Arab Invasions in Sicily

Since ancient times, the Sicilian island has witnessed the invasion of foreign populations who settled in its territory, including the Carthaginians (550 BC), the Vandals (440 AD), the Goths (535 AD), the Byzantines ( 551 AD), the French (1266 AD) and the Spaniards (1516 AD), to then leave again for new lands of conquest.

Worthy of note were, however, the Greek, Roman, Muslim and Norman conquests, which, taking place in the period from the eighth century BC to the eleventh century AD, radically changed the fate of Sicily from every point of view, from the territorial one to the administrative one.

Although in the second half of the 7th century AD, specifically in 652 and 669, we witness the first invasions of the Arabs on the island, it was from the 8th century AD that populations settled in Africa, converted to the Islamic faith, arrived in the context Sicilian, establishing Arabian and Berber colonies, in which they inserted their religion, their laws, their customs, their literature, their scientific and artistic knowledge and their language.

The choice of Sicily as the objective of the Arab expansionist policy in the western Mediterranean was the work of the leader Mūsā Ibn Nusayr (d. 716 AD), “a man of foreign origin, freedman of the Omeiade family” 4 (Umayyad), who, in 704 AD, he landed in a Sicilian city whose name we do not know, managing to recover a large booty and to make the Roman optimates prisoners.

The following year, the military leader commissioned A’yāšī Ibn Aḫyal to embark on a new expedition to the island, invading the city of Syracuse. The caliph Sulaymān, however, envied, did not recognize the military successes of the leader and, as a reward for the services rendered to the caliphate, decided to issue a series of provisions against him: Mūsā was imprisoned, subjected to atrocious torture, forced to pay four million dinār, which he could not afford, and deeply wounded with the killing of his son ‘Abd Allāh, to whom Mūsā had entrusted the kingdom of Spain in 704 AD

Although the Arab-Berber militias, already Muslim, were involved in their works of conquest in the Spanish territory starting from 710 AD, the Arab conquest in Sicily did not stop: just think that from 727 AD, with the captain of Africa Bišr Ibn Safwān (d. 728 AD), in 753 AD, under the leadership of the Emir ‘Abd al-Raḥmān (d. 788 AD), numerous Arab expeditions were conducted towards the Sicilian territories, bringing great successes from the military point of view.

The last invasions were, however, undermined by the spread of the plague, whose pod is thought to have already been present in Constantinople during the Arab invasion of 718 AD, and then spread to Africa and Sicily from 744 until 754 AD.

The island was subsequently subjected to Byzantine rule which lasted until the 9th century AD, when the governors of Sicily tried various diplomatic agreements with the Aġlabite princes, which were not always successful. The Emir Ibrāhīm Ibn Aġlab (d. 810-11 AD) signed, in fact, a ten-year peace with the patrician Constantine in 805 AD, through which the trade of Africa with the island was guaranteed, without therefore damaging the interests of the merchants.

The emir’s decision antagonized him the support of the African aristocracy, leading to a serious popular uprising in Tunis and Tripoli, the destruction of Muslim ships, since West Africa was under the control of the Idrīsidī dynasty and not of that Aġlabita, and a new invasion in the Sicilian territories.

Worthy of note were, however, the Greek, Roman, Muslim and Norman conquests, which took place in the period from the eighth century BC. up to the 11th century AD, the fate of Sicily radically changed from every point of view, from territorial to administrative.

Nonostante nella seconda metà del VII secolo d.C., nello specifico nel 652 e nel 669, si assista alle prime invasioni degli Arabi nell’Isola, fu a partire dall’VIII secolo d.C. che popolazioni stanziate in Africa, convertite alla fede islamica, giunsero nel contesto siciliano, instaurando colonie arabiche e berbere, in cui inserirono la loro religione, le loro leggi, i loro costumi, la loro letteratura, le loro conoscenze in campo scientifico e artistico e la loro lingua.

Although in the second half of the 7th century AD, specifically in 652 and 669, we witnessed the first invasions of the Arabs on the island, it was from the 8th century AD. that populations settled in Africa, converted to the Islamic faith, arrived in the Sicilian context, establishing Arabian and Berber colonies, in which they inserted their religion, their laws, their customs, their literature, their knowledge in the scientific and artistic fields and their language.

The following year, the military leader commissioned A’yāšī Ibn Aḫyal to embark on a new expedition to the island, invading the city of Syracuse. The caliph Sulaymān, however, envied, did not recognize the military successes of the leader and, as a reward for the services rendered to the caliphate, decided to issue a series of measures against him: Mūsā was imprisoned, subjected to atrocious torture, forced to pay four million dinār, which he could not afford, and deeply wounded with the killing of his son ‘Abd Allāh, to whom Mūsā had entrusted the kingdom of Spain in 704 AD

Although the Arab-Berber militias, already Muslim, were involved in their works of conquest in the Spanish territory starting from 710 AD, the Arab conquest in Sicily did not stop: just think that from 727 AD, with the captain of Africa Bišr Ibn Safwān (d. 728 AD), in 753 AD, under the leadership of the Emir ‘Abd al-Raḥmān (d. 788 AD), numerous Arab expeditions were conducted towards the Sicilian territories, bringing great successes from the military point of view.

The latest invasions were, however, undermined by the spread of the plague, the pod of which is thought to have already been present in Constantinople during the Arab invasion of 718 AD, and then spread to Africa and Sicily from 744 to 754 AD. 9.

The island was subsequently subjected to Byzantine rule which lasted until the ninth century AD, when the governors of Sicily attempted various diplomatic agreements with the Aġlabite princes, which were not always successful. The Emir Ibrāhīm Ibn Aġlab (d. 810-11 AD) signed, in fact, a ten-year peace with the patrician Constantine in 805 AD, through which the trade of Africa with the island was guaranteed, without therefore damaging the interests of the merchants.

The emir’s decision antagonized the support of the African aristocracy, leading to a serious popular uprising in Tunis and Tripoli, the destruction of Muslim ships, since West Africa was under the control of the Idrīsidī dynasty and not of that Aġlabita, and a new invasion in the Sicilian territories.

Luca Mezzasalma

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