 The Greeks protected the coastal and inland trade routes with a vast network of garrison forts.Following the Byzantine defeat at the Battle of Manzikert in 1071, Trebizond came under Seljuk rule.This rule proved transient when an expert soldier and local aristocrat, Theodore Gabras took control of the city from the Turkish invaders, and regarded Trebizond, in the words of Anna Comnena, "as a prize which had fallen to his own lot" and ruled it as his own kingdom.