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Islam and Muslims in Byzantine Historiography of the 10Th-15Th Centuries

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Islam and Muslims in Byzantine Historiography of the 10Th-15Th Centuries Islam and Muslims in Byzantine historiography of the 10th-15th centuries Klaus-Peter Todt Byzantine historians writing in Greek used a great number of designa- tions for Muslims.1 Some were derived from the Old Testament, such as Agarēnoi and Ismaēlitai, descendants of Hagar and of her son Ishmael, who were driven out by Abraham after the birth of Isaac (Genesis 16; 17:20, 23, 25-26; 21:9-21). These designations were used for Muslims of var- ious ethnic origins. Other terms, such as Arabes or Sarakēnoi, had already been used in Ancient Greek literature and had then been defined ethni- cally, but were now employed synonymously with Agarēnoi, as in the report in Theophanes continuatus on the rebellion of Thomas against the Emperor Michael II (820-29). Initially, the Muslims who used Thomas’s rebellion to devastate Byzantine territory are called Agarēnoi, but later, in the account of a counter-attack by Thomas and his forming an alliance with the Caliph al-Ma⁠ʾmūn, they are called Saracens (Sarakēnoi).2 In contrast, when the historian Leo the Deacon (c. 950-c. 992/94) comes to mention the army of Sayf al-Dawla, the Ḥamdānid amir of Aleppo (944- 67; in Greek Chambdan), he makes a distinction between Arabs (Arabes) and Agarēnoi, because he knows that, in the Ḥamdānid army, alongside Arabs there are also Daylamites from Iran and Turks from Central Asia.3 1 On Byzantine historiography in the 10th-15th centuries, see: G. Moravcsik, Byzanti- noturcica, I. Die byzantinischen Quellen der Geschichte der Turkvölker, Berlin, 1958 (repr. Leiden, 1983); H. Hunger, Die hochsprachliche profane Literatur der Byzantiner, Vol. 1: Philosophie – Rhetorik – Epistolographie – Geschichtsschreibung – Geographie, Munich, 1978, pp. 349-504; J. Karayannopulos and G. Weiss, Quellenkunde zur Geschichte von Byzanz (324-1453), Vol. 2, part 4: Hauptquellen, allgemeine Quellenlage (nach Jahrhun- derten geordnet), Wiesbaden, 1982, pp. 367-73, 405-10, 428-34, 459-64, 491-97, and 517-25; M. Angold and M. Whitby, Historiography, in E. Jeffreys with J. Haldon and R. Cormack (eds), The Oxford handbook of Byzantine Studies, Oxford, 2008, pp. 838-52. 2 Theophanes Continuatus, ed. I. Bekkerus, Bonn, 1838, p. 54 (ii.12); A. Kazhdan, art. ʻTheophanes Continuatusʼ, in ODB; A.G. Savvides, ʻSome notes on the terms Agarenoi, Ismaelitai and Sarakenoi in Byzantine Sourcesʼ, Byzantion 67 (1997) 89-96, pp. 90, 92. 3 Leonis Diaconi Caloënsis Historiae libri decem et liber de velitatione bellica Nicephori Augusti, ed. C.B. Hasius, Bonn, 1828, p. 18 (ii.1); German trans. F. Loretto, Nikephoros Pho- kas ʻDer bleiche Tod der Sarazenenʼ und Johannes Tzimiskes. Die Zeit von 959-976 in der Darstellung des Leon Diakonos (Byzantinische Geschichtsschreiber 10), Graz, 1961, p. 24; English trans. A.-M. Talbot et al., Leo the Deacon, The history. Byzantine military expansion 36 Islam and Muslims in Byzantine historiography While Theophanes continuatus inaccurately describes the Arabs conquer- ing Crete around 822 as Agarēnoi from Spain, Leo the Deacon designates their descendants more precisely as Arabites Krētoi.4 He archaically calls the Arabs of Sicily Sikēliōtai,5 and the Fatimid forces of North Africa, who were recruited from the Berber tribe of Kutāma, Karchēdonioi, i.e. Carthaginians.6 In his Synopsis historiōn, John Scylitzes (11th century) generally calls Muslims Agarēnoi; though he occasionally uses the term Ismaēlitai as well. He tends to use Agarēnoi in the context of actual military conflicts between the Byzantines and their Muslim enemies of Arab descent, as in the accounts of the wars of the Emperors Leo V (813-20), Theophilus (829-43), Michael III (842-67), Basil I (867-86), Nicephorus II Phocas (963-69), and John I Tzimisces (969-76).7 The only exception is Scylitzesʼ report on Leo the Mathematician, who was invited by the Caliph al-Ma⁠ʾmūn (813-33) to move to Baghdad.8 The terms Agarēnoi and Ismaēlitai or hoi tou Ismaēl were occasionally used for Turks, as, for example, in the Alexiad of Anna Comnena (1083- c. 1153/54), the daughter of the Emperor Alexius I Comnenus (1081-1118). In Book 2, she tells how Alexius Comnenus, then commander-in-chief of the Western forces, was ordered by Nicephorus III Botaneiates (1078-81) to advance from Constantinople against the Agarēnoi, who had just con- quered Cyzicus.9 Elsewhere, she tells how, in 1096, Alexius I Comnenus in the tenth century, Washington DC, 2005, p. 71; A. Kazhdan, art. ʻLeo the Deaconʼ, in ODB. 4 Theophanes Continuatus, ed. Bekkerus, p. 73; Leo Diaconus, ed. Hasius, p. 6, trans. Loretto, p. 13, trans. Talbot and Sullivan, p. 58; M. Canard, Histoire de la dynastie des Ham- danides de Jazîra et de Syrie, Vol. 1, Paris, 1953, p. 597; Savvides, ʻNotesʼ, p. 90. 5 Leonis Diaconi Caloënsis Historiae, ed. Hasius, p. 66, trans. Loretto, p. 66, trans. Talbot and Sullivan, p. 116. 6 Leonis Diaconi Caloënsis Historiae, ed. Hasius, pp. 75, 103, trans. Loretto, pp. 74, 97, trans. Talbot and Sullivan, pp. 126, 152. 7 Ioannis Scylitzae synopsis historiarum, ed. I. Thurn (Corpus Fontium Historiae Byz- antinae 5), Berlin, 1973, pp. 501, 521; partial German trans. H. Thurn, Byzanz wieder ein Weltreich. Das Zeitalter der makedonischen Dynastie, Part 1: Ende des Bilderstreites und Makedonische Renaissance (Anfang 9. bis Mitte 10. Jh.). Nach dem Geschichtswerk des Johannes Skylitzes (Byzantinische Geschichtsschreiber 15), Graz, 1983; English trans. J. Wortley, John Scylitzes, A synopsis of Byzantine history, 811-1057, Cambridge, 2010; A. Kazhdan and A. Cutler, art. ʻSkylitzes, Johnʼ, in ODB. 8 Ioannis Scylitzae synopsis historiarum, ed. Thurn, pp. 101-5, trans. Thurn, pp. 136-40, trans. Wortley, pp. 102-6. 9 Anna Comnena, Alexias, ed. D.R. Reinsch et al., 2 vols (Corpus Fontium Historiae Byz- antinae 40/1 and 2), Berlin, 2001, p. 62; English trans. E.R.A. Sewter, The Alexiad of Anna Comnena, Harmondsworth, 1969, p. 79, German trans. D.R. Reinsch, Anna Komnene, Alexias, Cologne, 1996, p. 77; A. Kazhdan, art. ʻKomnene, Annaʼ, in ODB; A. Beihammer, .
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