Siege of Syracuse

The Siege of Syracuse in 877–878 led to the fall of the city of Syracuse, the Roman and Byzantine capital of Sicily, to the Aghlabids. The siege lasted from August 877 to 21 May 878, when the city, effectively left without assistance by the central Byzantine government, was sacked by the Aghlabid forces.

Following their first landing in Sicily in the late 820s, the Aghlabids had tried several times, without success, to capture Syracuse. They were able to gradually take over the western half of the island, however, and in 875, a new and energetic governor, Ja'far ibn Muhammad, was appointed, determined to capture the city. Ja'far began the siege in August 877, but soon left it in charge of his son Abu Ishaq, while he retired to Palermo. The Arabs were well supplied with siege weapons, while the inhabitants of Syracuse were left largely unsupported by the Byzantine fleet, which was busy with transporting marble for a new church in Constantinople, and was then delayed by adverse weather. Consequently, the besieged populace faced great hardships and famine, described in detail by the eyewitness account of Theodosios the Monk. Finally, the Aghlabids managed to effect a breach in the seaward walls, and on 21 May 878 managed to break through it into the city. The defenders and much of the populace were massacred, while others, including Theodosios, were taken prisoner. The Byzantine patrikios who commanded the defence surrendered with a few of his men, but they were executed after a week, while a handful of soldiers escaped and brought the news east to the fleet that had belatedly set sail to aid the city. The Muslims were unable to capitalize upon this success due to internal rivalries, which even led to a full-scale civil war. Small-scale warfare with the Byzantines continued without any side gaining a decisive advantage until the arrival of the deposed Aghlabid emir Ibrahim II, who in 902 rallied the Sicilian Muslims and captured Taormina, effectively completing the Muslim conquest of Sicily, although a few fortresses remained in Byzantine hands until 965.

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