Ближний Восток и его соседи

g 87 h The Odyssey of the Andalusian Conquerors of Crete... Andalusians were not allowed by ‘Abdallāh b. Ṭāhir to take any Egyptian resi- dents with them. This fact indicates, on the one hand, that they were in close social contact with some of the inhabitants of Alexandria, and on the other, that they kept their Andalusian homogeneity. 114 At last they had good luck in sailing to Crete without encountering any enemy ships; they landed there unopposed and gradually conquered the whole island. 115 Their leader chosen in Alexandria, Abū Ḥafṣ ‘Umar b. Shu‘ayb al- Ballūti, established a new Islamic dynasty in Crete. 116 It should be noted that the name of Abu Ḥafṣ appears in a discovered copper coin ( fulūs ), which also bears the name of Mutawakkil, the caliph of Baghdad (847–861), issued in ca 847, just a few years after the Arab conquest of Crete. 117 The name of the last emir of Crete ‘Abd al-‘Azīz al-Shu‘ayb, along with that of the ruling caliph Al-Muṭī‘ (r. 946–974), appears in a gold coin. 118 A new frontier state, the Emirate of Crete, emerged. It lasted until 961 when Crete was reconquered by Nicephorus Phocas who organized an admi- rable seaborne expedition demonstrating the Byzantines’ recovery of the mari- time hegemony in the Eastern Mediterranean. 119 114 al-Maqrīzi , Khiṭaṭ , I, 324. 115 For the area of the Andalusians’ landing see N. Gigourtakis, “«’Ακρωτηρίῳ τῷ Χάρακι»: Αρχικές παρατηρήσεις για το σημείο απόβασης των Αράβων του Abu Ḥafṣ Omar στην Κρήτη”, Graeco-Arabica 11 (2011), 73–95. 116 Concerning Abu Ḥafṣ and his dynasty see Christides, “Abū Ḥafṣ ‘Umar b. Shu‘ayb al-Ballūtī”, EI 3 , 7–8; idem, “Iḳrītish, the Dynasty”, EI 3 , Leiden-Boston, fasc 3, 2016, 40–43. The qolloquium “The Arab Occupation of Crete (824/826 — 961 AD)” (Heraklion, October 1, 2010) was the stimulus for writing several articles concerning various aspects of the Emirate of Crete which appeared in the 11 th volume of Graeco-Arabica (2011) . 117 A. D. Mazarakis, The Collection F.L. of Arab Coins in Crete, Athens 2013, 28. 118 A. D. Mazarakis, The Collection , 33. 119 There are many studies about Nicephorus Phocas’ personality and activities see; J.-C. Cheynet, “Les Phocas”, in G. Dagon — H. Mihǎescu, eds., Le traité sur la guerilla (De velitatione) de l’ empereur Nicéphore Phocas (963–969 ), Paris 1986, 289–316; M. Mc- Cormick, Eternal Victory: Triumphal Rulership in Late Antiquity, Byzantium and the Early Medieval West, Cambridge — Paris 1986; Rosemary Morris, “The two faces of Nikephoros Phokas”, Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies 12 (1988), 83–115; E. McGeer, The Byzan- tine Army in the 10 th Century: The Praecepta militaria of the Emperor Nikephoros Phokas (963–969), dissertation, University of Montreal, 1990; T. Kolias, Νικηφόρος Β' Φωκᾶς (963– 969). Ὁ στρατηγός αὐτοκράτωρ καί τό μεταρρυθμιστικό του ἔργο , Αthens 1993; N. Gigourtakis, Ο Νικηφόρος Φωκάς και η Κρήτη , Heraklion, Crete 1998; Alice-Mary Talbot and Dennis F. Sullivan, trans., The History of Leo the Deacon. Byzantine Military Expansion in the Tenth Century, Washington D.C. 2005; Katerina Karapli, “Νικηφόρος Β΄ ὁ Φωκᾶς, «δαιμονίως στερ- γόμενος»; ἤ «μισητός παρά πάντων»;”, in the present volume . Concerning the activities of Nicephorus Phocas in Crete based on Byzantine and Arabic sources: S. Ivanoff et al., Λέοντος Διακόνου Ιστορία , Moscow 1988, passim (in Russian); in contrast, there is lack of references