A few interesting anniversaries have passed while I’ve been away, and I thought we should make some note of them. Remember FX will be back to normal operations on Tuesday! August 1, 902: An Aghlabid army captures the Byzantine fortress at Taormina, completing the 75 year Muslim conquest of Sicily. The Aghlabid invasion, in 827, almost fizzled out in 828 with the failure of their first siege of Syracuse, but the Byzantine fleet prevented the Aghlabid army from retreating to North Africa (oops!) and so they stayed on Sicily instead. After gaining a foothold with the capture of Palermo in 831 the Muslims slowly expanded their control over the island until taking Syracuse on the second try, in 878. Taormina held out as the last Byzantine possession on Sicily for another 24 years.
This Week in History: August 1-4
This Week in History: August 1-4
This Week in History: August 1-4
A few interesting anniversaries have passed while I’ve been away, and I thought we should make some note of them. Remember FX will be back to normal operations on Tuesday! August 1, 902: An Aghlabid army captures the Byzantine fortress at Taormina, completing the 75 year Muslim conquest of Sicily. The Aghlabid invasion, in 827, almost fizzled out in 828 with the failure of their first siege of Syracuse, but the Byzantine fleet prevented the Aghlabid army from retreating to North Africa (oops!) and so they stayed on Sicily instead. After gaining a foothold with the capture of Palermo in 831 the Muslims slowly expanded their control over the island until taking Syracuse on the second try, in 878. Taormina held out as the last Byzantine possession on Sicily for another 24 years.