Battle of Heliopolis
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Battle of Heliopolis | |
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Part of the 30°7′45.998″N 31°17′20.000″E / 30.12944389°N 31.28888889°E | |
Result | Rashidun Caliphate victory |
The Battle of Heliopolis or Ayn Shams was a decisive battle between Arab
Background to the Islamic conquests
At the time of the death of
Under the first
Arab conquest of Egypt
After successfully conquering Syria between 634 and 638, the Arabs turned their attention to Egypt. The attack on Africa took the Byzantines by surprise. Heraclius's generals had advised him that the Muslims would need a generation to digest Persia before undertaking another wholesale conquest. The increasingly frail Emperor was forced to depend on his generals, and the result was complete disaster.[2][page needed]
In 639, less than a year after the complete fall of the Sassanid Empire, an army of some 4,000 commanded by
The battle
At that point the united Arab army was confronted by a Roman army, which Amr, who had taken overall command, defeated at the Battle of Heliopolis. Just as Byzantine generals had failed in Syria, they did in Egypt, and the Empire's economically most valuable province after
The Byzantine army could have responded sooner, but had not, for reasons that will never be known.
Whether through the foolishness of the Byzantine generals, including Theodore, contributed to what then occurred, certainly Amr fought a brilliant battle at Heliopolis. When the Byzantine army began approaching, Amr divided his army into three separate units, with one detachment under the command of a trusted commander, Kharija. This unit marched abruptly east to nearby hills, where they effectively hid. This unit was to remain there until the Romans had begun the battle, at which point they were to fall on the Roman flank or rear, whichever was more vulnerable. The second detachment Amr ordered to the south, which would be the direction the Romans would flee if the battle went badly. Once the Byzantine forces initiated contact with Amr's forces and commenced an attack, the detachment of Kharija attacked the Byzantine rear, which was completely unexpected by the Romans. Theodore had not kept scouts out, or, if he had, he ignored their warning of the approaching Arab horsemen. This attack from the rear created utter chaos among the Byzantine ranks. As Theodore's troops attempted to flee to the south, they were attacked by the third detachment, which had been placed there for just such a purpose. This completed the final break-down and defeat of the Byzantine army, which fled in all directions.[6][7]
Theodore survived, but with only a tiny fragment of his army, while the remainder was killed or captured. In the battle's aftermath, most of southern and central Egypt fell to Amr's forces. The defeat at Heliopolis was crucial, as it removed the last Roman force standing between the Islamic invaders and the heart of Egypt. However, not only did the Battle of Heliopolis leave Egypt practically defenceless, it also encouraged the disaffected natives, most of whom were
- ”The Greeks had ever been hated, they were no longer feared: the magistrate fled from his tribunal, the bishop from his altar; and the distant garrisons were surprised or starved by the surrounding multitudes".
Bishop John of Nikiu said, "And thereupon the Moslem made their entry into Nakius, and took possession, and finding no soldiers (to offer resistance), they proceeded to put to the sword all whom they found in the streets and in the churches, men, women, and infants, and they showed mercy to none. And after they had captured (this) city, they marched against other localities and sacked them and put all they found to the sword. And they came also to the city of Sa, and there they found Esqutaws and his people in a vineyard, and the Moslem seized them and put them to the sword.[8]
It is notable that after the end of Amr's rule in Egypt, the population found their taxes ever increasing. Indeed, under the Umayyad Caliphate the Coptic Christians of Egypt found their taxes higher than the Byzantine Greeks had ever made them.[9]
Aftermath
The next year and a half were spent on more maneuvers, skirmishes, and sieges before the formal surrender of the capital,
Citations
- ^ Umar (634-644).
- ^ Kaegi, Heraclius: Emperor of Byzantium.
- ^ Butler 1902, pp. 195, 210–211, 215–216.
- ^ Butler 1902, pp. 249–272.
- ^ Butler 1902, pp. xxvii, 230–233.
- ^ a b Butler 1902, pp. 221–237.
- ^ a b Gibbon 2017.
- ^ John of Nikiû.
- ^ Butler 1902, pp. 447–464.
References
- Bury, J.B. "History of the Later Roman Empire", Macmillan & Co., 1923.
- Butler, Alfred (1902). The Arab Conquest of Egypt and the Last Thirty Years of the Roman Dominion. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Retrieved 21 June 2022.
- Christensen, A., "Sassanid Persia", The Cambridge Ancient History, Volume XII: The Imperial Crisis and Recovery (A.D. 193–324), Cook, S.A. et al., eds, Cambridge: University Press.
- Gibbon, Edward. "The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire". Archived from the original on 22 February 2017. Retrieved 22 February 2017.
- John of Nikiû. "The Chronicle of John, Bishop of NikiuOF NIKIU". Text and Translation Society. Messrs, Williams and Norgate. Retrieved 22 June 2022.
- "Umar (634-644)". The Islamic World to 1600 – Multimedia History Tutorials by the Applied History Group. University of Calgary. Archived from the original on 10 April 2007. Retrieved 20 October 2006.