surplus prisoners were either ransomed for money or exchanged for slaves." Prisoner exchanges What is notable in the numbers reported for the exchanges, according to Arnold J. Toynbee, is that even in 845, before the Byzantines gained the upper hand in the Battle of Lalakaon (863), they held more prisoners than the Arabs, despite the wholesale capture and deportation of Byzantine subjects in events like the Sack of Amorion in 838. According to Toynbee, this attests to the efficiency of the Byzantine military's strategy of "dogging and pouncing" the Muslim armies that raided Asia Minor. See also Prisoners of war in Islam References Sources Prisoner exchanges Prisoner exchanges Abbasid Caliphate–Byzantine Empire relations