Ближний Восток и его соседи

g 84 h Vassilios Christides Alexandrian Christians which they had confiscated, but their offer was reject- ed. 97 The Andalusians’ proposal reinforces the view that their purpose through their entire long journey was to secure a new settlement and not to roam aim- lessly, plundering in the dār al-ḥarb (warzone in non-Muslim territory). While the sequence of the historical events appears similar in the relevant Arabic sources, the exact dating of the Andalusians’ occupation of Alexandria and the activities of ‘Abdallāh b. Ṭāhir are variously dated. According to the present author’s view, the most plausible date of the fugitives’ departure is ca H210 (April 24, 825-April 12, 826) as reported by Ṭabari, 98 or H211 (April 13, 826 —April 1, 827) as reported by Ibn al-Athīr. 99 Ibn al-Athīr reports that im- mediately after the expulsion of the Andalusian fugitives, ‘Abdalālh b. Ṭāhir returned to Baghdad. 100 Similarly, al-Maqrīzi mentions that ‘Abdallāh arrived in Alexandria in the year H210 and that in just twenty days he subdued the Andalusians. 101 Less probable is the date of H212 (April 2, 827 — March 21, 828) mentioned by Kindi, 102 by Severus b. al-Muqaffa‘ 103 and by al-Ya‘qūbi. 104 No doubt the chapter of the odyssey of the Andalusian fugitives had a dra- matic ending. They were forced by ‘Abdallāh to embark on their ships under the leadership of Abū Ḥafṣ ‘Umar b. Shu‘ayb al-Ballūti and go wherever they wanted in the dār al-ḥarb , preferably to the island of Crete. Fortunately, good luck favored the Andalusians who sailed unopposed to Crete and landed on it without meeting resistance. The crossing of the Aegean from Alexandria to Crete by the Andalusian fleet was amazingly peaceful. According to the Byzantine sources, the An- dalusian fleet was supposedly composed of forty ships, a rather conventional number, 105 and we can assume that these ships were of Egyptian construction. Unfortunately, Skylitzes’ illuminations depicting the Andalusians’ ships sai- ling towards Crete are simplified drawings without any particular details. 106 97 Chronique de Michel le Syrien, III, 60. 98 Ṭabari, Ta’rīkh , ed. Bosworth, 164. 99 Ibn al-Athīr, Kāmil , ed. Beirut, Beirut 1967, 212. 100 Ibn al-Athīr, Kāmil , 213. 101 Al-Maqrīzi, Khiṭaṭ , I, 24. 102 Kindi, Kitāb al-Wulāt wa Kitāb al-Quḍāt , ed. R. Guest, under the title The Governors and Judges of Egypt , Leiden and London 1912, 183–184. 103 Evetts, History of the Patriarchs of the Coptic Church of Alexandria. IV. Mennas I to Joseph (767–849), 45 ff. 104 al-Ya‘qūbi , Ta’rīkh, II, ed. Beirut, Beirut 1995, 465. 105 Theophanes Continuatus, Chronographia , ed. Bonn, 1838, 75. 106 Christides, “The Cycle of the Arab-Byzantine Struggle in Crete (ca 824/6 — 961 AD) in the Illuminated Manuscript of Skylitzes”, Graeco-Arabica 11 (2011), 25 (article: 17- 50).