First Arab siege of Constantinople
Caliph Mu'awiya’s fleets blockaded Constantinople for several campaigning seasons, but the Byzantines destroyed the Arab navy with the newly invented Greek fire, and the Caliphate had to make peace and pay tribute.
- Date
- 674–678year known · duration: ≈ 4 years
- Place
- Constantinopletoday: Istanbul, Turkey · Balkans and Anatolia
- Participants
- Umayyad Caliphate, Mu'awiya I, Byzantine Empire, Constantine IV
- Threads
- Early medieval Europe (500–1000)
- Also known as
- Siege of Constantinople (674–678); Осада Константинополя (674—678); Greek fire; Греческий огонь
According to Theophanes the Confessor, from 674 an Arab fleet based at Cyzicus on the Sea of Marmara attacked the city every spring and summer and withdrew for the winter. In 677 or 678 Constantine IV’s ships, armed with siphons for the liquid incendiary later called Greek fire, routed the Arab fleet; the Arab army in Asia Minor was also defeated, and a storm destroyed much of the retreating fleet. A thirty-year peace obliged the caliph to pay an annual tribute.
The dating and even the scale of the siege are debated. Theophanes wrote more than a century later, and Arab and Syriac sources speak rather of separate campaigns. J. Howard-Johnston questioned the very existence of a siege in the 670s, while M. Jankowiak argued that a real siege took place, but in 667–669.
Connections
Related events
- Founding of the First Bulgarian Empirebetween 680 and 681 · Balkans and AnatoliaFreed from the Arab war, Constantine IV turned against the Bulgars in 680
- Second Arab siege of Constantinoplebetween 15 July and 15 August 717 – 15 August 718 · Balkans and AnatoliaThe second and last great Arab attempt to take the city
Same participants
- Avar–Persian siege of Constantinople29 June – 7 August 626 · Balkans and Anatoliavia Byzantine Empire
- Umayyad conquest of Hispania711–718 · Western and Central Europevia Umayyad Caliphate
Same place
- Founding of Constantinople11 May 330 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Council of Chalcedon8 October – 1 November 451 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Corpus Juris Civilis7 April 529 – 16 November 534 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Construction of Hagia Sophia23 February 532 – 27 December 537 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Plague of Justinian541–549 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Jordanes and Procopius describe the Sclaveni and the Antesbetween 550 and 554 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Byzantine Iconoclasmbetween 726 and 730 – 11 March 843 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Rus’ attack on Constantinople18 June – 4 August 860 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Oleg’s campaign against Constantinople907 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Rus’–Byzantine Treaty of 9112 September 911 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Igor’s campaigns against Byzantium11 June 941 – 944 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Rus’–Byzantine Treaty of 944between 944 and 945 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Olga’s visit to Constantinople and her baptism9 September – 18 October 957 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Sack of Constantinople12–13 April 1204 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Reconquest of Constantinople25 July 1261 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Fall of Constantinople29 May 1453 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Accession of Suleiman the Magnificent30 September 1520 · Balkans and Anatolia
Meanwhile in the world
Other regions, within 25 years of this event
Eastern Europe
- Rise of the Khazar Khaganatebetween 630 and 650 – c. 670
- Kyi, Shchek and Khoryv: the legendary founding of Kyivbetween 500 and 700
- Early Slavic cultures: Prague-Korchak, Penkovka and Kolochinc. 450 – c. 700
The same period
Sources
- Wikipedia (English): Siege of Constantinople (674–678)
- Wikipedia (Russian): Осада Константинополя (674—678)
- Jankowiak M. The First Arab Siege of Constantinople // Travaux et Mémoires. — 2013. — Vol. 17. — P. 237–320.
- Wikidata: Q399482