Hello everyone, and welcome to the history of Byzantium.

Episode 52, The Non-Sege of Constantinople

In putting together this podcast, I'm always striving for accuracy, considering the

biased and ancient nature of the sources we're dealing with, it can be a fruitless task.

But I don't want you to think that this podcast is simply me summarizing an old history book.

I take time to read as much as I possibly can, including any at all up-to-date scholarship

in English. Unfortunately, the more I read about the 7th century, the less coherent the narrative

becomes. Since the last episode I've been able to read an excellent book by Oxford historian

James Howard Johnston, he examines every available source for the 7th century, including Greek,

Syriac and Arabic histories, to try and find the potentially vital facts amidst the legend

and exaggeration. He does a good job, for example, of analyzing where Niceferus and Theophanes

are main Byzantine writers get their information. One of these sources is a history we no longer have

by Theophilus of Odessa, a Christian court astrologer who worked for the caliph Al-Mardi in the 8th

century. From Theophilus's account, another potential cause for the murder of Constance II

emerges. The suggestion is that Constance moved to Sicily, was deliberately antagonizing to the

Muslims. Why? Because the Muslim occupation of Egypt would never be safe until they controlled

the sea lanes to Africa. Remember that Heraclius and Niceetus had launched their civil war against

focus by sailing from Carthage to Alexandria. So apparently, the Arabs viewed Constance's army

in Sicily as the precursor to a re-invasion of Egypt. It's an understandable conclusion to draw,

given that the first thing the Emperor commissioned, back when he was a teenager, was the reoccupation

of Alexandria. If that was Constance's plan, then it must have been a long-term one, because his

forces were not nearly strong enough to take on that task at the time of his death. However,

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