Nasar
Nasar (
Byzantine–Arab conflicts
of the latter half of the 9th century.
Biography
Not much is known about Nasar's family. His father Christopher held the supreme court position of Mardaite, origin.[1]
Under Emperor
Melitene.[1] On their return to Constantinople, the two generals celebrated a triumph in the Hippodrome.[1]
In 879 or 880, Nasar replaced
Ionian islands.[3] A mutiny of the fleet's rowers forced him to stop for a while at Methoni, but discipline was restored and the crews strengthened with troops of the local theme. Nasar proceeded to score a significant victory in a night battle over the Aghlabids with the aid of Greek fire.[1][2]
Nasar then proceeded to raid
Arab ships and carrying off much booty and merchandise. Reportedly, the price of olive oil in the markets of Constantinople fell sharply as a result.[1][2] He then went on to support the concurrent land operations by the Byzantine generals Prokopios and Leo Apostyppes in southern Italy, before defeating another Aghlabid fleet off the coast of Calabria; at the same time, another Byzantine squadron scored a significant victory at Naples. These victories were crucial to the restoration of Byzantine control over southern Italy (the future Catepanate of Italy), compensating to an extent for the effective loss of Sicily following the fall of Syracuse in 878.[2][3]
References
Sources
- )
- Pryor, John H.; Jeffreys, Elizabeth M. (2006). The Age of the ΔΡΟΜΩΝ: The Byzantine Navy ca. 500–1204. Leiden, The Netherlands and Boston, Massachusetts: Brill Academic Publishers. ISBN 978-90-04-15197-0.
- Lilie, Ralph-Johannes; Ludwig, Claudia; Zielke, Beate; Pratsch, Thomas, eds. (2013). "Prosopographie der mittelbyzantinischen Zeit Online". Prosopographie der mittelbyzantinischen Zeit Online. Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften. Nach Vorarbeiten F. Winkelmanns erstellt (in German). De Gruyter.
Further reading
- Vlysidou, Vasiliki N. (1981). Συμβολὴ στὴ μελέτη τῆς ἐξωτερικῆς πολιτικῆς τοῦ Βασιλείου Α΄ στὴ δεκαετία 867-877 [Contribution to the study of Basil I's foreign policy in the decade 867-877]. Byzantina Symmeikta (in Greek). 4: 301–315. ISSN 1105-1639.