Battle of Carthage (698)

Battle of Carthage

Part of: Islamic Expansion

Byzantine-Arab rivalry in the Mediterranean

date	698
place	Carthage
output	Arab victory

Parties to the conflict
Umayyads	Eastern Roman Empire
Commander
Hasan ibn al-Nu'man	John the patrician, apsimar
Troop strength
approx. 40,000	unknown
losses
unknown	unknown

The Battle of Carthage was a conflict between the Arab troops of the Caliph Abd al-Malik or his governor Hassān ibn an-Nuʿmān and the Byzantine Empire (Ostrom) in the course of Islamic expansion . With the defeat, the Byzantine exarchate of Carthage ended .

prehistory

The first attempt to conquer the Maghreb under the Calif Yazid I. or its governor 'Uqba ibn NAFI' failed 685. When the Calif Abdel-Malik the Civil War to the caliphate (second Fitna 680-692) for itself and the Umayyaden decided , he appointed Hassān ibn an-Nuʿmān in 695 as governor of Ifrīqiya and ordered the continuation of the conquest of the Maghreb.

Though Ḥassān succeeded in conquering Byzantine Carthage in 697 , the Byzantine emperor Leontios immediately sent a naval expedition to recapture the city. The fleet, under the Droungaros Apsimar and the landing troops, under the command of John the patrician, succeeded with a surprise attack, first the port and then the city.

As a result, assān raised an army of around 40,000 men in Cairo in the spring of 698 in order to conquer Carthage again. The Byzantines tried to strengthen their garrison with the help of the allied Berbers . In anticipation of the great Arab army, the Byzantines even made contact with their enemies, the Visigoths and Franks . Only the Visigoth king Witiza sent 500 men to the defense, apparently to secure the southern border of the Iberian peninsula with little effort.

course

When Ḥassān reached the city walls in 698, he immediately began the siege. Since the population was very happy about the conquest by Byzantium, he gave the besieged the choice of either surrendering or dying. Likewise, the Byzantine Emperor ordered his generals to hold the city to the last or to die. Outbreaks by the Byzantines were successfully repulsed by the Arabs. Obviously, the Byzantines failed to coordinate with the Berber leader Kāhina , who was hostile to the Arabs, in a liberation strike . Finally, Hassan ibn an-Nuʿmān succeeded in cutting off the city from its shipments and finally taking Carthage by storm. Before the final occupation of the city, the Byzantine commanders and some of their loyal followers were able to take the sea route to Crete.

consequences

Carthage was finally destroyed.

John the patrician was murdered by Apsimar as a result of an attempted conspiracy . After returning to Constantinople, Apsimar successfully usurped the Byzantine throne and was henceforth known as Tiberios II (III) Apsimar .

After the victory of the Arabs, however, āassān did not succeed in defeating the indigenous Berber tribes. So he suffered a heavy defeat on Nin against the Berbers united under their leader Kāhina . Ḥassān even had to withdraw to Cyrenaica ( Tripolitania ). The Berbers under their leader Kāhina could not be defeated until 701 in the battle of Taharqa. Since Kāhina died while fleeing, the united anti-Islamic resistance of the Berbers in the Maghreb was broken.

literature

• Hugh Kennedy: The Great Arab Conquests. How the Spread of Islam changed the World we live in. Da Capo, Philadelphia PA 2007, ISBN 978-0-306-81585-0 .

Footnotes

1. ↑ Hubert Cancik, Helmuth Schneider. The new Pauly: Encyclopedia of Antiquity, 1996.