Hey everybody, the sale episode is going to have to be delayed as the wonderful world of web development is

causing some

problems and some setbacks with the

architecture for selling episodes, but I don't see why you should suffer, so we'll just carry on with the narrative until it's ready. I'll keep you updated

Hello everyone and welcome to the history of Byzantium

episode 73

Leo's reign in the 730s

Last time we discussed the emperor Leo III's reign during the 720s a time of continuing Arab raids and more civil war

We'll follow the same structure for this episode, so I'll begin with the political and military narrative and then double back for more talk of

administration and iconoclasm

The Arabs continued to raid Anatolia every summer throughout the 730s

However, the Muslim chroniclers give us very few details of these attacks

When places are mentioned it seems that the Arabs were mostly raiding the areas just over the border

Some forts are mentioned as being captured or destroyed

But they seem to be places that had been held just before the siege that were only now being reoccupied

The only town mentioned in the western half of Anatolia is Akroenon

Not far from Amorium the headquarters of the Anatolican

The sources report that a raid was made on its suburbs implying that no serious attempt was made on its walls as

Presumably the theme armies were shadowing the raiding party waiting for an opportunity

This reduction in the force of raiding is probably due to two factors

One is the stability of the theme armies and their ability to successfully counterattack on occasion

But the other is the ongoing war between the Arabs and the Ksars

...