Battle of Milazzo (888)
Battle of Milazzo | |||||||
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Part of the Muslim conquest of Sicily | |||||||
![]() Map of the Arab–Byzantine naval conflict in the Mediterranean, 7th–11th centuries | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Byzantine Empire | Aghlabids | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
unknown | unknown | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
variously 5,000–7,000 (12,000?) dead | unknown |
The Battle of Milazzo was a naval battle fought in 888 between the Byzantine and Aghlabid fleets off northeastern Sicily. The battle was a major Aghlabid victory. It is sometimes known as the Second Battle of Milazzo, counting the Battle of Stelai as the First Battle of Milazzo.[1]
Battle
In 888, the Aghlabids mounted a new expedition aimed at Byzantine Calabria, with ships from Sicily as well as Ifriqiya. Off Milazzo, the fleet met a Byzantine squadron of the Imperial Fleet of Constantinople. The ensuing battle is not mentioned by any Byzantine source, but only by Ibn Idhari's al-Bayan al-Mughrib as well as the Cambridge Chronicle. Both agree that it was a crushing Aghlabid victory—their first in open sea combat: reportedly 5,000 Byzantines drowned, and 7,000 in total (or 7,000 more, depending on the translation from the Arabic) were killed.[2]
Aftermath
In the aftermath of this debacle, the Byzantines abandoned many strongholds they had held in the Val Demone, and the remainder, left without hope of Byzantine aid, concluded a truce with the Aghlabid governor of Sicily.[3] Even the garrison and populace of Rhegion are said to have temporarily abandoned their city for fear of Aghlabid attacks.[2]
References
- ^ Eickhoff 1966, pp. 237, 243.
- ^ a b Eickhoff 1966, p. 243.
- ^ Eickhoff 1966, pp. 243, 244.
Sources
- Eickhoff, Ekkehard (1966). Seekrieg und Seepolitik zwischen Islam und Abendland: das Mittelmeer unter byzantinischer und arabischer Hegemonie (650-1040) (in German). De Gruyter.
- 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.