Difference between revisions 112480325 and 112480329 on dewiki

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{{Infobox Military Conflict
|image=[[Image:Greekfire-madridskylitzes1.jpg|center|300px]]
|caption=[[Greek fire]], first used by the [[Byzantine Navy]] during the Byzantine-Arab Wars.
|conflict=Byzantine-Arab Wars
|partof=the [[Muslim conquests]]
|date=629-1180
|place= Levant, Syria, Egypt, North Africa, Anatolia, Crete, Sicily, Southern Italy
(contracted; show full)rthage]] lost in 698, Justinian returned to power from 705-711.<ref name="Europe245">Davies (1996), 245</ref> His second reign was marked by Arab victories in Asia Minor and civil unrest.<ref name="Justinian"/> Reportedy, he ordered his guards to execute the only unit that had not deserted him after one battle, to prevent their desertion in the next.<ref name="Europe245"/>

===Arab sieges of Constantinople===
{{main articles|Siege of Constantinople (674
–678)|Siege of Constantinople (717–718)}}
{{rquote|right|All roads lead to Rome.|Common Arab saying<ref> In this context, the saying applied to overcoming the might of the Romans and taking Nova Roma itself, being Constantinople.</ref>}}

In 674 the Umayyad Caliph Muawiyah I besieged [[Constantinople]] under [[Constantine IV]]. In this battle, the Umayyads were unable to breach the [[Theodosian Walls]] and blockaded the city along the River [[Bosporus]]. The approach of winter however forced the besiegers to withdraw to an island {{convert|80|mi|km}} away.<ref name="Walls">''[http://www.ospreypublishing.com/title_detail.php/title=S759X~ser=FOR The Walls of Constantinople, AD 324–1453]'', [[Osprey Publishing]], ISBN 1-84176-759-X.</ref>

However, prior to the siege a [[Assyrian people|Assyrian]] [[Christianity|Christian]]Christian [[refugee]] from Syria named Kallinikos (Callinicus) of [[Baalbek|Heliopolis]] had recently invented for the Byzantine Empire a devastating new weapon that came to be known as "[[Greek fire]]".<ref name="Theophanes"/><ref name="Walls"/> At the [[Battle of Syllaeum]] iIn 677, the [[Byzantine navy]] used the weapon to decisively defeat the Umayyad navy in the [[Sea of Marmara]] and lift, resulting in the lifting of the siege in 678. Among those killed in the siege was Eyup, the standard bearer of Muhammed and the last of his companions; to Muslims today, his tomb is considered one of the holiest sites in Istanbul.<ref name="Walls"/> The Byzantine victory halted the Umayyad expansion into [[Europe]] for almost thirty years.

[[Image:Byzantijnse stadsmuren.JPG|thumb|300px|left|The [[Theodosian Walls]] of [[Constantinople]].]]

(contracted; show full)[[Category:Battles involving the Umayyad Caliphate]]

[[ar:حروب العرب والبيزنطيين]]
[[cs:Byzantsko-arabské války]]
[[fr:Guerres entre Arabes et empire byzantin]]
[[it:Guerre arabo-bizantine (780-1180)]]
[[nl:Byzantijns-Arabische oorlogen]]
[[ru:Арабо-византийские войны]]