Siege of Syracuse (877-878)

Siege of Syracuse

The conquest of Syracuse, from the Madrid illuminated manuscript of the Skylitzes

date	August 877 to 20./21. May 878
place	Syracuse , Sicily
output	aghlabid victory

Parties to the conflict
Byzantine Empire	Aghlabids
Commander
Unknown	Jafar ibn Muhammad al-Tamini

The siege of Syracuse in 877–878 led to the fall of the city of Syracuse , the ancient Roman and Byzantine capital of Sicily, to the Aghlabids . The Aghlabids had already tried to fifty years before the city after landing in Sicily conquer , but were failed. Despite this setback, they had gradually seized the western and southern parts of the island. In August 877, the Muslim general Jafar ibn Muhammad al-Tamini led a large force against Syracuse. The city received no help from Emperor Basil I and therefore fell on 20/21. May 878. After that, the Byzantines only had a few bases left on the island; the Arab conquest of Sicily was completed in 902 with the fall of Taormina . The siege and fall of Syracuse were described in detail by the eyewitness Theodosius of Syracuse.

literature

• The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium . Oxford / New York 1991, p. 1892.