Euphemios (Sicily)

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Euphemios ( Middle Greek Εὐφήμιος , Arabic Fīmī , Latin also Euthimius ; † summer 827 in Enna ) was a Byzantine usurper who revolted against Emperor Michael II in Sicily in 826 .


Life

The tower of Euphemios commanded the Sicilian themed fleet in 826 on a campaign against the Arabian North Africa . For allegedly kidnapping a nun named Homoniza from the monastery and marrying him, Emperor Michael II demanded his punishment. Thereupon Euphemios instigated an uprising, defeated the incumbent strategos of Sicily Konstantinos and proclaimed himself Rex . Although he initially succeeded in taking Syracuse , he was then defeated by troops loyal to the emperor.

Euphemios fled with his wife and children to North Africa and asked the ruling Aghlabids for arms help. Allegedly he promised them Sicily as a tributary province, provided he became governor. The Emir of Tunis , Ziyādat Allāh I , responded to the request of the Byzantine defector and sent an invading army under Asad ibn al-Furāt al-Harrānī to Sicily. After taking Marsala , the former Lilybaeum, with the fortress Mazara , the Arabs and their Greek allies marched on Syracuse, which they were unable to conquer despite a siege of several months . Forced by the Byzantine relief troops to retreat inland, Euphemios fell in the summer of 827 during the siege of Enna. His rebellion ushered in the Islamic conquest of Sicily (see Islam in Italy ).

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literature

  • Paul Julius Alexander: Les débuts des conquêtes arabés en Sicile et la tradition apocalyptique byzantino-slave. In: Bollettino del Centro di Studi Filologici e Linguistici Siciliani 12, 1973, pp. 7–37 (reprinted in: Paul Julius Alexander: Religious and Political History and Thought in the Byzantine Empire . Variorum Reprints, London 1978, ISBN 0-86- 078016-3 , No. 14).
  • Franz Dölger : Regest of the imperial documents of the Eastern Roman Empire from 565-1453. Volume 1: Regesta from 565-1025 (= corpus of Greek documents from the Middle Ages and modern times. Series A, Section 1, 1). Beck, Munich 1924, No. 411.
  • Ekkehard Eickhoff : Sea war and sea politics between Islam and the West. The Mediterranean under Byzantine and Arab hegemony (650–1040). De Gruyter, Berlin 1966, ISBN 3-11-000531-X , pp. 68-73.
  • Ralph-Johannes Lilie , Claudia Ludwig, Thomas Pratsch, Ilse Rochow, Beate Zielke: Prosopography of the Middle Byzantine Period . 1st department: (641−867). Volume 1: Aaron (# 1) - Georgios (# 2182). Created after preliminary work by F. Winkelmann . Published by the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences. De Gruyter, Berlin 1999, ISBN 3-11-015179-0 , pp. 538-539 No. 1701.
  • Warren T. Treadgold : The Byzantine Revival, 780-842 . Stanford University Press, Stanford 1988, ISBN 0-8047-1462-2 , pp. 249-255.
  • Alexander A. Vasiliev : Byzance et les Arabes. Volume 1: La Dynastie d'Amorium (820-867) . Éditions de l'Institut de Philologie et d'Histoire Orientales, Brussels 1935, pp. 340–342, 356–358, 379–382.

Remarks

  1. ↑ This title, which is documented on a seal of Euphemios, probably indicates separatist tendencies rather than ambitions for the imperial throne. See Alexander, Débuts , p. 12.
  2. ↑ According to the Arabic sources; Theophanes Cont. and Skylitzes move the death of Euphemios to Syracuse.
personal data
SURNAME Euphemios
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Εύφήμιος (Middle Greek); Fīmī (Arabic); Euthimius
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Byzantine rebel in Sicily
DATE OF BIRTH 8th century or 9th century
DATE OF DEATH 827
Place of death Enna