city walls. As a result, Turkish soldiers penetrated into the city from a
breach that was opened as a result of hammering. Bagrat and Greguar who were two Georgian
generals in the service of the Byzantine that provided the defence went to the citadel and
they continued to defend the city. But after a while, they understood that they could not
resist any more against the forces of Alparslan and they declared that they would
surrender and pay taxes. But this was a trick to gain time and to distract the attention
of the enemy. As a matter of fact, they supposed that they would endure in the citadel, so
they started to hail arrows onto the Turkish soldiers. Therefore, Alparslan narrowed the
blockade and gradually attenuated the resistance through the application of various war
tactics. Finally, the Turkish soldiers who penetrated into the breaches that they opened
and they captured the castle.
Sultan Alp Arslan advanced
towards Ust-Yurd and Mangislak in the end of the year of 1065. He subdued the Kipchak and
Turkmen people that waylaid the trade routes towards the northeast. He visited the
mausoleum of his grandfather Seljuk that was located in the city of Cend. Afterwards, he
returned to Harezm and then, to the city of Merv (May 1066).
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