Muslim conquest of Sicily
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The Muslim Aghlabids conquered Sicily between June 827 and 902, when the last major Byzantine stronghold on the island, Taormina, fell. Isolated fortresses remained in Byzantine hands until 965, but t
View of Enna (Castrogiovanni)
Emperor Theophilos and his court, from the Madrid Skylitzes
The fall of Syracuse to the Arabs, from the Madrid Skylitzes
Aghlabid quarter-dinar, minted in Sicily, 879
Euphemius (Sicily)
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Euphemius or Euphemios was a Byzantine commander in Sicily, who rebelled against the imperial governor in 826 AD, and invited the Aghlabids to aid him, thus beginning the Muslim conquest of Sicily.
Muslim conquest of Sicily
…peaceful backwater. The opportunity for the Aghlabid emirs of Ifriqiya (present-day Tunisia) came in 827, when the commander of the island's fleet, Euphemius, rose in revolt against the Byzantine Emperor Michael II. Defeated by loyalist forces and driven from the island, Euphemius sought the aid of the…
Gold solidus showing Emperor Michael II and his son Theophilos