Leon of Tripoli

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Leon of Tripoli , known as Rasiq al-Wardami or Ghulam Zurafa in Arabic sources , was a Greek renegade and pirate who fought for the Abbasid caliphate in the early 10th century .

Leon came from Attaleia , which is why Johannes Skylitzes also calls him Leon Attaleus . Leon was captured (probably at a young age) during an Arab raid. He lived in the household of the Arab governor Zurafa, converted to Islam and then worked as a naval commander in the Arab service. Repeatedly he went on pirate trips to the Byzantine Empire . In 904 he made an advance towards Constantinople with 54 large ships . After taking Abydos, however, he changed his plans and set course for the important city of Thessalonica , which was not as difficult to defend as the Byzantine capital. Ultimately, his greatest success was the sacking of the city in July 904, which took place under his command. He freed Muslim prisoners and captured several Byzantine ships.

In 912 he struck a Byzantine fleet and made 921/22 pirate trips to the Aegean Sea . He devastated Lemnos , but was then defeated by a Byzantine fleet under the command of John Radenos. Leon himself narrowly escaped and is no longer mentioned in the sources.

literature

personal data
SURNAME Leon of Tripoli
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Rasiq al-Wardami; Ghulam Zurafa
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Greek renegade and pirate
DATE OF BIRTH 9th century
DATE OF DEATH 10th century