Siege of Syracuse (827-828)
| date | Fall 827 to Fall 828 |
|---|---|
| place | Syracuse , Sicily |
| output | Byzantine victory |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
| Commander | |
|
Unknown |
Asad ibn al- |
| Troop strength | |
| 8,000-9,000 men | |
Byzantine-Arab Wars
Early battles
Mu'ta - Tabuk - Dathin - Firaz
Arab conquest of the Levant
Qartin - Bosra - Adschnadain - Marj al-Rahit - Fahl - Damascus - Marj ad Dibadsch - Emesa - Yarmouk - Jerusalem - Hazir - Aleppo
Muslim conquest of Egypt
Heliopolis - Alexandria - Nikiou
Umayyad conquest of North Africa
Sufetula - Vescera - Carthage
Umayyadidische invasion of Anatolia
and Constantinople
Iron bridge - Germanikeia - 1. Konstantin Opel - Sebastopolis - Tyana - 2. Konstantin Opel - Nicaea - Akroinon
Arabic-Byzantine border war
Kamacha - Kopidnadon - Krasos - Anzen and Amorion - Mauropotamos - Lalakaon - Bathys Ryax
Sicily and Southern Italy
1st Syracuse - 2nd Syracuse - Campaigns of the Maniac
Byzantine counter-attack
Marasch - Raban - Andrassos - Campaigns of Nikephoros Phokas - Campaigns of John Tzimiskes - Orontes - Campaigns of Basil II. - Azaz Sea
operations
Phoinix - Muslim Conquest of Crete - Thasos - Damiette - Thessalonike - Byzantine reconquest of Crete
The siege of Syracuse in 827–828 was the first attempt by the Aghlabids to take the city of Syracuse in Sicily , then a Byzantine province. The Aghlabd army had only landed on the island a few months earlier, officially to support the Byzantine rebel Euphemios . After defeating the local militias and taking the Mazara fortress , they marched on Syracuse, which had been the island's capital since Roman times. The siege lasted a year. During this period, the besiegers suffered from a lack of food, and an epidemic broke out that claimed the life of one of the two generals, Asad ibn al-Furat. In the face of Byzantine relief troops, Muhammad ibn Abi'l-Jawari decided to break off the siege and retreat to the southwest, which they held. From there they pursued the goal of the Arab subjugation of the island. After another long siege in the years 877–878 and the fall of Taormina in 902, this goal should become a reality.
literature
- John Bagnell Bury : A History of the Eastern Roman Empire from the Fall of Irene to the Accession of Basil I (AD 802-867) . London 1912, pp. 294-302.
- Warren T. Treadgold : The Byzantine Revival, 780-842 . Stanford University Press, Stanford 1988, ISBN 0-8047-1462-2 , pp. 248ff.
- AA Vasiliev : Byzance et les Arabes, Tome I: La Dynastie d'Amorium (820-867) . Éditions de l'Institut de Philologie et d'Histoire Orientales, Brussels 1935, pp. 78–82.